Hilton Head Realtor who charged tenants to live in cars, boat, RVs due in court in April
A Realtor on Hilton Head Island who was cited in January for code violations after officers found tenants living in squalor and unsafe conditions in cars, boats and RVs on his property has a final court date in April.
Tad Segars’ hearing April 8 in Bluffton Magistrate Court comes after his attorney was able to postpone the case at least twice over three months. Segars was charging as many as a dozen people rent to live off Wild Horse Road in structures without safe or legal hookups for plumbing and electricity.
He is facing seven citations that carry fines of about $1,087 or 30 days in jail for each.
In a series of visits to Segars’ property — two plots on Reggies Road on the island’s north end — code enforcement officers with the Town of Hilton Head Island found over 30 code violations, including illicit utility connections, structures without permits, and health hazards.
Around a dozen people lived in various buildings, vehicles and “tiny homes” on the two properties, and their living conditions were documented in body camera footage from code enforcement obtained by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette earlier this year.
Fearing retribution or deportation, the tenants wouldn’t discuss their living conditions.
Segars, a licensed Realtor, said he was trying to provide affordable places for working people to live on the island. He collected between $12,000 and $15,000 each month in rent, as much as $650 individually.
Preparing for court
Terry Finger, a Hilton Head attorney who is also the Town of Bluffton’s attorney, will represent Segars at his hearing in April. Contacted Tuesday, he said he does not comment on pending litigation.
Code enforcement officers’ requests to inspect the property have been denied, so they are unsure whether Segars has made any improvements to his land since the citations were issued.
If Segars can show in court that he’s fixed the issues on his property, the citations can be dropped.
As a dozen working people have scrambled to find a new place to live since January, Segars has profited from years of free labor on his property as tenants desperate for housing on Hilton Head moved in. They reported doing electrical and sewer work there in exchange for cheaper rent.
“I have not violated a human right at all,” Segars told The Island Packet in January. “If anything I’ve given them freedom.”
Separately, Segars came to a public planning committee meeting Jan. 21 and participated in a discussion about affordable housing.
He spoke softly into the microphone and offered to be a “sounding board” for the committee on what working people need in housing.
“Rent is going up ... you’d see people lining up several deep for something under $1,000” each month, he said.
He then offered an apology without specifically mentioning his code violations.
“I’m paying my dues,” he said. “I apologize for that.”
What’s next?
Segars cannot request another continuance on the case, according to code enforcement officer Wendy Conant.
She will inspect the property April 7 and report to the court the next day whether any of the issues causing violations have been fixed.
