RESIDENTS of a Miami Beach apartment building have been served with a lawsuit and now face eviction for allegedly failing to properly maintain and insure the structure.
Over 140 defendants have been recently served with the lawsuit, ordering them to respond in the next few days or they could be removed from their units in the Gardens on the Bay apartment complex located in South Florida.
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The land that the 1954 building rests on is owned by a company that leases it to an owners' association with each unit owner taking a stake in the lease.
In the lawsuit obtained by the Miami Herald, the landlord argues that the unit owners are tenants under the lease agreement, and responsible for maintaining the building, so they should be evicted for breaking the contract.
The building is due for recertification next year and needs at least $2million worth of repairs, according to the landlord, which is an LLC controlled by Miami-based Millennium Management and its leader, healthcare tycoon Abraham Shaulson.
An engineering report commissioned by the company last summer and obtained by the outlet found numerous cracks in the concrete and other issues which is what the $2million would be used for.
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The lawsuit also said the apartment complex lacks adequate insurance, which the company has reportedly brought up in a series of letters to the owners' association over the past several years.
To make matters worse, the building's property insurance company said last month that it would not renew its policy because of the age and condition of the roof.
Marta Alvarez, a 92-year-old resident, responded to the lawsuit in handwritten court filings, obtained by the outlet, along with several other unit owners.
“Why do you want to throw an old woman out of her home?” the widow who has lived in the apartment complex for over three decades wrote.
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Another solution to the lawsuit would require residents to pay a large assessment, which could prove too costly for some unit owners.
Several residents, many of whom are seniors living on a fixed income, said they were "depressed" after getting the eviction notice.
Pedro Vilorio, a 78-year-old who has lived in the building since 1997, called Shaulson's company a bully.
“It’s like they’re bullying us,” Vilorio said. "We don't have any place to go."
The owners association, which has filed a counter lawsuit with the representation of condo law firm Becker & Poliakoff, argues that it is the tenant under the lease, not the unit owners.
“Relying on this incomprehensible position, Owner has now threatened eviction proceedings against the unit owners within the Association,” the association, which receives maintenance fees from residents and pays the landlord $65,000 per year said in a lawsuit obtained by the outlet.
The counter lawsuit was filed in February after the landlord sent an initial notice of termination to the unit owners.
J. Joseph Givner, an attorney for the landlord said in a letter to the association on Friday that Shaulson's company had "no choice but to start an eviction action" after the tenants' and the owners association's alleged failures.
The letter also proposed a compromise, saying the landlord does not want to evict the residents.
According to the letter, the landlord will reinstate the lease if the residents comply with a list of terms, which includes obtaining required insurance by June 26 and repairing “all problems with the physical condition” of the building within 90 days.
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This compromise, which the association has 10 days to respond to, would be highly difficult to complete in the timeline given, according to the association president Irene Lopez.
Residents did get some good news after a judge granted the association's motion to suspend proceedings until a hearing scheduled for June 27.
