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Article
Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel
By Maria
Herrera
Published
October 21, 2007
West
Delray - Victor Bergman bought a home at the Lexington Club nearly 20 years ago.
But he says he owns an apartment now. So does the post office, which lists his
villa as Apartment #A on his mail.
"I don't own my own house anymore," Bergman, 87, said, rather angrily.
"I own a condo."
Bergman, whose 1,600-square-foot villa shares a wall with another villa, said
his homeowners association was dissolved years ago and turned into a condo
association without the unit owners' approval. He found out when he began
receiving mail that listed his address as an apartment instead of the duplex
villa he purchased in 1988.
But board members and state officials said Bergman is confused.
"He seems to be under the impression the association converted his
townhouse into a condo," said attorney James Reyer, whose firm represents
the association. "You legally can't do this conversion."
It's not uncommon for communities incorporated as homeowners association to
dissolve their incorporation and start a new one, said Bill Raphan, a paralegal
with the Department of Professional and Business Regulation.
In this case, The Lexington Club Homeowners Association, which used to govern
the gated community, was dissolved when the developer handed over the management
of the property to the unit owners.
Raphan reviewed Lexington Club's documents and said he couldn't find anything
illicit. The community is made up of a condo association and a community
association, he said. The condo association governs 140 condos in two-story
buildings, while the community association governs 290 villas, in addition to
the common areas for the condos and the villas.
"It goes to show that there are very many different setups, and that's
confusing people," he said.
Bergman's case illustrates some of the issues homeowners living in associations
often face: understanding complicated incorporation documents and bylaws, and
abiding by the restrictions.
There are 60 million people living in 300,000 community, homeowners, condo or
cooperatives nationwide, according to the Community Association Institute.
Many of them are 55-and-older communities. As communities and their residents
age, the potential for confusion increases, especially when community bylaws
have been amended or changed.
But Bergman insists they have taken his home away and replaced it with a condo.
His attorney disagrees.
"He's from an old school where a man's home is a man's castle,"
Bergman's attorney, Greg Winters, said. "But when you live in an
association, you don't have all the rights."
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