Condo Owners

A jury on Monday evening said that a national homebuilder owes $5.6 million to an Anne Arundel County condo association because their condominium complex was poorly constructed, according to the association's attorney. Following a five week trial and testimony from more than two dozen residents of the Eden Brook Condominiums in Odenton, a jury determined that Virginia-based NVR Inc., which does business as Ryan Homes, NVHomes and Fox Ridge Homes, should pay homeowners for defective construction and misrepresentations about the quality of the complex's construction, said attorney T. Allen Mott, of the Baltimore law firm Cowie & Mott.

CA spokesperson David Greisman's letter concerning CA staff's proposed legislation to exempt itself from the Maryland Homeowners Association Act (MHAA) is Orwellian doublespeak ("Editorial, cartoon on proposed CA reclassification missed mark," Nov. 22). The facts speak for themselves. Greisman claims that CA is already more transparent than the MHAA requires. However, an example of CA's fake transparency policy is CA's continuing failure to provide data on employee compensation pursuant to a request some three years ago by the Alliance for a Better Columbia.

Saying a heavy snowfall could collapse the roofs over their heads, homeowners at The Pointe condominiums in Abingdon have asked a court to order repairs.The Pointe Condominium Council of Unit Owners, representing the homeowners, seeks a Harford Circuit Court order to force the developer, builder and engineer to repair six buildings' roofs by Nov. 1.An Illinois architectural firm the condo owners hired to inspect the buildings concluded a heavy snowfall would collapse the roofs because of faulty trusses.

A jury on Monday evening said that a national homebuilder owes $5.6 million to an Anne Arundel County condo association because their condominium complex was poorly constructed, according to the association's attorney. Following a five week trial and testimony from more than two dozen residents of the Eden Brook Condominiums in Odenton, a jury determined that Virginia-based NVR Inc., which does business as Ryan Homes, NVHomes and Fox Ridge Homes, should pay homeowners for defective construction and misrepresentations about the quality of the complex's construction, said attorney T. Allen Mott, of the Baltimore law firm Cowie & Mott.

Owners of condominiums at Annen Woods in Pikesville have won a $3.05 million damage award against the builder of their units in a breach of warranty action in Baltimore County Circuit Court.The jury award yesterday, one of the largest to be awarded in the county court, is to go toward repairing defective walls and windows at the 76-unit condominium at 1 and 2 High Stepper Court."It's been a long battle," said Jack Eisen, president of the condominium association that brought suit in 1986 against Jonas Brody and Four Villages Limited Partnership, the developer of the property.

Condo owners locked in a bizarre three-year power struggle over their Severn parcel may be a step closer today to a truce.For more than two years, two separate condominium organizations have each acted as if it was in charge of the 24 townhouses of Warfield 2-E off Pioneer Drive, answering to different boards of directors and collecting different fees. Confounded bank officials dragged the two sides before a judge in 1995 for a settlement of the property war.The case amounts to a "tempest in a teapot," costing more to litigate than the amount of money at stake, said a lawyer for Mohammad Zuberi, an Ellicott City resident and property owner who is at the center of dispute.

The way Parr's Ridge condominium owners see it, they pay Westminster property taxes based on the same rate as all other city property owners, but do not get the same services.So, they would like a tax abatement to compensate for approximately $11,200 a year they spend on trash collection, snow removal and street lighting.City officials plan to study the request, but their initial answer is that Parr's Ridge is a private development and is not one of the types of housing units where the city provides trash collection.

The developers and warranty company of a troubled northwestern Baltimore County condominium project have agreed to a $4.2 million settlement on the eve of a jury trial on allegations of consumer law violations and shoddy work. Condo owners say the money is enough to pay legal fees and make structural repairs.The owners of the Club at McDonogh Township condominiums voted Sunday to accept the settlement offer on the suit, which alleged negligent construction, fraud, breach of warranties and violations of the Maryland Consumer Protection Act.The development, built 10 years ago, has problems that include water and air leaks, ill-fitting windows and doors, hazardous fireplaces, water-damaged siding and leaking heat pumps.

Mary Ellen Berry is looking forward to a home where the wind doesn't whistle through the windows and the entryway ceiling hasn't collapsed.June Thorne can't wait to warm her kitchen with a safe fireplace.And Lynn Sapperstein is grateful that the starlings will no longer be uninvited visitors in her living room.The three women live in the troubled Club at McDonogh Township condominiums in northwest Baltimore County, where the condo association is about to spend $4.2 million -- obtained in a lawsuit condominium owners filed against the developer -- to retrofit its eight buildings.

Ocean City's famed Carousel Hotel & Resort is scheduled to be auctioned Monday, the result of a showdown between the Pennsylvania heart surgeon who owns the hotel and a court-appointed receiver who contends that the 21-story building needs millions of dollars in repairs.The foreclosure sale is linked to a legal tug-of-war between Dr. Siamak Hamzavi of Scranton, Pa., the owner of the Carousel's 264-room hotel, and the owners of the property's 190 condominium units.The condominium owners, who succeeded in persuading a Worcester County judge to name a receiver to sort out the Carousel's financial problems, contend that Hamzavi has failed to maintain the property, even to the point of not paying necessary services such as electricity.

The condos at the Ritz-Carlton Residences offer "luxurious waterfront living" — with breathtaking views of Baltimore's Inner Harbor and amenities that include marble baths, landscaped terraces and butler's pantries with access for the help. But that's not enough for one resident. An architect has been talking to city officials about permits that might be needed to build a gun range in one of the penthouse-level condos on Key Highway, at the foot of Federal Hill. Inquiries about the gun range were meant to be hush-hush, but word about the unusual request got out quickly.

Twelve years ago, Ralph and Carolyn Clark decided to downsize. "My husband and I found our dream home back in 1998 at the grand ages of 53 and 54," Carolyn Clark said. "We left behind our home of 27 years and moved to a condo in White Marsh and haven't looked back since!" Rather than continuing to invest money in repairs to their Overlea bungalow, the active empty-nesters bought their White Marsh condominium, sight unseen, after touring the sales office model. They paid $122,000 for what they laughingly call their "lock it and leave it" home, which features two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a sunroom, in addition to living and dining rooms, open kitchen and walk-out balcony.

Jack Ritter wasn't trying to stir up a neighborhood-wide protest. He just wanted to appeal his property assessment. But word got around, and people kept asking: Can I join in? Now the owners of 19 homes in his Reisterstown neighborhood - a third of the Glyndon Trace condominiums - are appealing as a group. It's a rare but perfectly acceptable way to argue for lower property assessments, the state says. "It seems like it happened spontaneously," said Ritter, 79, a telephone company retiree whose assessment rose more than 70 percent.

A long-planned Ritz-Carlton luxury condominium complex on what may be the most desirable undeveloped Inner Harbor setting still available - at the foot of Federal Hill - is finally getting under way. The developers said they closed on the purchase of the property and finalized funding for the $155 million project yesterday afternoon. The development's 165 units are expected to sell at prices from $600,000 to $3 million. The project, viewed as a potential landmark contribution to Baltimore's redevelopment, has been dogged for years by legal and financial disputes.

Residents of an Elkridge condominium complex have reached a settlement with a well-known Howard County developer and the builders and subcontractors associated with the 74-unit complex, staving off what was expected to be a lengthy and complicated trial in Howard County Circuit Court. Officials with the Council of Unit Owners of Springleaf at Orchard Club Condominium Inc. have agreed to settle for $1.425 million from developer L. Earl Armiger, builder James W. Miller Inc. and others three years after the condominium association filed suit claiming that the complex was not built or designed properly and that money was never set aside for upkeep as promised.

The owners of a 78-unit condominium complex in Owings Mills have filed a $1.7 million suit in Baltimore County Circuit Court alleging that the Annapolis contractor who built their homes did shoddy work that requires costly repairs and maintenance. The suit filed Monday by the Owings Choice Condominium Association Inc. alleges that PCS Homes of Annapolis used substandard materials when it built the wood-frame townhouses and condominiums off Painters Mill Road four years ago. The suit alleges that PCS failed to follow specified plans for the units and that the deficiencies have damaged the homes and diminished their value.

The owners of the Towsongate condominium complex want their water leaks repaired.And, they want developer Lawrence Rachuba or the companies he hired to build and design the condos to repair them.The council of unit owners at Towsongate filed a $12 million suit in 1988 against Rachuba; the project's general contractor, Maryland Commercial Contracting Corp. and the architect, Cochran Stephenson & Donkervoet Inc.Since then, the two sides have been disputing whether the matter should be heard by a jury or be subject to binding arbitration.

A Baltimore housing group that polices the federal Fair Housing Act has reached a $75,000 settlement with a Baltimore County developer accused in a lawsuit of failing to make its new condominiums accessible to disabled people.Martin A. Dyer, associate director of Baltimore Neighborhoods Inc., said the federal suit was filed last year on behalf of two disabled condo owners at Falls Gable Condominiums, inside the Baltimore Beltway near Old Pimlico Road and the Jones Falls Expressway.Dyer said one condo owner had no accessible pathway for wheelchairs to her apartment, as required by federal law. In another unit, he said, an owner who uses a walker could not fully use the bathroom because the door and shower stall are too small.

Ocean City's famed Carousel Hotel & Resort is scheduled to be auctioned Monday, the result of a showdown between the Pennsylvania heart surgeon who owns the hotel and a court-appointed receiver who contends that the 21-story building needs millions of dollars in repairs.The foreclosure sale is linked to a legal tug-of-war between Dr. Siamak Hamzavi of Scranton, Pa., the owner of the Carousel's 264-room hotel, and the owners of the property's 190 condominium units.The condominium owners, who succeeded in persuading a Worcester County judge to name a receiver to sort out the Carousel's financial problems, contend that Hamzavi has failed to maintain the property, even to the point of not paying necessary services such as electricity.

When Kenneth L. Chamberlain bought a townhouse condominium in Ellicott City two years ago, he never dreamed that someone would build a Chick-Fil-A drive-through restaurant practically across the street.Chamberlain, 62, a retired engineer, didn't even know until a month ago that zoning laws would allow it. Chamberlain and about 40 of his neighbors attended a Howard County Zoning Board of Appeals hearing in Ellicott City last night to protest the planned fast-food restaurant.Late last night, Chamberlain was still testifying and the board had not voted on whether to let the project proceed.