Condo Buyers Take Developers to Court Over Promises

The Wall Street Journal reports:

With once-hot condominium markets across the country in sharp decline and many real-estate professionals predicting a further weakening, some developers are facing more than a glut of unsold inventory. Angry condo buyers from Boca Raton, Fla., to San Diego are taking them to court, alleging everything from breach of contract to fraud.

Some of the lawsuits claim that the amenities featured in glossy marketing brochures and model apartments never made it into the final product. Others involve much-hyped projects that went bust, leaving hundreds of buyers with contracts for condos that will never materialize.


In Florida, 2,557 individual complaints against developers were filed in fiscal year 2006, ended June 30, up from 1,825 two years ago, according to the state's Department of Business and Professional Regulation. In Colorado, at least 18 lawsuits have been filed by attorneys representing condominium-owners' associations in the last two years. Most involve complaints of shoddy construction or faulty repairs in recently completed developments, according to research compiled by Denver property appraiser Steven Miller. And in Las Vegas, the Clark County District Court is hearing cases against more than a dozen developers. That includes one suit brought by more than 50 plaintiffs against the builders of Icon Las Vegas, a two-tower project that was scrapped in January, according to Will Kemp, the attorney representing the plaintiffs.

I guess there's not enough speculators to make people happy.