Condo Q&A

Condo developer stops project. New owners not sure what to do.

Written by stephen polinsky | Wed, Feb 29, 2012 @ 01:20 PM
I, along with about 40 other UK based purchasers, have condos in a development in Orlando (second stage of a larger development) where the development has halted. The first stage is up and running and because of the size the second stage has a different condo association to the first. No intra-condo agreement was set up and consequently the first stage has now fenced off the unfinished second stage effectively cutting off access. These are short term rental units for the vacation market. The second stage has gone into liquidation and been sold to the bank who are now in talks with several buyers to take over the development. It seems there is a possibility that the new owners could do several things - and as we are UK based and not fully up with the way condos work it is difficult to know what to expect. They could fight the case in court to get access through stage 1 (it was always going to be one large development eventually). This would probably mean a charge to us to fund it which none of us can afford having had two years with no income from the units. One of other alternatives is they could apparently collapse the condo and presumably buy back the units in a forced sale. Is this right? Can they do that? Do they have to pay market value or can they buy back at a proportionate value based on what they paid for the whole development? Any insight gratefully accepted.