Article Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel

By Joe Kollin

Published July 5, 2007

Whether Marcia Rosenberg is required to pay a fine of up to $250 a day because she has termites in her townhouse depends on her five neighbors.

Rosenberg owns one of six attached townhomes in Cedarwood in Pembroke Pines.

The city has ordered her to get rid of the bugs, and her exterminator says tenting the entire building is the only way. But not all five neighbors agree and so far that has prevented the building from being fumigated.

Unable to comply with the city's order, Rosenberg last week was hauled before the special master for code enforcement, Eugene Steinfeld, who acknowledged her dilemma and his: she can't fumigate unless all five neighbors agree and he can't order them to agree.

So Steinfeld gave Rosenberg 30 days to file a lawsuit against her neighbors to allow the tenting.

Rosenberg's attorney, Melvyn Trute, said the neighbors have agreed to meet tonight to "amicably" resolve the issue.

In termite-prone South Florida, such disagreements crop up occasionally among owners of condos, villas and townhomes, said Rusty Carroll, chief structural code compliance officer for the Broward County Board of Rules & Appeals.

"It's one of the negatives of owning a townhouse," he said.

Robert Aiello owns four apartments in Colonial Manor West, a condo in Fort Lauderdale. His board ordered his building tented but he didn't want to inconvenience his tenants. He said alternative treatments would get rid of the termites, so three years ago he filed suit against the association to block the tenting.

The building was fumigated and his suit for damages continues.

The Rosenberg case, however, may be the first involving enforcement of Florida's Residential Building Code by a local government.

Earlier this year Rosenberg asked Pembroke Pines building official Sanford Laguna for advice because her neighbors wouldn't let her fumigate. The building code states that when local building officials learn residential buildings have termites, they must order the owners to take all "necessary measures" within 60 days to exterminate them.

Although the code is almost never enforced, Laguna had no choice because Rosenberg told him about the situation. He initially charged all six owners but withdrew the charges against the other five because he couldn't prove they had termites. Without a warrant, he couldn't enter their homes.

"Unless you have proof, how do you cite them?" said Carroll. "I can't come in and inspect property on my own initiative."

Alejandra Hall, 29, the mother of two young children whose home is on the other side of the wall from Rosenberg, said she lost the sale of her townhouse because of her neighbor's termites.

"I had a buyer on Jan. 21 but it was held up and that forced the lender into stopping the loan," she said.

Although three exterminators have said she has no termites, she said she is willing to listen when the owners meet.

Rosenberg's exterminator, Bart Bruni, owner of Bestec Exterminators of Hallandale Beach and inventor of a popular alternative treatment, said his system won't work in her townhouse.

"In my opinion, it's way beyond any alternative," he said. "This building needs to be fumigated."

Steve Page, owner of Alternative Termite Management, also of Hallandale Beach, has been using his California-approved alternative system on most of Cedarwood for 12 years with no complaints. Although the treatment can be used in most homes, he admits there are exceptions.

"It is very possible a unit may be too infested for my system or any alternative system," he said.

Dr. Nan-Yao Sue, professor of entomology at the University of Florida Research & Educational Center in Davie, said tenting is the only treatment for the drywood termite.

"If one unit has severe damage, chances are they are swarming out of the unit into others and people probably don't even notice," he said.

It could take five or 10 years before the termites in one unit can become noticeable in another, he said.

"The neighbors definitely will have them," he said.