Surprise lien on her condo – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports

A couple of days before a South Florida woman got ready to sell her condo, she got a surprise that stopped the closing. A problem that the board hadn’t made owners aware of and it cost all of them. Can they keep something like that from residents? It’s Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser.

Talk about life taking you in a full circle. We met Melanie at the house she grew up in.

Melanie Chojnacki: “Um, there are a lot of memories here, and it is all my old neighbors that I grew up with.”

But after growing up, Melanie went out on her own and bought a condo.

Melanie Chojnacki: “It’s gorgeous. I absolutely loved living there at the time.”

Then Melanie decided to circle back after she got a chance to move into her childhood home, but first she had to sell that condo.

Melanie Chojnacki: “I end up doing everything right. My realtor found this buyer.”

And then two days before closing the sale, Melanie got what you don’t want: Trouble.

Melanie Chojnacki: “The biggest surprise, pretty much at the last minute, was a $1,250 lien on my unit, on all of the units at Cypress Club.”

Cypress Club needed repairs to pass the 40-year recertification. They didn’t get it done. So, Pompano Beach hit the property with fines and a lien on the condos.

Melanie Chojnacki: “And the board didn’t tell us, and the management property never told us. Nobody knew about it until I brought it into the meeting of the [Homeowners Association.]

With the sale of her condo in trouble, Melanie let the board know how she felt in a Zoom meeting a couple of days later.

Melanie Chojnacki: “This is Melanie. If it happened two or three weeks ago and you were aware of this lien, why didn’t you inform other people who are selling?”

HOA Man: “Again, I apologize that this is happening to you. I know it’s tough. It’s not fair.”

Might not be fair to Melanie, but she had to pay the $1250 lien to finish the sale of her condo.

Melanie Chojnacki: “They weren’t going to close on my condo, so I had no choice but to pay it.”

Being able to close the deal and move back into her childhood home made her happy. Having to pay a lien that’s someone else’s fault doesn’t.

Melanie Chojnacki: “I felt horrible. It wasn’t fair to me, and it’s my unit. I should be able to know whether there’s a lien or not on it.”

Well, Howard does a board have to tell residents there is a lien on their unit and if they don’t, do the owners have to pay it?

Howard Finkelstein: “The board has what the law calls a fiduciary duty, a responsibility to inform the owners of anything that impacts them and a lien on their condo certainly qualifies. However, being kept in the dark doesn’t mean the association has to pay your share of that lien. That’s your responsibility.”

As we looked into this, the first thing that struck me was that at the hearing to fine and place a lien on Cypress Club Condominiums, neither the board nor their attorney showed up.

The city wrote that they were not present or represented at the hearing. When I contacted the property manager, he said to contact their attorney. I tried. He didn’t respond to calls or emails.

Turns out the lucky one in all this: Melanie.

Howard Finkelstein: “The reason? It cost her 1250 dollars to get released from the lien and sell her condo, but the special assessments that may come for each owner in the future to pass the 40-year recertification could be a lot more. So, yes, she is lucky.”

And happy to be back in the neighborhood, hopefully for good.

Melanie Chojnacki: “I won’t ever live in a condo again. It was a good experience, but it’s nicer to live in a neighborhood and not have someone kind of micromanage you.”

Welcome back to your home, Melanie!

Now, Howard said the board has to inform owners of what’s going on, but if they don’t, there’s not much you can do. The only remedy the law gives you is to sue, but that’s expensive and not worth it.

Another thing, this is all caused by the failed attempt to meet the 40-year recertification—if your condo is going through it, keep your eyes open and ask a lot of questions.

Feel like you have been whacked by a board? Doesn’t make dollars or “cents” to you. Circle around and lein on us to bring home some answers for you.

With this Help Me Howard, I’m Patrick Fraser, 7News.

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