ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A disabled Orange County man says he waited months for a new apartment only to see it given away to someone else.
Thomas Barnes said his application and security deposit were accepted, but then the apartment complex was sold.
Channel 9's Steve Barrett learned that when Barnes tried to move into his apartment at the newly renamed Southern Oaks Apartments on Silver Star Road, all of his paperwork and his money were gone.
Barnes said that in April he paid almost $600 as a deposit and application fee and was given an apartment number and move-in date.
He didn't know that the complex came under new management while he waited to move in.
"I went there a week before and they told me they have no records or anything on me and they wouldn't give me my money back," Barnes said. "It's like a scam to me. It seems like a scam."
Out the money, and a reasonably priced efficiency apartment, Barnes ended up living in his pastor's garage. He said he sleeps on a mattress on the floor of the garage.
Officials with the corporation who now runs the complex told Barrett that some paperwork was lost in the transition and that Barnes will get his money back.
WFTV
