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.
|