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Article Courtesy of The Miami
Herald
By Sarah
Elder
Published
October 24, 2011
After eight years of litigation, a Doral condo
complex is finally getting its pool back.
The pool in the Doral Place condominium, 5000 NW
102nd Ave., was auctioned off to Miami real estate company R-U-4 Real
Inc. and For Sale By Owner Inc. in April 2003. Unpaid taxes on the
property were almost $8,000 after the county seized control of the pool
plus a half acre of land and sold it.
Continental Group, the
management company for Doral Place, was sent notices for
taxes dating back to 1998 and 1999, but the condo’s
master homeowner’s association never received them.
The association was unaware until a six-foot chain link
fence and a “No Trespassing” sign blocked
residents’ access.
Vicente Peña was
president of the condo association in 2003 when
residents lost their pool. Peña blames Continental.
“The negligence was
their fault,” he said. “They were the ones that got
us into this mess.”
Anthony Kalliche, general
counsel for Continental Group said the management
company doesn’t know why the last tax bill that never
got to the condo’s board of directors. But
Continental’s insurance company paid for the majority
of legal fees for Doral Place — 90 percent according
to Peña.
The association had to
repay the back taxes and is now up to date, Peña says.
Florida’s Third
District Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the condo in
2008, finding that the
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In 2003, residents of the Doral Place condo found themselves locked out of their own pool. After eight years of litigation, now they have it back.
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swimming
pool was condominium property and should not have been sold separately. The
state Supreme Court refused to hear the case a year later.
Miami-Dade
Circuit Court entered judgment for the condo association in August.
“It
really was just many years of a bitterly contested matter that just
wouldn’t go away,” said Frank Colonnelli, a lawyer for the association.
Colonnelli, of Boyd Richards Parker & Colonnelli in Miami, represented
Doral Place during the eight-year tug-of-war.
R-U-4
Real Inc. and FSBO were refunded the purchase amount of $51,867 plus
interest.
“They
turned down two initial high offers from the insurance company. They refused
to settle,” Peña said.
Even
though residents have had access to the pool since December 2003,
improvements were not made during the legal battle. The cabana and restrooms
have been out of service since 2007. Hundreds of residents will soon have a
revamped community pool.
“In
comparison to what it was, nobody uses that pool. The whole pool needs to be
redone, the railing, the tiles need to be broken. The roof has holes in
it,” said Jimmy Rivero, vice president of Doral Place’s new management
company, Allied Property Group.
Rivero
said the repairs are estimated at $400,000 and the goal is to have the
remodeling complete by summer 2012. Rivero began by having the fence torn
down on Tuesday.
Peña
says the tax issues could have been easily overturned if Miami-Dade County
had correctly listed the land as part of the condo’s shared property.
“What
they failed to do was incorporate that property into the common areas. No
one knows why that piece of property was left out of the common area of
Doral Place,” said Peña.
Because
of sovereign immunity, a legal privilege that shields the county from civil
suit, the condo association cannot sue the county, Peña said.
The
association is now suing Continental Group for negligence and breach of
contract and will be seeking the legal fees left unpaid by Continental’s
insurance company in the past eight years.
At
an association meeting on Oct. 12, the board of directors offered a
champagne toast after announcing the official restoration of the pool to
Doral Place.
“I
look back over the last eight years, and the amount of time I’ve spent on
this is ridiculous,” Peña said.
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