Unit Owners

"Where were you in December? That's what I'd like to know," says Jerry Selig, owner of Cleaning Management Services. He's talking to all those hotel and motel managers and condo owners who now are rushing to get their units cleaned and refurbished in time for the summer rental season. Mr. Selig's company does carpet cleaning and dyeing as well as restoration and renovation work, and the preseason push has his staff of 14 working long hours six days a week."People put it off all winter," he says of the touch-ups and scrub-downs required to put Ocean City's 23,220 rental units in shape for the summer season.

The sales brochure for the Club at McDonogh Township promised condominiums "built with the highest quality construction materials" in "an environment of lasting beauty that you'll be proud to call home."Ten years later, the 132 condo owners at Reisterstown and Greenspring Valley roads in northwest Baltimore County call their homes a disaster -- full of water and air leaks, ill-fitting windows and doors, hazardous fireplaces and leaking heat pumps.They say even some of the nails were hammered in wrong.

Dear Mr. Azrael: We are retired senior citizens who live in a Baltimore condominium. In addition to a monthly condo fee, we pay an annual fee to our community's umbrella association to cover other common elements for the entire community. Each of these entities are governed by separate boards composed of five condo unit owners who are elected to make decisions and expenditures for the community. Until the past few years, both the condo council and the association board minutes were provided monthly to unit owners.

The three-year process of winding up the affairs of jailed Ocean City developer H. Lloyd Hensley will take a major step toward resolution Friday, when management associations running six of Mr. Hensley's resorts will put remaining unsold time shares up for auction.Hensley has been out of the business since the state Real Estate Commission revoked his right to develop time shares in Maryland in January 1990, after the commission found widespread title fraud at some of his resorts.Hensley's resorts were developed during the 1980s.

A Baltimore City Circuit Court judge has ruled that a lawsuit over mold in one of the ritzy Harborview condos can proceed to trial. Paul C. Clark, who bought a penthouse at the Inner Harbor complex for more than $1.1 million in 2009, is suing Zalco Realty and the 100 Harborview Drive Council of Unit Owners for $5 million. He contends that the defendants knew of water and mold problems before his purchase but issued him a "resale certification" that stated they were aware of no building or health code violations.

I live in a condominium in Bel Air. I have had five water leaks from the unit directly above mine. Two were major and needed repair [paid for by my insurance company]. When I called my insurer [who had sent a letter voicing concerns], I was told to sue the owner of the unit above mine. Is this good advice? Do I have another avenue of redress? I have been reading condominium law, but interpreting them gets confusing. Shirley Manubay Bel Air Dear Ms. Manubay: Your condominium documents divide the responsibilities for repairs to major systems, including plumbing.

Recent filings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Maryland, Baltimore City:October 27R&H Properties,Stevenson, has filed for Chapter 11 protection. H. Keith Fedderman, general partner. Assets: more than $1,000,000. Liabilities: more than $500,000Gunther's Leasing Transport,7462 Railroad Avenue, Hanover, a trucking and hauling operation, filed for protection under Chapter 11. Cynthia A. Gunther, secretary/treasurer. Assets: $9,000,000. Liabilities: $17,553,890.60October 31Woodbridge Amusement Inc.,4132 E. Joppa Road, Carney, d/b/a Woodbridge Movies 7, has filed under Chapter 7. Principal: Robert G. Weinholt, president.

For the second time in two months, the developer and contractor of The Pointe Condominiums in Abingdon have been hit with suits alleging faulty construction.Three condominium owners filed suits Wednesday, seeking a total of $180 million in damages, according to records filed in Harford Circuit Court.The residents, who live in the same building in the 3500 block ofBack Pointe Court, are also asking the court to rescind their purchase agreements and order the developer to return their money, the suitsays.

Residents of an Elkridge townhouse complex are suing a well-known Howard County developer, alleging that a 74-unit complex he built is shoddy and that money residents paid toward upkeep of the homes has vanished.The Council of Unit Owners of Springleaf Condominiums alleges that developer L. Earl Armiger -- past president of the Howard County Chamber of Commerce and the Maryland Home Builders Association -- built homes that do not meet industry standards and imperil the lives of residents because of inadequate fire protection.

Dear Mr. Azrael, Is it appropriate for a condominium owner who resides in a mid-rise condominium to use the common areas for transporting via the lobby elevator her sizable amount of flea market merchandise each day? What are the condominium residents' rights in regard to her use of the common areas and her apartment for storage as well as the impression this makes on visitors seeing this occur? Cynthia Gold Baltimore Dear Ms. Gold: You and your neighbors don't have to sit there and take it while the flea market entrepreneur turns your condominium into a fleabag.