Article
Courtesy of THE FORT LAUDERDALE CITY NEWS
By
Grayson Walker, Ph.D.
Published
June 2007
Gulag is an acronym for the former Soviet Union’s penal system. Since then, it has come into common use to describe any repressive system. I
named my column the “Tales From The Galt Gulag,” because I write about the repression of unit Owners on the Galt Ocean Mile.
Hurricane Season
Hurricane season is upon us. It is time to prepare for the worst, but pray for the best. We have been told to be self-sufficient for three days. We
must be prepared for no electricity, water, telephone, or cable for as much as three days. Perhaps more importantly, it means there will be no
police or fire protection services for as much as three days. This is what happened in South Dade County after Andrew and in New Orleans after
Katrina.
There are steps you can take to prepare. Write a Hurricane Plan and share it with your family and friends. If you have pets, you must include them
in your plan. You must have hurricane supplies. These supplies will differ if you stay in your home or evacuate. You must be prepared to protect
your family and yourself, since there may be no police or fire protection, as was the case with Hurricane’s Andrewand Katrina. A hurricane
supply list and other emergency and hurricane planning information will be posted at
www.Southpoint-Condominum.org
.
Windows
Windows continue to be an issue. I receive more calls and emails concerning windows than on any other subject. Many condominium
associations appear to be breaking the law.
The Florida Legislature changed Florida Statutes, FS 718.111(11). The responsibility for window and exterior
doors was changed, effective January 1, 2004. The change shifted responsibility for windows from the unit Owner to the Condominium
Association.
Thus, Attorney Gary Poliakoff wrote in his Hi-Riser column, “there is absolutely no debate over the question as to whether casualty insurance
policies issued after January 1, 2004 ... must cover all improvements to the condominium which include … unit windows and sliding glass
doors.” He went on to say, “The condominium association is responsible for the replacement of windows and sliding glass doors.”
Thank you, Gary! There you have it, some plain words that explain the situation.
What could be clearer?
Unit Owners Cheated
Some Boards are sending threatening letters to unit Owners, trying to force them to buy windows. Owners are being cheated into wasting many
thousands of dollars buying windows that do not belong to them. Of course, this means the unit Owner is paying much more than it would cost if
the Condominium Association replaced the windows for the entire building.
The Palm-Aire Country Club Condominium Association No. 4, Inc., followed Florida law. CAM Manager Thomas Wilson wrote to unit Owners,
“As you know, the Association has sustained a lot of damage from Hurricane Wilma and the Board has been working hard to get the
Association back to where it was prior to October 24, 2005 hurricane.
A tremendous amount of work has been completed, but there is still work to be done. One of the most confusing issues in this entire endeavor
has been, Who is responsible for the repair or the replacement of the damaged windows and sliding glass doors in the Associations?” He wrote
the DBPR “made a decision for all the condominiums in the State” and the decision basically says, “If a Condominium Association insured an
item, they must be responsible to repair or replace that item.”
Thank you, CAM Thomas Wilson and Palm-Aire #4! They wrote to their Unit Owners that if they repaired or replaced windows or sliding glass
doors, they would be reimbursed by the Association. They wrote that if a unit Owner had not made repairs, the Association would get bids on the
windows and sliding glass doors to be repaired or replaced.
If your unit’s windows need repair/replacement, it is the responsibility of your Condominium
Association to repair or replace the windows to meet the 2005 building code. If you have spent your money to repair or replace your windows, you can send your Condominium Association a letter
demanding reimbursement.
You should notify your Condominium Association, by certified mail, of the need for the repair, replacement, or reimbursement. If the
Condominium Association refuses to take action, you can file a complaint with Fort Lauderdale Code Enforcement, and the DBPR for violation
of Florida statutes FS 718.111(11).
Hurricane Damage Claims
Hurricane Wilma damaged thousands of condominium windows and doors. Many unit Owners filed claims with their insurance company to
repair broken windowpanes and frames. Much to their chagrin, these unit Owners learned that their windows were not covered since Florida law
makes them the responsibility of the condominium association.
At the same time, the Condominium Association’s filed claims with their insurance company to repair
broken windowpanes and frames. These claims were paid by the insurance companies to the Condominium Association.
Some Condominium Associations used the money they received for the damaged apartment unit
windows to reward their supporters, and to deny their opposition. Unit Owners that were “friendly” to their Board may have received one-hundred percent compensation for their damaged
windows. On the other hand, Unit Owners that were not “friendly” to their Board received nothing.
You may obtain a copy of your condominium’s master insurance policy, as your right as a Unit Owner. Contact the insurance company and
determine how much was paid to your Condominium Association for damaged windows. You may then obtain records from your condominium
detailing how much was paid to each unit Owner for window damage. Then talk to your neighbors about their damaged
windows, and find out what they received from the Board.
Permits and Code Enforcement
The City of Fort Lauderdale requires a permit and inspection for many types of work. This includes electrical, plumbing, sheetrock, shutters, and
windows. Many condominiums made illegal changes to apartments without purchasing the necessary permit(s), or having the required
inspection(s) of the work. If changes were made, even if there was a permit issued, but the work was not inspected, the permit is invalid.
Illegal changes put your entire building and your unit at risk. The master insurance company could exclude all claims to the structure and
invalidate the policy due to illegal changes made to the building. A unit Owner’s insurance policy could be invalidated. You may wish to protect
your building and yourself by confirming that all work on your building conforms to the law.
Visit http://www.fortlauderdale.gov/building_services/onestop/kioskopt.asp
and conduct a property search. You can look up your unit, association, and Board members. The system allows you to check the existence and status of permit(s), as well as
inspection(s) of the work.
Help for Owners
Attorney Inger
Garcia can be reached at www.IngerGarcia.com
or by telephone at 954-752-1213.
Jan Bergemann’s Cyber
Citizens For Justice is an organization of Owners,
for Owners, to protect Owners’ rights. For more
information, please visit them at www.CCFJ.net
or
telephone 386-740-1503 or by email at [email protected]
The Galt Mile Yahoo! Discussion group is a free forum. You can reach it at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GaltMile/
and if you wish to subscribe, simply send an email to [email protected]
The Southpoint Condominium Yahoo Discussion group is a free forum.
You can reach it at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SouthpointCondominium/
and if you wish to subscribe, simply send an email to [email protected]
The Southpoint Condominium website can be reached at http://Southpoint-Condominium.org
The AARP’s Bill of
Rights for Homeowners is available online at http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/consume/2006_15_homeowner.pdf
Government Officials
Governor Charlie Crist can be reached at 850-488-7146 or by email at [email protected]
.
Your State
Representative is Ellyn Bogdanoff. She can be
reached at 954-762-3757 or by email at [email protected].
State Representative Julio
Robaina can be reached at 305-442-6868 or by email at [email protected]
Harold Hyman of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s Bureau of Enforcement canbe reached at 954-202-3982 or by email at
[email protected]
.
Danille Carroll is our Condominium Ombudsman. She can be reached at 954-202-3234 or by email at
Danille.[email protected]
Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Bruce Roberts can be reached at 954-828-5700.
State Attorney Michael J. Satz can be reached at 954-831-6955.
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle can be reached at 954-828-5003, or by email at
[email protected] .
The Galt Gulag’s Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner is Christine Teel. She can be reached 954-828-5003, or by email at
[email protected]
Fort Lauderdale City Manager George Gretsas can be reached at 954-828-5013, by fax at 954-828-5021, or by email at
[email protected]
Code Enforcement Head Cate Mc-Caffrey can be reached at 954-828-4989, or by email at
[email protected]
.
Code Enforcement Supervisor John Gossman can be reached at 954-828-5806, or by email at
[email protected]
Galt Gulag Code Enforcement Officer Al Lovinshimer can be reached at 954-828-5118, or by email at
[email protected]
.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
I
own an apartment in the Galt Gulag,at the Southpoint condominium, on
the Galt Mile in Fort
Lauderdale. Many people
do not realize how many rights they
give up when they buy an apartment in
a condominium association.
I
have taught American Government, Constitutional Law, and Ethics for over
twenty-years, but I was not
prepared for life in
the Galt Gulag. At the
June 2005 Board meeting, Board
President Marty Glazer called the critics
of the Board “insurgents.” I am an
insurgent in the Galt Gulag. You can reach me at [email protected]
or 954-567-0520.
|
|
Editor’s
note:
Dr. Grayson Walker and myself have received
over 500 calls and emails since beginning
our Galt Condo articles in October,
2006. Almost all are about extreme condo
corruption and intimidation of
residents all in an effort to steal unit
owners’ money in broad daylight and
with total impunity. What
follows is sadly typical of what’s
happening on the Galt Ocean Mile
and their 20 buildings.
Dear Editor,
I live at Chateau Mar Condo and we have
a very well built six story building that
is a part of old Florida style right next
to the Riverside Hotel on the New River.
We seem to be the latest victims of
this “mind set” that one of the professors and
experts on concrete restoration of
the University of Miami called it.
That balconies fall off in 40 year old buildings.
In fact many of the experts I have
talked to said this is not true they can
last many years if built to code and looked
after.
Ours is especially well built. One balcony
out of 48 needs the full treatment of
rebar repair, due to bad workmanship around
7 year ago, and others in
small repair. Most balconies are in great condition with not
even hairline cracks,
but in spite of this we have been told,
by engineers, that all the balconies, even
without any signs of deterioration will
have to be dug into and should be done
straight away. Not mentioning one
important part of concrete restoration which
is monitoring. That is taking pictures
of the cracks or spalling and checking
its progress through a few years.
As long as they are waterproofed this
should not be a problem. In
fact small cracks show the rebar is doing
the job.
Because
of so many conflicting stories about
balcony deterioration and after
hearing the terrible stories around Fort
Lauderdale of how ‘good’ balconies were
dug into and found to have nothing
wrong I decided to go to the most
reputable source of information in the
construction industry, the American Society
of civil engineers (ASCE), to get some
definitive answers. I conducted a telephone
interview with Marvin Oey the director of the Construction
Institute (CI),
one of the seven institutes of the ASCE.
The Construction
Institute is the first
national organization designed
to meet
the needs of all individuals
working within
the construction industry. |
|
|
Membership
includes people
involved in building
construction, designing
construction projects
and teaching construction.
The construction industry
was established to provide
a collaborative forum
for every participant
in the construction
process. Dr Marvin Oey
received his PhD, from
the university of Texas
at Austin.
As Director of the Construction
Institute (CI) at the American Society
of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Dr. Oey
manages various technical activities related
to construction that include temporary
structures, engineering specifications, claims
avoidance, and materials. He
has lead responsibility for the development
and maintenance of CI’s strategic
direction and works closely with
industry executives to identify industry needs
and improve performance through
research, education, special studies
and services. Interview
for Concrete Restoration conducted
by Valerie Austin, noted as “V.”
V Are all balconies on buildings over
45 years old a problem?
M It all depends on the design and on what code they were
using at the time. I
would say not.
V So balconies can last longer than 45
years?
M Yes, I would say they can. The way
they design concrete buildings, they
build in a safety factor so a balcony won’t
just one day collapse. It will forge a
huge crack and start to deflect. Typically they
have a deflection of about 2-3 inches.
The balcony is actually hanging or
out of spoke. That is when it is actually dangerous.
But if there is no sign of huge cracks, they are still pretty safe structurally.
V One person took all the tiles off the
balcony. Does that cause a problem?
M Removing tiles is not a good thing
to do. Slowly, the concrete will start
to erode away. Normally, you would
have a film over the concrete which
is water protection, but now it will
more than likely seep through the concrete.
V. What about small spots spalling for
instance the size of a palm of a hand
is that serious or
minor?
M. Small spots are
minor, that’s expected in
concrete, that can be
caused by the mix of
the concrete being a
little bit different.
V One contractor wanted
to use Ground
Penetration Radar (GPR)
to inspect the
balconies. Do you think
that would work?
M I have never heard
of using GPR on
structures. I don’t even
know if that would
work.
V There was one
engineer with a sort of
broom pole who tapped
on the balconies. He
said most balconies were in
need of attention, because you could hear
hollow sounds. This was in spite of
the fact that many of these balconies did
not show any indication of deterioration at
all. Is this sort of tapping a normal testing
procedure?
M Tapping is one way. Although, to tap just to hear if it
is hollow, sounds pretty
suspect. I don’t
think any engineer would
do anything like that.
There will be hollow spots
in concrete just
because the aggregate
in it. It may sound
hollow just because of
a different density of
rock. It wasn’t mixed
well or something.
V What about tapping
on tiled balconies?
Especially ones that
have no cracks?
M That is very suspect.
Typically, what they
(engineers) will do, is
they have a ruler and
they stick the ruler
into the crack. If there is not a crack
then it (the balcony) is structurally sound.
V Could you explain more about putting
a ruler into a crack as a test?
M That’s really (a method of) measuring the width of the
crack and the depth. So, the deeper the crack is, the closer (it is) to
the rebar. Which means the tensile strength is gone. That would be a
dangerous situation, because basically the rebar is holding up the
balcony.
V What about hairline cracks?
M
Hairline cracks are to be expected in all concrete. That is not an
identification (of a problem). I thought this may help give condo boards
and unit owners some very useful information so they are not
seduced
by these unethical engineers and contractors that are
leaving a trial of nervous breakdowns and people that have
no choice but to
sell their homes. We have
seen our condo be devalued by $200,000
due to excessive and nonsense assessments
that are not necessary. The
newly repaired balconies are only
guaranteed by some of the contractors for
5 years and an independent engineer
said that ours could last another 5-10
years. Could it be because the contractors need work in this
slow down?
The board are
going with contractors that
want to take all our lovely tiles up
and dig in even though we have no deterioration.
These seems to be $2 mill contracts
which is exceptionally expensive in
a building with only 34 units. Some
people may lose their home. It has
made it impossible to sell and we are
in such a great location. Could that be
it?
Valerie
Austin, Fort Lauderdale
[email protected] |
|
|
TALES
FROM THE GALT GULAG -- PART I
TALES
FROM THE GALT GULAG -- PART II
TALES
FROM THE GALT GULAG -- PART III
THE CONDO LAWYER -- INGER GARCIA
|