Small Unit Condo – Big Litigation Expense
In a small unit building, the parties had a great relationship over the years but had not contributed to a reserve fund or even regularly maintained the common areas of the premises. One of the units was then sold for a significant sum, another unit was rented and the remaining unit owners were left with a new owner that did not have funds to undertake the deferred maintenance, and an absentee owner who considered the matter out of sight out of mind. After an aggressive 28 months of costly litigation, the unit owners were forced to pay in addition to the attorney’s fees, large sums of money to address deferred maintenance items that had become safety issues. Mediation resulted in the agreement to settle the case with specified work to be done to the property and specific sums paid by all unit owners to address the repair issues. Early intervention mediation would have resulted in less cost and more resources being devoted to property maintenance instead of legal fees.
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