A Florida family famous for their extravagant Christmas displays were allegedly exposed as squatters after a seven-month-long investigation.
Mark and Kathy Hyatt, who decorated the house for 15 years as part of their “Hyatt Extreme Christmas,” did not lawfully pay for the property, according to the New York Post. The family allegedly lived in the residence illegally and received homestead exemptions they were not legally entitled to, according to the outlet.
“[Mark Hyatt] has received exemption(s) and/or assessment limitation(s) totaling $34,724.68 for seven years. The property appraiser has discovered that the taxpayer was not legally entitled to receive the exemptions because the applicant was not the Legal Owner,” county property appraiser records said.
Florida couple, Mark and Kathy Hyatt, squatted at home made famous with outrageous Christmas lights https://t.co/SW7YPMEA5Y
— Thomas Payne (@TPayneCommon) November 18, 2023
Investigators could only look back as far as 2013 because of the statute of limitations, which only allowed the county to review the past 10 years of records, according to the outlet. Although there were no records from 2020 to 2023, the investigation covered those past three years. (RELATED: Wauwatosa Asks Employees Not To Use Christmas Decor In Public Spaces)
Kathy Hyatt’s inquiry about the property’s 2005 deed “resulting in the Hyatts’ unlawful ownership of the subject property” led to the appraisers’ investigation, county appraiser property records revealed, according to the outlet.
The last time the Hyatts decorated for Christmas was in 2017 when Mark and Kathy divorced, the outlet reported. In divorce court, Kathy could not sign the deed to the estate because she never owned the property and the document was allegedly fake. Mark died three years after their divorce at age 56.