One Miami Beach condo owner's demise turned into the rest of the building's delight thanks to a judge's ruling that could help more condo owners put money in their pockets.
Jane Losson is one of the condo owners in a 12-unit building who stands to gain thousands of dollars after a Miami-Dade judge ruled the a foreclosed unit in her complex didn't belong to the bank, but instead to the members of the condo association.
The owner of the foreclosed unit was nearly $20,000 behind in association and maintenance fees and simply left the unit. Normally, the other residents are forced to pick up the financial slack, but Losson and her neighbors refused to become victims.
"There were a lot of people behind in their fees," she said. "It threw the building into entire chaos. We didn’t have any money to do repairs, painting, or roofing."
So Losson took the condo owner and the bank to court. The judge ruled the condo owners should have the unit free and clear and terminated the mortgage.
That means the condo owners will share in the proceeds when the unit is sold or rented out.
"We will use the profits to hopefully reduce the fees for people and hopefully fix up the building," Losson said.
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Some of the money will go toward fixing the broken gate into the complex, painting the outside of the building and lowering the $340 monthly maintenance fee for residents.
Attorney Ben Soloman, who handled the case for Losson and the other owners, said the victory shows buildings can take on big banks and ultimately turn the units they gain ownership to into cash by later selling them.
He said he knew of five other cases where condo owners have been successful taking over foreclosed properties from the bank that holds the mortgage.
"It will lower future assessments. It will help to avoid special assessments and it also helps to pay the bills," Soloman said. "It has application potentially around the entire country."
For more information, go to www.associationlawgroup.com.
