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Re: Bought condo under false pretenses
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A lot of things that I have said are us assuming what happened with the previous owner. We are in the dark about a lot of things because we were verbally told that any issues would be addressed by the association which we thought was a whole other body of people not in the building. Anyway, the probs that happened in the past are still the same recurring problems that exist because some owners want to get the association going and others don't. We're at a standstill now because the only person that has access and is a chief officer in this association is making it seem like he has no idea what is going on and doesn't care to. The association is in a revoked status per the document I was recommended to pay for -- so I'm not even sure how anyone was able to refi after that happened. The lawyer we saw stated that we could sue to get people to get this association again but he said it would cost us 20-25k to do this and for that we may as well just use the money to replace the roof. -_- Really we just don't know what to do and we have tried so many things to get ourselves out of this mess but it's nearly impossible.
Posted on: 2013/10/10 19:30
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Re: Bought condo under false pretenses
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We were under the impression that there was a large reserve when we were looking into buying the property. We didn't think to ask for actual paperwork on it, otherwise. Quote:
I have to take a look at the paperwork again to see if this is true. Quote:
Did this and found that the association's status is revoked as of last year for failure to file annual reports for over 2 years. The only officer there appears to be one of the current owners who claims he knows nothing. -_- Not sure if I was to find any other previous officers on this report or not BUT the owner that sold to us said she was VP of the association. Based on what any of the info says in my original paperwork about electing new officials, not sure if she was entitled to sign off as VP so the closing would go through.
Posted on: 2013/10/9 18:23
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Re: Bought condo under false pretenses
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After further digging, we found out that the association are the unit owners themselves. However, we still have no access to reserves that supposedly were in place at the time of sale and no tax ID to start a new bank account with the same association name.
There was a concern we had when we saw a water mark on the ceiling in our bedroom and we were verbally promised that this would be covered by the association. We (meaning my husband and I) have spent a couple thousand dollars trying to get this repaired time and again, but over time it has been suggested to redo the entire roof which we refuse to pay for ourselves. We found out that we could have a case against the other unit owners that do not want to manage or get the association up and running again, but the legal fees involved are enormous. As to our sale, we did receive bylaws that are not enforced. We paid 3 months worth of maintenance fees at closing and our lawyer held the money because he did not know where to send it and we had to contact him to get it back. There was a realtor involved and even though it sounds nice not to make monthly payments, I rather would have done that than deal with the headaches we have had to deal with regarding roof, common area walls and painting, etc. The 6th unit was taken by the bank but it is not recorded in public record yet. It has been abandoned for the last 3 yrs.
Posted on: 2013/10/9 13:40
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Re: Bought condo under false pretenses
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We bought the condo with the lie that there was an association in place. There was one in place prior to the sale, but when we started living there, other owners claimed that the previous owner would collect money and never paid bills with it.
We have tried to ask the oldest owner to provide us with tax info for the old association to no avail. We have tried to create a new association to no avail as well because half the owners do not want one. We completed our sale with bylaws from the older association (that no one has access to or info for) and bills are still sent and directed to that old association (which has the building's physical address). There are no reserves of any kind that we are aware of or have access to so any issues of common areas surrounding our unit has come at an out of pocket cost. I'm not sure how the sale went through at all and we have thought about contacting a lawyer in the past but were hesitant to do so because of the emotional headaches and price tag. However, due to all of the out of pocket expenses we have had, our desire to get rid of the unit and now fire code violations -- It seems like it's just time to see what our chances are based on what everyone here is saying.
Posted on: 2013/10/2 20:16
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Re: Bought condo under false pretenses
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Kelsey - We re-fied in 2010 to bring costs down but originally bought in 2008. From some of the research I've done, it seems like the statute of limitations for consumer fraud is 6 years so hopefully we can sort this out with a lawyer that knows his/her stuff.
blanquiita -- No, we don't pay maintenance fees because there is no association. We pay bills individually as they are due and split them in 5 ways.
Posted on: 2013/10/2 19:02
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Re: Bought condo under false pretenses
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We pay expenses when bills are due.
Half the owners wanted to make a new association, the other half didn't. One of the owners actually owned the whole building at one point and sold off all units at different times. Someone that bought off of him, sold to us under the false pretenses that there was still an association in place when there was not. She used her bank account to create an illusion of there being a reserve in place. Total there are 6 units but only 5 owners are still around taking responsibility. The 6th owner just let the bank take the property because they didn't want to spend on lawyer fees or didn't know what else to do to get rid of the place. Again, when we bought there was no management company or association in place as we were made to believe. Also our lawyer was negligent enough to not realize this and so here we are 5 years later. Calling a new lawyer sounds pretty obvious but considering the circumstances, I was looking for advice from someone who has been through a similar situation or from someone that knows a good lawyer that may be able to help us.
Posted on: 2013/10/2 17:34
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Bought condo under false pretenses
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My husband and I bought a condo in Jersey City Heights about 5 years ago. There was no condo association in place or building owner and we were not aware of this as the seller brought bylaws to the table and misrepresented herself as a chief officer.
We have since incurred costs on roof repairs, pest problems, wear and tear within the building, insulating walls and now we are hit with fire violations for the building. We bought a condo thinking things would be made easier because we wouldn't have to clean as much and any repairs necessary would be funded by the association...WRONG! We have tried to sell the unit with no avail because no one wants to buy for as much as we owe in the area and no one wants anything self-managed. In addition, we have not done anything about this in the past because we thought we would waste our time and spend so much money in lawyer fees. We're thinking that now might be a good time to do something considering the hefty violation fees we would have to pay for these fire violations. Does anyone know if it's possible to sue the previous owner for misrepresentation or the lawyer that worked with us for negligence to uncover this problem? It's been 5 years so not sure we can do anything about it now, but any tips would be appreciated!
Posted on: 2013/10/2 14:43
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