Category: Lawsuits

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Los Angeles Real Estate Lawsuits, Litigation and Mediation

Which Downtown L.A. condominium buildings have seen the most legal action?

Lawsuits or litigation have involved many condominium buildings and HOA Home Owners Associations in Downtown Los Angeles over the years, including 1100 Wilshire, Barker Block, Biscuit Company, Flower Street, Molino Lofts, Luma, Puerta Del Sol, Alta, Market Lofts, Higgins Building (also an assessment a few years ago), Concerto, Library Court, Bunker Hill Tower, Eastern Columbia, Sky Lofts, Skyline Condos, Savoy, Grand Avenue Lofts, Evo, Elleven, Cornell Building and Little Tokyo Lofts. Additionally, many smaller, unpublicized legal skirmishes have taken place, including a lawsuit between an SB Grand penthouse owner and the developer Barry Shy. Others include loft buyers who thought that their parking was deeded, until they lost their parking spaces to the real owners. Another quiet lawsuit took place between an Alta lofts homeowner and the old HOA board that failed to properly review a loft unit home improvement approval request.

Just yesterday, we heard that new super luxury highrise condos Perla home sales are on hold due to a mechanic’s lien from one of the construction companies. This made us ask if the communist China controlled concern is having financial issues just like many other mainland China based real estate companies. We were told “no,” and that there was simply a disagreement with a contractor. This calls for more investigation into the exact nature, cause and disposition of Perla’s legal issues. Coincidently, SCG also has a legal/financial issue with its Trinidad construction project.

Mediation

Several smaller, more quiet legal skirmishes have occurred, usually little notice and no fanfare. Currently, one loft buyer just filed a request for free mediation through the CAR California Association of Realtors regarding an historic loft that reportedly has issues of missing property components after close of escrow, issues regarding noise, plumbing and electrical. Experienced real estate agents suggest settling issues before litigation and before mediation because litigation can be extremely expensive, and mediation is not always successful.

Mediation is often required per the contract provided by CAR. Most of these home purchase contracts require mediation before litigation, otherwise there may be a penalty such as the inability to recover attorney’s fees.

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Copyright © This free information provided courtesy L.A. Loft Blog with information provided by Corey Chambers, Realty Source Inc, DRE 01889449. This information does not constitute legal advice. For legal advice, contact an attorney. We are not associated with the seller, homeowner’s association or developer. For more information, contact 213-880-9910 or visit LALoftBlog.com Licensed in California. All information provided is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. Properties subject to prior sale or rental. This is not a solicitation if buyer or seller is already under contract with another broker.

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Corruption on the Condo Board a Danger to Everyone

Living in a condo community means dealing with a board of your peers who are not professionals

Who is to blame when the board is out of hand? When buying an industrial loft or condo, your lender will want to see the books to ensure the building owners’ operations are on the up and up. The rules and resources of the community board provide the insight you can use to ensure your condo or loft purchase is going to be a good move. Look carefully at the minutes and interactions residents have with the board members. A Smart building board will hire a professional property management company to handle the day-to-day operations and budgeting of funds for repairs and operations.

A condominium, cooperative, or homeowners’ association elects a board for a specific purpose: to manage the community’s day-to-day business, oversee special projects, and draft and uphold the rules and regulations that keep life orderly and harmonious. Don’t forget these are just regular people with no special skills or experience. Once elected, they gain life and death powers, as seen in the recent Florida condo collapse tragedy. In fact, the board has an inflexible fiduciary duty to act in the community’s best interests as a whole. The question of whose best interest is being acted on leads to most of the conflicts seen in litigations and disputes among stakeholders and residence of a community-owned building.

This means that boards have an obligation to stay consistently on the side of good, advocating for residents and promoting neighborly well-being – and most boards do just this. Unfortunately, however, boards are made up of humans, and humans are wildly fallible. Having sampled even a morsel of power, some find themselves starving for more; oftentimes, other less malicious folks simply make mistakes, and rather than correct them, keep on stumbling down a wrong path.  #entarlovesyou

Once the board crosses over to the dark side, it can mean serious consequences for not only its members but every owner or shareholder in the building or HOA. Infighting, backstabbing, loss of funds, declining property values, and even legal consequences may well ensue if the ship isn’t righted. Attorneys caution that it is better to be proactive rather than litigious with your board, a court case would be expensive to prosecute and yield uncertain results. #industriallofts

Seek legal advice from a real estate attorney get a free list. Fill out the online form.

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Be proactive with your community board to avoid disasters like we have seen recently

Copyright © This free information provided courtesy L.A. Loft Blog with information provided by Corey Chambers, Realty Source Inc, DRE 01889449; MPR Funding Inc NMLS 2000513. We are not associated with the seller, homeowner’s association or developer. For more information, contact 213-880-9910 or visit LALoftBlog.com  Licensed in California. All information provided is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. Properties subject to prior sale or rental. This is not a solicitation if buyer or seller is already under contract with another broker.