DELRAY BEACH — For the past year, Losmin Cheroy says he has been living in fear of a catastrophic collapse in the 2355 building at the Linton Ridge complex in Delray Beach.

Cheroy and his wife Lenes are on the first floor of a building so unsafe that its own code enforcement officers feared for their safety when they recently inspected it. "We're very scared," Cheroy said. "It's not a good situation for us." Pictures presented at a recent hearing showed the second-floor concrete walkway separating, or pulling away from the building at various points. Twenty-eight car-jack-type “jack stands” have been placed throughout the structure to prop up the second floor. One of them blocks a door from completely opening, causing a fire-code issue. Cheroy said the first jack stands were put up a year ago and the building has remained like that. "My cousin has been getting after me to move," Cheroy said. "We'd like to move, but you know, (the housing market) is tough out there right now."

Metal poles used to hold up second floor walkway at Linton Ridge condos in Delray Beach

With Surfside on their minds, city officials asked a special magistrate June 25 to evacuate residents from 26 units at Linton Ridge, claiming the building is unsafe.

“We all saw what happened at Surfside,” City Attorney Lynn Gelin said.

The emergency code enforcement hearing was held just one day after the collapse of the Surfside high-rise that claimed at least 27 lives with more than 100 people unaccounted for as of Monday.

Magistrate Kevin Wagner declined to order residents to vacate the building but gave the condominium association until July 1 (Thursday) to begin emergency repairs. He instructed code enforcement officers to inspect the building on a daily basis to ensure that conditions have not worsened. If that occurred, Wagner said he would consider evacuating the building at that point.

“We are taking this situation very seriously,” said Seth Keller, attorney for the condominium association. A contractor began the repair work Wednesday, one day ahead of the Thursday deadline.

The 36-year-old Linton Ridge development, located north of West Linton Boulevard on Southwest Fourth Avenue, consists of several two-story buildings that mostly have two-bedroom units of less than 900 square feet.

Keller said the jack stands at the 2355 building are part of the effort to keep it safe. He said the association has done everything the city asked of it. Gelin disagreed, saying the emergency hearing would never have happened if she believed the association was committed to repairing the building.

Building Official Steve Tobias issued an “unsafe housing letter” on June 10 to the association, requiring it to hire a structural engineer to determine the safety of the structure. The engineer advised that the structure was safe “as long as repairs began immediately.”

Two weeks later, the association failed to pick up a required permit to begin the work, Gelin said, prompting the emergency magistrate hearing. If it were not for the hearing, Gelin told Wagner, the permit would still be at City Hall.

The association failed to show any sense of urgency despite the recommendation of their own engineer that the repair work begin “immediately,” Gelin said. The association has been cited by code enforcement for structural issues since February. The city responded in early June to complaints from residents of deteriorating conditions.

Wagner said he finds himself in a difficult position. “What do I do? I do not want to leave these people in an unsafe building. I am seriously concerned about people living there.”

Gelin initially said the building should be vacated but later acknowledged she was “torn” because of the hardship it would cause to residents, noting Linton Ridge is not “an affluent community.” Most of the owners live elsewhere, according to property tax records. Many of the units have been acquired through foreclosures.

Keller objected to the emergency hearing, noting that he had only been given 90 minutes to prepare and was not in a position to rebut the city’s witnesses “This is very unfair. There is no due process.”

Wagner, however, said that the city was within its rights to call for the emergency hearing. Normally, Wagner said he would ensure that Keller had the time needed to react to the city’s claims but that is not always possible when situations like this develop.

Meanwhile, Cheroy and his wife wait.

"We saw what happened (at Surfside)," he said of the Miami condo collapse. "This place was the first thing I thought of when that happened."