The story of Ventnor B – a so-called “garden-condo building” in Century Village East in Deerfield Beach – began on July 7, 2005 when a devastating fire ravaged the building and destroyed more than half of the twenty (20) apartments in the building.

It’s a lesson to learn for all condo-owners: Don’t trust your board – and especially the board of a master-association with your financial welfare. You may suffer a similar fate than the owners of the units in Ventnor B.

The sad statistics of the Ventnor B fire:

July 7, 2005: A fire in one of the apartments destroys more than half of the building.

January 2, 2018: Many of the rebuilt apartments still don’t have a “Certificate of Occupancy” – and the owners are still “homeless”.

Minimum fourteen (14) of the original occupants in 2005 will never see the “new” building. They passed away during the time wasted by lawsuits and permit-issues.

It’s a shame that condo-owners have to suffer such a fate – and it clearly shows that the system of protection of owners as is in Florida just doesn’t work.

“The reckless acts and omissions of Defendants (The Plastridge Agency, Inc. the Condominium Owners Organization of Century Village, Inc. and CVE Master Management, Inc.) by and through their officers and directors and/or agents were committed in bad faith and in a manner exhibiting wanton and willful disregard of human rights, safety, or property, wherein "MIRV" was the actually level of insurance required on the property.”

Pictures of the huge holes in the fire-walls of the attic clearly show the reason why the fire was able to spread so quickly. Combined with the lack of proper insurance and the unwillingness of the guilty parties to admit their wrong-doings caused the lengthy delays preventing the condo owners from returning to their homes in a reasonable period of time

Since many months the owners are fighting the building inspectors of Broward County. Over the years many of the codes have changed. REMEMBER: Nearly thirteen (13) years went by since the fire devastated the building!

Many of the “new” codes prohibit the apartments to be rebuilt as they were when they were destroyed by the fire. Changes have to be made accordingly and the owners have to deal with all these “changes” – changes that often make little sense – and were in my opinion created by officials in exchange for campaign funds from the building industry.

The big question: How many more “stumbling blocks” will be thrown in the owners’ ways before they can finally return in their homes – after waiting already for more than twelve years.