OGDEN, Utah — Luna Dominguez has owned Spellbound Tattoo on Washington Boulevard in Ogden for two years now.
“I'm a single mother," she said. "I've invested thousands of dollars in this place myself. I got new sinks. I painted the walls. We did the paintings outside.”
She’s never missed one payment on her rent, she said. Two days ago, Dominguez found a piece of paper on her door, saying the building was being foreclosed on because her landlord wasn’t paying the mortgage and owes the bank $456,000 plus attorney fees.
“Any phone calls that we tried to call, it's all disconnected, so he's completely, like, vanished," she said.
FOX 13 News called the landlord, Kenneth Thomson, and left messages, but he did not respond.
Rodriguez believes she has two options: buy the building or find a new space to rent.
“I don't think I'm going to be able to tattoo for the rest of my life," she said. "So to be a business owner and to teach others how to tattoo, that was going to be my retirement."
There is a way business owners who rent can secure their space, said Carl Barton, a partner with Holland & Hart who specializes in commercial real estate.
“It's called a ‘Non-disturbance and attornment provision,’" he said. "Which means as long as you're making your payments, if the landowner is foreclosed on, your rent, your lease rights and your right to occupy the space will be protected."
The building is going to be up for public auction on September 1 and Dominguez would need a quarter of a million dollars to buy it, she said.
“We just got here," said Dominguez. "It's only been two years, and we love this space. We're very attached to it."
Spellbound Tattoo has a gofundme to raise money to buy the building at the public auction.
