Condominiums are a Great Investment- For Lawyers

[Guest guest]

CONDOMINIUMS ARE A GREAT INVESTMENT

- FOR LAWYERS

by Pissara, Esq.

© 2007 Pissara

About every two months I get a call, or a client comes in to ask me about

condominiums.

It usually starts off with, “I bought this adorable little condo… and then

the upstairs neighbor had a flood…. And then the Homeowners Association

refused…â€

A glorious tale of woe ensues wherein a first time home buyer has purchased

a condominium and now is finding out the reality of communal living. Aside

from the basics of living in close quarters with other human beings there comes

with a condominium the joys of shared responsibilities.

Each owner is a member of the association, the association is run by a

document called the Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions, or CC & R’s. They

are

the rules that all homeowners must abide by. Typically they cover issues such

as parking assignments, renting out your unit, maximum weight of dogs, etc.

The petty details of communal living that make life pleasant for all.

Except they don’t. Once there is a set of rules for a group of people to

follow, there is always someone who wants to enforce the rules down to the last

“shall not†and there is always someone who wants to bend it a little.

This is the playground for the showboat, the doodiehead with no life

purpose, but to cause strife and angst in others. They frequently aspire to be

the

President of the Association, and frequently they achieve such lofty goals

through the apathy and ennui of their neighbors, all of whom have much better

things to do with their lives than worry about the weight of Mrs. Scherff’s

Maltese who eats too many “treats.â€

In general, the condominium association will spend huge amounts of time

arguing over extremely minor items. Favorite topics of discussion are this

season’

s flowers and why the gardener is doing a terrible job, the color that the

tile should be, and enforcement of some picayune rule that no one cares about

but the three people arguing over it. (Sounds a lot like the Santa

City Council doesn’t it? – That’s a great analogy.)

Where this all becomes an issue for the new homeowner is when their new unit

suddenly has a major a major leak and there is raw sewage all over their new

home. The stage is set for a showdown of titanic proportions.

The likely causes of this most common scenario are that the upstairs

neighbor has either ignored a problem long enough, that it has now rotted

through

the floorboards, the studs in between the units and the drywall of the new

homeowners unit; or worse, the plumbing in between the units has sprung a

leak.

In the first case, where the upstairs neighbor has ignored a situation, the

new homeowner has two main options. One is to put in a claim with their own

insurer, and let them sue the upstairs neighbor, who will put in a claim with

his insurer. The other is to sue the upstairs neighbor directly and let him

put in the claim with his insurer.

Both of these are terrible options; in the first your premiums are going to

go up, and in the second you have now made an enemy for life. It’s a case of

pick your poison.

If the problem is that the plumbing has sprung a leak in between the walls,

you now have a whole new situation, and frankly it is a level of hell for

which Dante forgot to write about. The first thing that will happen is,

everyone will blame everyone else. The association will blame the upstairs

neighbor

and until the truth comes out, he is the target of everyone’s rage and

frustration.

Then the truth comes out and the association will say that it is not their

problem to repair you unit and clean the carpets, replace the drywall, and

reimburse you for your antique 1970’s bell bottoms and disco shirt

collection.

The President of the Association, who should rightly be called the Head

Tormentor, will quickly disclaim any responsibility beyond that of hiring a

plumber to come out, rip through your drywall, put a piece of plumbers tape on

the

leak, and then leave your home with a hole in the drywall exposing the

plumbing, the insulation and the mold.

At this point the new homeowner has the following swell options: 1) Hire a

plumber and file a claim with their own insurer, 2) Repair it themselves and

3) Sue the Association to make them repair the leak and the damage to their

unit.

Obviously Number 1 has the same problem of increased premiums, and the added

bonus of the unit now has a history of claims being established PLUS the

homeowner is now taking on the liability if the repair is done in a faulty or

imperfect manner. Number 2 is a good option if you are handy, except that, you

are now personally liable for the quality of the repair and any future

problems will, rest assured, be blamed on your shoddy workmanship, even if the

problem is an electrical problem and unrelated to the repair you did.

Number 3 is why the -Stirling Common Interest Development Act, should

properly be called the full employment for lawyers act. When the above

situation appears to the homeowner, the best answer usually is to sue the

association. Sue hard. Sue Fast. Sue them all.

The hard reality is that the association will do everything in its power to

avoid its responsibilities to the individual unit owners. Sometimes, out of

an honest belief, they are not responsible. Sometimes it is a misguided

belief that they are doing their fiduciary duty to the other owners, but most

often, out of pride. The President will take a posture of indignation and

arrogance, and this is the key to the fact that they are not going to help you.

I realize that my making a pronouncement like this is scary, and it

certainly isn’t true in all cases. But my experience has been that more often

than

not, this is the best answer. There are some good associations and each case

should be evaluated on its merits, but in general, when dealing with the

association it is a good practice to get their attention with a good strong

lawsuit, and then negotiate new carpet that was ruined by raw sewage.

Pisarra is a partner in the Santa law firm of Pisarra & Grist

specializing in Business Development. He can be reached at 310/664-9969 or

by email at _dpisarra@..._ (mailto:dpisarra@...) .

************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at

http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour

[Guest guest]

I guess Im lucky. I rent a condo on the second floor. No one above me

**************************************

Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at

http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour