Condo owners fighting takeover
Developer says 10% of residents can object to investor, stalling plan.
By Leslie Gray Streeter Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Efforts of an investor to kick owners out of their homes in a Century Village building appear to have been blocked by motivated residents and a newly passed law.
But the man who developed the well-known retirement community west of West Palm Beach more than 40 years ago told residents Friday that they must become proactive to ensure that others in the 7,850-unit development don’t become vulnerable to similar attempts.
“The whole concept of (condominiums) was that unit owners would be participating in ... making decisions,”
H. Irwin Levy, 89, told a delegates’ meeting of Century Village’s United Civic Organization (UCO) in the community’s clubhouse. “Apparently a lot of people are just ignoring it. If you don’t exercise that right, you start the problem of losing control. You want to control who lives there. It’s your responsibility.”
The delegate assembly was spirited and at times contentious.
“Try to behave! You’re on television!” warned UCO president David Israel as residents shouted each other down over who got to speak next and whether they were asking real questions or making speeches. “Don’t make a speech.”
They were responding to growing concerns about the Sheffield O building, where 17 of the 24 units are owned by a single investor, Palm Beach County’s Donald T. Kelly, who also has power of attorney over two others. Recently, resident Nancy Salmi reported receiving a letter from Kelly stating his intention to dissolve the building’s condo association, which he claimed would then give him the right to force the sale of the other units, including Salmi’s, at the Palm Beach County Appraiser’s value.
Developer says 10% of residents can object to investor, stalling plan.
By Leslie Gray Streeter Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Efforts of an investor to kick owners out of their homes in a Century Village building appear to have been blocked by motivated residents and a newly passed law.
But the man who developed the well-known retirement community west of West Palm Beach more than 40 years ago told residents Friday that they must become proactive to ensure that others in the 7,850-unit development don’t become vulnerable to similar attempts.
“The whole concept of (condominiums) was that unit owners would be participating in ... making decisions,”
H. Irwin Levy, 89, told a delegates’ meeting of Century Village’s United Civic Organization (UCO) in the community’s clubhouse. “Apparently a lot of people are just ignoring it. If you don’t exercise that right, you start the problem of losing control. You want to control who lives there. It’s your responsibility.”
The delegate assembly was spirited and at times contentious.
“Try to behave! You’re on television!” warned UCO president David Israel as residents shouted each other down over who got to speak next and whether they were asking real questions or making speeches. “Don’t make a speech.”
They were responding to growing concerns about the Sheffield O building, where 17 of the 24 units are owned by a single investor, Palm Beach County’s Donald T. Kelly, who also has power of attorney over two others. Recently, resident Nancy Salmi reported receiving a letter from Kelly stating his intention to dissolve the building’s condo association, which he claimed would then give him the right to force the sale of the other units, including Salmi’s, at the Palm Beach County Appraiser’s value.
There are more than 600 building and 308 associations, which makes things “a little chaotic,” said Century Village resident Donald Foster, the assistant editor of the UCO Reporter, the body’s official publication.
Foster said Kelly “found a weak association” with Sheffield O.
While Florida law would give Kelly the rights he claimed if he owned 21 units, or 80 percent, Levy told the group Friday that Kelly’s efforts would be blocked if at least 10 percent of the owners officially objected. That would require three residents. As of Friday, five, including Salmi, had done just that, meaning for the moment Kelly would be unable to take control, Levy said.
Also, a new state law that went into effect Wednesday prohibits voting for owners who are not up to date in paying their association fees, which Kelly planned to do for two of his units that the association has started foreclosure proceedings on.
Lawyers hired by Levy sent Kelly a letter this week about the situation with the old and new laws.
Although there is nothing stopping Kelly from buying new units, or from paying the recreational fees he owes, residents said they are cautiously optimistic that they have at least temporarily blocked Kelly’s efforts.
“For right now, it’ll hold,” Salmi said, “but there are other investors out there. One board member can change everything.”
Meanwhile, Levy, who was introduced to a strong round of applause, voiced concerns that Kelly was able to buy that much of Sheffield O in the first place. Because of the average age of the owners in the community, designated as 55 and over with very few exceptions, Levy said the investor might have found it easy to snap up units from elderly owners or their families.
However, he suggested that an involved group of residents could have insisted on being informed about each sale and the intended resident, not just prospective owner, of each unit.
Levy also pointed out that of the retirement community’s 13,000 residents, only about 200 attended Friday’s meeting, a small number even considering the seasonal residency of some owners.
But Levy cautioned worried residents to keep the issues of Sheffield O in perspective.
“There are 7,850 units,” Levy said. “We’re talking about 24 of them. Every building has a separate condo (association). You have elderly owners, who don’t go to meetings, and then all of a sudden it’s a one-man show.”
Sheffield O resident Yerushah Yehuda was unaware of the Kelly situation when she and her husband, Shemuel, bought their unit last year “in the middle of this mess.” During the session’s question-and-answer portion, she asked whether it was possible to remove Kelly as the president of her building’s association. She was told no.
Yehuda said she’s never met Kelly because he always participates in building association meetings by phone. As it is, she said, “all of five people show up” at the meetings she’s attended.
“Apparently he came in under the radar,” said Yehuda, 57, who recently received a letter from him demanding the couple’s insurance information.
She refused. “Unless he’s going to pay my bills,” she said during a break in the meeting, “it’s really none of his business.” lstreeter@pbpost.com
Twitter: @LeslieStreeter
H. Irwin Levy urged Century Village residents to exercise control over their communities.
Century Village residents listen Friday at their clubhouse to a talk by H. Irwin Levy, who developed the 55-plus community. Levy told the residents that they had to become proactive in order to stave off takeover attempts such as that being waged by investor Donald T. Kelly on the Sheffield O building.
LANNIS WATERS / THE PALM BEACH POST
No comments:
Post a Comment