‘Out of the shadows’: How Hilton Head Realtor made thousands off illegal rentals
When Hilton Head Island residents found out in early 2020 that some of their own were living in a hollowed-out car and parked boat on the island, shock washed over parts of the island.
It seemed nearly inconceivable that restaurant workers and laborers were living in sheds, using illicit electricity connections and a shared bathroom on the same island where multimillion-dollar mansions line the beach.
Some weren’t surprised. They’d seen this paradox on Hilton Head for generations.
Since the conditions on Hilton Head Island Realtor Tad Segars’ properties on Reggies Road came to light, Segars has gone to court, been fined $1,800, made changes to the conditions on his property and sent nearly all of his “tenants” packing.
But problems persist on this land he owns on the island’s north end, according to the property’s case file, obtained by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Until last week, a man was still living in a small shed toward the back of the property, even after the town had given Segars notice a year ago that he couldn’t rent it out.
And the Realtor still illegally rents storage space throughout the property even though it’s not properly zoned for commercial use.
A bigger issue: Safe housing on Hilton Head
What happened on Reggies Road points to the growing desperation of people on the island who need affordable places to live — and others eager to take advantage of them.
“It’s too painful and too expensive to go through all the hoops,” Segars told The Island Packet in early 2020. “I knew I was not following all policies and procedures, (but) people kept saying they needed a place and I said, ‘come here.’”
As island leaders work slowly on a workforce housing program that’s changed multiple times to become more palatable to islanders who don’t want apartments near their homes, situations like Segars’ are a cautionary example of what can happen when there aren’t enough reasonably priced places to live.
Although a judge found him at fault for the dangerous conditions on his property, tenants who signed leases there did so because they couldn’t afford to go somewhere else.
Alex Brown, who represents the ward including Reggies Road on Town Council, said it needs to be easier for land owners to develop affordable housing and for tenants to find it.
“I know that there are opportunities on the north end of the island for safe and humane affordable housing,” Brown said. “We are just very cautious about doing that because in a sense it’s in conflict with the Hilton Head vision and character.”
Brown has advocated for workforce housing — even mobile homes or tiny homes that provide a safe place to live and are up to code.
Segars’ situation also highlights the disconnect between single-family luxury housing and workforce housing on the island.
“We need to embrace the fact that the people who are living there are part of our community,” Brown said. “They provide a service and they don’t ‘poof’ out of thin air. They need to live here. We need to bring them out of the shadows.”
Segars is facing just $1,800 in fines for providing unsafe and illegal places to live.
How did we get here?
When Hilton Head Island’s code enforcement officers found a person living in a car, another in a parked boat and others in sheds in the slum in November 2019, Segars received seven citations. A caller who said they were a tenant told town staff that 25 people were living on the two properties, some illegally operating businesses from the two homes and doing electrical work, with no permit and no inspection, to make it possible for more people to live there.
Although officers found over 30 violations, the citations were for allowing people to live in RVs outside a mobile home park, keeping junked and abandoned vehicles, failing to obtain permits, and illegally altering structures.
Reports obtained by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette showed Segars was collecting between $12,000 and $15,000 per month in rent on his two properties. One tenant said her lease was through Hilton Head Properties, the real estate agency located on New Orleans Drive where Segars works.
His court date was set for January 2020.
After several delays, Segars appeared in court on Dec. 9 and walked away with “a very good deal.”
He pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $1,802.50 in total fines for the seven citations, which originally could have carried fines of $1,087.50 or 30 days in jail each.
What’s left on Reggies Road?
Segars’ properties on Reggies Road are a lot less cluttered now.
Three RVs have been moved out, smoke detectors have been installed, and the men living in a car and parked boat have vacated, according to updated records from the code enforcement office.
Officers visited the property in November and December prior to Segars’ court date.
They found that most of the illicit electric and plumbing connections have been removed, and nearly all the tenants are gone.
But one man on the property continued to live in a small shed behind the largest house. The shed is light blue with a small exterior porch. It has chairs for sitting and flowers planted in front.
Segars told code enforcement officers that the man would move into a bunk room in the house, according to body camera footage.
What’s next?
When code enforcement officers visited the property on Jan. 8, the man living in a tiny blue shed had finally moved out — over a year after the town’s citations.
Now, Segars is applying to combine two small sheds on the property into one residential structure. He’s waiting for approval.
Code enforcement will continue to monitor his social media presence, where he was advertising for the illicit rentals, according to officer Wendy Conant.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREStory tips and records requests
Here’s how we reported this story:
In November 2019, Former Ward 1 Council Member Marc Grant said in a public meeting that a man was living out of a car on Hilton Head Island’s north end. We identified the property in question and the property’s owner. We then filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the town to see if the owner, real estate agent Ted Segars, had received any code violations. We found that he had.
After reviewing dozens of pages of citations, staff narratives, photos and the body camera footage from the town, the newspapers interviewed half a dozen state and local agencies, including the S.C. Realty Commission, DHEC and the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, to fact-check information provided by the tenants at Reggies Road, as well as Tad Segars.
Segars’ court date was postponed due to continuances and the coronavirus pandemic. An Island Packet reporter attended his rescheduled court appearance at the Bluffton Magistrate Court on Dec. 9, 2020.
After Segars’ court date, the newspapers filed a second Freedom of Information Act request with the town for the property’s updated case file. It included body camera footage from two follow-up site visits, and notes about what on the property has been remedied.
