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Article
Courtesy of The Orlando Sentinel
By Mary Shanklin
Published
March 8, 2012
What started as a disagreement between Maronda Homes and residents of a Winter Garden subdivision has evolved into a proposed bill in Tallahassee that could free builders statewide from having to fix defective roads, sidewalks and drainage.
In 2007, homeowners in Maronda's Lakeview Reserve sued the Pittsburgh-based builder over pitted streets and drainage problems. A lower court determined that common areas weren't the builder's problem, but that decision was overturned on appeal and is now in the hands of the Florida Supreme Court, which is expected to rule on it in coming months.
With the issue in legal limbo, state Rep. Frank Artiles, R-Miami, has sponsored a bill that would protect builders in Florida from being responsible for defects in a subdivision's common areas.
The result would be that homeowners would have to pick up the tab. In the case of the problems in Lakeview Reserve, the 159 homeowners would be assessed $3,800 per house to re-engineer and repair problems in the west Orange County subdivision, said Altamonte Springs lawyer Patrick Howell, who represents Lakeview homeowners.
"Legislators are calling it the anti-pothole case and saying that an HOA [homeowner association] developer should not be living in fear for years that an HOA could sue for potholes," Howell said. "It's not about potholes. It's about serious, serious problems that can plague a subdivision for years."
The legislation, which recently passed the state House by a 106-10 vote, was supported by House leadership Dean Cannon and Chris Dorworth, both Central Florida Republicans. The offices of neither of those two state representatives responded to requests for comment.
A similar bill in the Senate appears to have stalled but could still be approved in the final days of the legislative session.
The Florida Home Builders Association has been monitoring the legal case and pushing for the legislation. The trade group is concerned that a home builder could be forced to fix a subdivision's problematic streets and common areas even though engineering firms and other contractors had designed, constructed and inspected them.
If the Supreme Court sides with Lakeview Reserve's homeowners, builders warn, home builders may have to raise prices to cover bigger insurance payments and other costs necessary to protect themselves from common-area problems — some of which can surface long after a subdivision has opened and the developer has moved on.
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