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Article
Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel
By Daniel
Vasquez
Published January 14, 2009
A curious
rooftop noise has kept Phyllis Howard from getting a good night's sleep at
her Tamarac condo for two months.
Howard, 81, describes it as a recurring and irritatingly constant
"bam-bam" sound akin to a coin caught in a clothes dryer —
only a bit softer. She says it comes from the roof of her Kings Point
condo and starts after midnight, lasting until past 7 a.m.
"I haven't had more than three hours of sleep since Nov. 12 to be
exact," Howard said. "Ask me how I know. You don't forget the
last time you had a good sleep."
Howard, a retired social worker, contacted her association, maintenance
company and handyman. But nobody has been able to hear the noise, quiet it
or satisfy Howard.
The maintenance company
said it did everything it reasonably could, including paying for $4,000
worth of roof improvements, hiring an exterminator to check if animals had
gotten into the roof and temporarily shutting off sprinklers and a nearby
water fountain to make sure they were not the sources.
Howard's situation raises some interesting questions: What should you do
when faced with an aggravating quality of life issue? And at what point
has an association or maintenance company done enough to address your
problem?
Make your case
Within a day of hearing the noise and losing
sleep, Howard alerted her board. Later she called a company to visit her
home to make sure the noise was not related to a year-old air conditioning
unit.
Howard says the association president and handyman visited, but said they
heard nothing. She also talked to neighbors, but none had a similar noise
problem.
She said she is now left with calling the maintenance company every day.
Howard convinced me to make a trip to her immaculate one-bedroom unit.
"These noises are killing me," she said. "I need
help."
I arrived after midnight and tried my best. I checked different rooms,
even laid on her bed to get a better sense of her vantage point. I just
didn't hear anything. But I believe she does.
"Thanks for coming," Howard told me, clearly disappointed.
"Too bad you don't have better hearing."
Despite the results, Howard has done a lot of things right.
It's important to contact everyone involved, said Barry Silver, a Boca
Raton attorney who represents condo owners. If you can, he said, first
meet informally with board members to seek help. If that doesn't work, go
to a board meeting and discuss it on the record. To make your best case,
Silver suggests collecting whatever relevant information you can to ensure
the board understands the problem and why they may be responsible for
fixing it.
If you're collecting evidence about a strange noise, use a recorder. Take
photos if that helps. If you have a serious problem, like a roof leak,
consult an expert, Silver says.
"It's very important to establish what the problem is and what it
takes to fix it. You need an expert to write it in a report," he
said.
File a lawsuit
Even if you do everything right, you may not
get relief and may have to file a civil suit. "Make sure you are on
solid ground before you do that because in Florida, the loser pays the
winner's attorney fees in a homeowner or condo dispute," Silver said.
He also warned that a dispute may involve a small sum of money — a
couple of hundred dollars in repair costs, for instance — but could wind
up costing thousands in attorney fees if it ends up in court. Of course,
if you win in court, you are entitled to be reimbursed.
"In most cases, an association has a duty to allow people to live in
peace," Silver said. "If the association does not do this, it
can be sued for breach of duty.
"But just because your situation involves an association [or
maintenance company], you still must do what anyone does when they bring a
civil suit. "Provide evidence," Silver said. "With zero
evidence, you have no case."
Daniel
Vasquez can be reached at:
[email protected]
or at 954-356-4558 (Broward) or 561-243-6686 (Palm
Beach County). His condo column runs every Wednesday in the Local
section and at www.sunsentinel.com/condos.
You also can read his consumer column every Monday in Your Money and at www.sunsentinel.com/vasquez
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