Owners in one South Florida condo
community say they are uncertain whether they can stay in their homes after
developers have bought up the majority of the property.
“This is my house. This is my everything,” Oscar Larrieu told NBC6
Investigates. “This is everything I’ve worked for.”
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Owners in one South Florida condo community say they are uncertain whether they can stay in their homes after developers have bought up the majority of the property. NBC6’s Amy Viteri reports. |
“The emails happened
where they were saying that they can terminate, they had the
right to terminate the building,” Larrieu explained. “You
know, they sent this to our association lawyer, but they
copied all the owners.”
Larrieu says owners were copied on an email in June from an
attorney representing the developers, who are now majority
owners. It asks the association’s attorney at that time to
“…Acknowledge some of the hard facts…” specifically the
condo’s termination provision. Adding, “…our client has an
ownership interest in over 75% of the units…all current
members of the board have consistently sought to block
termination.”
In late July, Larrieu says the
developers reached out to him with an offer, but he had not yet responded.
“It's very unsettling just because of the nature of the unknown,” he said.
“It's just everybody's, I think, in a state of panic and fear.”
Current Florida law requires a vote of at least 80% in order to terminate a
condominium, but that doesn’t necessarily apply to all condos.
“It depends on a lot of factors,” according to attorney Carolina Sheir, who
is not affiliated with Bayshore Park.
Sheir is a partner at Eisinger Law firm and is certified in condominium law.
She explained how owners can know their rights.
“To make it easy as possible, it’s basically what law applies to your
condominium,” she explained, “And that depends on what language is stated in
your declaration.”
It’s known as Kaufman language, a simple phrase “as amended from time to
time,” which means your condo will always follow the most current law. In
the case of Bayshore Park, Sheir says the declaration, which is the condo’s
governing document, doesn’t have that language. Instead, it has other
provisions.
“And that basically says that 75% of the owners can come together into an
agreement to effectuate a termination process,” she explained.
We reached out to representatives for BH group and Mast capital and got an
email in response confirming their joint venture acquired 30 units, which is
over the required 75% threshold. A spokesperson told NBC6 Investigates: “The
joint venture ownership has submitted offers to the remaining nine unit
owners in the building.”
Sheir says condo buyouts are a growing issue. She says she meets with one or
two condo associations a week weighing whether they can terminate.
“When you are purchasing the biggest investment of your life, which is your
home or should be your home, you really need to understand what you're
buying,” she said.
Larrieu says he thought his investment was a forever home.
“I'm being sacrificed for somebody else's profit,” he said.
A situation that potentially leaves him with few options to live anywhere
close to the neighborhood he’s called home for decades.
“And your fears get a hold of you,” he said, “And you don't know, you don't
know if, where you're going to end up. I would love to just be happy again,
not have to worry about this.”
Oscar told NBC6 he has not responded to the offer to buy his unit and said
he is concerned he won’t be able to afford a similar home in the current
housing market. According to the condo’s governing documents, the units sold
in the event of a termination should be bought at fair market value.