Not sure if anyone can help me, but it??s worth a shot!
I am a mere layperson who joined this site, but I found it during research to help my parents in a condo battle dealing with my father??s childhood home in Lexington, Ky. The home was divided into 4 condos when my grandparents died, and my parents kept the largest unit. A survey was done, and each plat was filed simultaneously with the master deed and bylaws of the new condo association. However, in the master deed, the attorneys accidentally listed our square footage as the square footage of unit 1 and gave us their square footage. The owners of unit 1 are absolutely wretched individuals who clearly have nothing to do but bully the other unit owners. The square footage advantage gives them a tie breaking vote, which allows them to control the association (which was formed as a non-profit.) We are currently working with an attorney on a corrective deed due to a typographical error, but this process has taken shockingly long already... I will wait to ask questions regarding that issue and will start with this one:
The basement drawing in the plat stipulates that unit 1 has a dedicated space, and that 2,3, and 4 share the rest of the common area. However, the rest of the common area is completely FULL of the crap belonging to unit 1, including 3 sets of washers/dryers, and they ALSO have claimed the small space designated to them and locked it. The basement is unfinished. What is the best course of action to get them to adhere to the designations in the plat? Does it have to require civil action or is there another way to enforce? One of the owners tried telling them to move their stuff to no avail. Thanks in advance!!
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There is so much more to this whole thing that has us pulling our hair out, but this basement issue really has us and the other unit owners unraveling.... (a 95 pound elderly condo owner got crushed underneath a rack of clothes down there and was screaming for help, and these bullies did not come rescue her from beneath their JUNK!)
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Frankly, the current arrangement is an invitation for problems. The Unit 1 owners are conforming to the designations of the plat. Or, rather, taking advantage of the lack thereof.
Perhaps you could amend your bylaws to:
- designate certain equal portions of the basement GCE area to each unit owner, or....?ÿ?ÿ
- forbid the storage of derelict appliances, or anything else for over, say, 48 hrs, in any GCE area.
I presume the the owners of units 2, 3, & 4 acting together can outvote unit 1.?ÿ
I once owned a unit in a condominium. Each unit had a deck area in the front and a patio in the back which were both Limited Common Areas. The bylaws forbade anything other than a few lawn chairs, etc. in these areas. I once got spoken to about hanging out clothes to dry in one of these areas.?ÿ
As they say, good fences make good neighbors.?ÿ ?ÿ
Norman, I think you missed the part where Unit 1 has a designated storage space in the basement, whereas Units 2, 3, and 4 have a shared space, and Unit 1 is occupying the space designated for Units 2-4.
Yes, this is fully and completely a legal matter, not a question that surveyors can address. You can sue them for trespass, emotional distress, etc. This situation does not sound like a dispute over the physical location of the boundaries, so I'm afraid a surveyor's advice is worth no more than the grocer's.
Thank you so much!! I am afraid you are right about it being all legal. I??ve talked to the county clerks office, the pva office, the city re: code enforcement etc etc. Condos seem to really stump people! We have already spent so much money dealing with these jerks, so I was hoping someone would just say ??oh! I??ve dealt with that exact scenario! Here??s your solution.?
I saw several old threads about condos and plat issues, so I thought I would give it a shot! Thank you anyways! There is lots of good info on here! Appreciate y??all??s time!
Yes, I did miss that. I remain a bit confused over how an area can be both a GCE and exclude a unit owner. Perhaps it's a Kentucky thing.
