Liens filed against community upstages couple's home

Article Courtesy of  The Palm Beach Post

By Jane Musgrave
Posted on Saturday, December 18, 2004

 

For what could have been a nightmarish house move, Brock and Carrie Wagner figured, this one was going to be a snap.

Their three-bedroom house in Lake Charleston sold the first day they put it on the market. They spent $10,000 renovating the house next door, which they had planned to rent until their new house was built. This week, they boxed up the last of their belongings and headed off to sign papers turning their house over to its new owner.

That's when the nightmare began. The title company discovered $32,500 worth of liens on their house.

Although the liens were filed against the Lake Charleston Homeowners Association by two companies that claim it hadn't paid them for their work, the liens affect all 2,400 homes in the community south of Hypoluxo Road west of Boynton Beach.

And, title company officials said, until the liens are resolved they won't clear the title so the Wagners' house can be sold.

"I'm in a world of trouble," Brock Wagner said. "If this deal falls through, I have to move my stuff out of the rental house and move it back into my house, and I'll be out the $10,000 I spent fixing up the rental house."

With the contract with the new owner set to expire Monday, he said, the clock is ticking. Fueling his anxiety is the fact that there's nothing he can do to stop it.

The Wagners and their two young children, those familiar with the situation say, are the latest victims of a feud that has consumed the homeowners association for the past year.

The already-complicated situation got even more complex this week when new board members, who briefly took control of the board in a failed coup earlier this year, were elected to replace the board that was in place when the liens were filed.

"The politics are just out of control," said attorney Ian Berkowitz, who represents the landscaping and irrigation companies that filed the liens, Top Cut Lawn Services and Aqua Pro Irrigation Inc.

Like the Wagners, he said, his clients are innocent victims. "Because of the infighting in the community, guys like my clients are stuck in the middle," Berkowitz said.

Further, he said, he represents another client, Jason's Tree Service, which might file a roughly $46,000 lien if its bill isn't resolved soon.

He said he sympathizes with the Wagners and that he didn't intend to hold them hostage.

Other Lake Charleston residents have been able to sell their homes since he filed the liens in late October and early November.

Other title companies let the sales proceed after the homeowners association signed affidavits saying it recognized the liens had been filed and could cover them.

However, Jeff Howeth, general counsel for Commerce Title, which is handling the Wagners' sale, said the affidavit doesn't protect his company in the event the liens aren't resolved.

He said the liens are unusual.

"It's odd that they're filed against all the property in the community," he said. "Quite honestly it's a little bit of overreaching by the (companies) who may have an aggressive lawyer who is trying to muck things up to get the HOA's attention."

Berkowitz contends that putting the liens on all the homes is the only way to assure his clients will get paid. "I made sure I wasn't overreaching," he said.

All involved said there are various ways for the matter to be resolved.

The association could pay off the liens, post a bond for the amount or give the title company the hold-harmless agreement it wants.

But after watching three scheduled closings come and go last week, Wagner said he isn't hopeful.

"Looks like we're going to have to sue, sue, sue," he said.


SEE: Hostility runs deep in Lake Charleston vote


 
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