MIAMI - A shocking
assessment for one condominium in Miami this week.
Owners are being asked to pay $175,000 each towards their
40-year recertification. This is a story we have been
hearing more and more across South Florida.
Residents say
something isn't adding up and they are putting the blame on
their homeowners' association.
"I'm in shock in disbelief," said Christian Murray.
Murray has lived in the Palm Bay Yacht Club condos since
2016. Now he and many other residents are worried if they'd
be able to keep their homes.
Background
The building needs its 40 year recertification, meaning, an
engineer needs to come and see if the building needs
structural and electrical repairs. It's not uncommon that
some areas need to be fixed. |
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When the property managers brought in
their engineer, they claimed the building needed $46 million
dollars in repairs.
"We'd have to pay nearly $200 thousand in repairs," said
Murray. "That's insane."
Murray says the entire building itself is worth around $50
million.
So residents hired a different engineer to do the same
assessment, and they were told the building needed around
$23 million in repairs, a far cry from the initial $46
million.
"Asking for $46 million is really extraordinary," said
attorney Jane Muir.
Muir was hired by the residents to fight against the
property managers.
The Problem
Upon further investigation, Muir said the initial engineer
largely inflated the cost of repairs. Residents believe the
property manager, called AKAM, is not only inflating numbers
but also wants to hire their sister company, Project
Management Group, to do the repairs.
"It's going to ruin their lives, people are going to lose
their homes," said resident Sonia Przulji. "I cannot afford
this. I've cried myself to sleep wondering what I'd do."
"I want the truth," said resident Margarita Genova-Cordova.
"This is not right."
CBS4 reached out to the AKAM attorneys and they've agreed to
speak with us.