The #1 Miami Real Estate Website

Another Miami Condo Lawsuit

February 8, 2008 by Lucas Lechuga

50 Biscayne


CBS4's correspondent, David Sutta, reported tonight about yet another lawsuit involving a Miami condo developer. The lawsuit was filed against the Related Group of Florida by contract holders who decided to walk away from their 20 percent deposit at 50 Biscayne. Apparently, the contract agreement stipulates that contract holders are entitled to 25 percent of their deposit money if they decide not to close. The lawsuit was filed because this money was never returned.

From the details that I've heard about the lawsuit, the plaintiff has a strong case against the developer. It seems to be a simple oversight in not including certain language that may have otherwise protected the developer. We shall see if condo litigation specialist, Beck & Lee, will be successful in getting their clients their money back.

43
Leave a Reply

43 Comment threads
0 Thread replies
0 Followers
 
Most reacted comment
Hottest comment thread
25 Comment authors
newest oldest most voted
Buy Buy

I think this is just the START of many many more lawsuit’s in 2008??What do you think?

cyrus

funny….i just read a week or two ago that Related was going after realtors for the commissions they paid on ‘investors’ that never closed on their condo.

welcome to america – the land of lawsuits.

Buyer Tom

2008 is going to be THE year where the price breaks in real estate in South Florida. We have already seen an acceleration in the rate of defaults and price declines and there is more to come with the continued resets of ARM’s and more current owners upside down on their mortgages. Credit has tightened, interest rates are still higher than 2004-2005, real estate prices are in decline…it will get ugly. Sometime in late summer-fall there will be a big slide. That is my conclusion.

Perez

That partial return of deposit provision is odd. I would think Related would use similar contracts for all of their developments, and this would affect condos other than 50 Biscayne.

Could any purchasers of other Related condos let us know?

I’m surprised people are so willing to walk away from $100,000+ deposits without a fight. Usually there are some changes, which the buyer could allege are material; maybe Related provided a perfectly-conforming condo on time, in which the buyer should close or lose their deposit.

Cyrus, info on the Related v. agents lawsuit is available at

brian

At then end of the CBS article. Does that mean 200 buyers walked away from 50 Biscayne? That is a HUGE number.

Buy Buy

I’m with you BUYER TOM….in total agreement with what your theory is.Could you believe that I had a realestate agent that didn’t want to write an offer on a condo last week because it wasn’t FULL PRICE.The building is 3/4 for sale and she had the nerve to tell me the seller might RAISE his price.I might even write a FULL STORY on here about that one……discusting.

guillermo

Lucas,any new news on ONYX ON THE BAY??.
Does the developer still has the building??,or Corus bank took it??.

Buyer Tom

The reason for my “dire” conclusion is that the number of owners at the “margin” are piling up. The “I don’t want to” and “I can’t anymore” hold onto this property owners are becoming a larger pool…..I see this in the “for rent” units where owners are anxious to get it rented even at 1/3 the cost of ownership (on a cash basis, not including potential price appreciation or depreciation as the case may be). Moreover, people, perhaps hundreds, gladly walked away from 15% (actually what many thought was 20%!) shows the extent to which people are RUNNING from buying… Read more »

Buyer Tom

Lastly, if the desire to rent isn’t even there, then how can the desire to own be any better?

ana

i would like to know the status of your lawsuit. has the developer backed off?

also, i am in south florida this week. i would be interested in seeing some of these condos.

what is the best way to contact you lucas?

Buy Buy

Hello BUYER TOM did you find out where the forclosure’s are listed yet? Let me know on here and I can direct you to all the NEW one’s coming out EVERYDAY.

Buyer Tom

Buy Buy – Nope, I don’t know where the foreclosures are listed. Would be interested in seeing them and the recent trends. My guess is a lot of people will continue to get beached as the tide rolls out….

Buy Buy

Buyer Tom try dailybusinessreview.com then go to public notice’s and then scroll around for forclosure’s.You have to put in the date’s and you can find every forclosure in Dade Broward County .You’ll probably find a lot of other very interesting info.there as well. Good luck.

Lawsuit Charlie

lucas,
can you list lawsuits with each development?

I just toured a property recently. The trash chutes were not the more up to date electric recycling chutes. Just a normal chute, shove it all down together. Is this a negative in a building if they don’t do recycling? Do you know of any higher end building that do not do recycling?
thanks……………
Lawsuit Charlie

Guillermo,

I think the developer still owns the units. The remaining units are still being shopped around to be purchased by a bulk buyer.

Un-Related

Sunday afternoon and the Miami Hearld has not touched this….Gourge Perez must buy too much ad space. Either that or the Hearld wouldn’t want the public to see the story “Related Lawsuit” on the same day they featured Related in the “Michell Spence-Jones Bribery Investigation ” story….. If you want a snapshot on Gourge’s current legal backlog, go to: Select: “Standard Case Search” Type in TRG as “Party Name”. You will find 80+ OPEN LAWSUITS against Harbour House, Hallandale Beach III, Desert Inn, Loft II, and Sunny Isles VII. The 50 Biscayne suits have not yet been posted. Ole Gourge… Read more »

Buy Buy

UN-RELATED your sure doing your homework.I can’t believe the lawsuit’s that they are involved in.I can imagine how many OPERA HOUSE is involved in and will be in shortly.Miami better expand the court house to keep up with the demand.

Lawsuit Charlie

please list blog of buiding lawsuits

I’m looking to relocate to Miami. I own a unit at 50 Biscayne that I closed on last October. I’ve have no problem whatsoever renting it out to cover my costs. I love the building and area so much i’m currently looking to rent a unit down there until my current tenants lease is up. Miami is hott and will only get hotter. The idiots who now want out of their contracts should of never purchased in the first place!

Perez

Most of the lawsuits seem to be against the Harbour House project. What’s up with Harbour House? That’s a great location, and project looked very promising.

There seem to be about 9 suits involving 50 Biscayne. These two projects seem to make up most of the suits against TRG. Other than these two projects, I’d say considering the # of units they’ve developed, things have been pretty smooth and profitable for TRG; of course, market prices have changed and additional lawsuits may cut into those smooth profits.

Buy Buy

Hi Lucas,will you be re-activating the PROPERTY SEARCH feature on this blog? I like that a lot and hope you bring it back. Thank’s and keep up the good work.

Alejandro Diaz-Bazan

Anyone habve a final count on how many depostis where “lost” or didnt close on 50 Biscayne?

Un-Related

Lucas, It is a shame that you let the “put a helium hose in the dead-market’s backside and reinflate it” crowd get the best of you when you “pulled” the posts of Drew and I regarding the legal verbage of Related’s contracts. Fact is, I was looking at one of those contracts when I posted what I did. My explanation of the escrow requirements regarding deposits in excess of 10% of purchase price was also dead on the money. My citation of the Miami Herald article regarding : “The Condo King” is what it is….a newspaper article dated April 18,… Read more »

Un-Related,

I didn’t pull any comments. A few comments may have been lost in the process of transferring my site to a new server when my developer did the latest updates.

Feel free to repost the comment. What day did you post the comment?

Un-Related,

I think more than a few comments were actually lost. I think this post had over 30 comments on it a few days ago. I’ll have my developer see if he can locate them on the old server. It may take until tomorrow, however.

CA

Un-Related,
what section of regulation 718 states that 50% of your deposit exceeding 10% must be refunded ? I remember seeing it in your “lost” comments . Marina Blue is also refusing to refund any money even it is spelled out in their contract. I know a dozen of people have sued them.

CA

Josh Cahill,
Do you have a 1 or 2 br? I am trying to decide whether to close in MB but am having problems with rent only covering my mortgage..HOA and property t of 2.25% will be my negative cash flow ($20K a year). I am surprised that you can cover your cost renting out …How much rent can I get for a 2br on a high floor ,around 1100 sqft ?

Un-Related

Lucas,

You asked: “Feel free to repost the comment. What day did you post the comment?”

My post was made on February 12 in the early afternoon. It was in response to the post by Drew.

Drew

Lucase, we were discussing whether Fla Stat Ch 718 specifies that a developer must return portions of a deposit in excess of 10% even if the buyer defaults. Some of us indicated that we were unaware of any such provision; but I am aware that if a developer uses more than 10% of a buyer’s deposits towards construction then a disclosure must be made to the buyer. I still would like to know if Related’s contract language tracks the statute- I do not think it does.

Un-Related,

My developer transferred my files from my old server to my new server at around 4:30am on February 12. It can take up to 24 hours for the DNS to propagate. Basically, your network was probably still looking at the old website when you made those comments. I will have my developer find those comments tonight and repost them. I was wondering why I didn’t have many comments yesterday.

Laurent

miami only way out of their problems: cancel property taxes once stupid people lost money

Lol…developers got us all and they re the one who will get this approved by the government through lobbying

Julian

CA – I think Cahill is ‘joshing’ with you…

emma

What about the Related Groups new project in SoFi, The Viceroy? Any news on this project? Still moving forward?

terry black

d.oes anyone know of any problems with continuum ll miami beach, complaints,suits,
number of units sold, discrepencies ie square foot measurements. please mail me with anything at all related to this project. thanks

doctor bee

has there been any news on the status of icon brickell. i bought in 2005 but would prefer not to close. i’m sure i’m not alone, do we have any options?

DEEP

I bought at Icon Brickell in 2005 and I´m not sure if I´ll close in December.

renting

hello! i have found this site extremely interesting and am hoping for a little advice. we are needing a 2-2 and currently live and would like to stay around the bay: quantum, 1800, or north at midtown or blue. what if any concerns are there with any of these buildings? thank you! also, what % under listing would be a good start?

doctor bee

i heard that if you haven’t closed on your property and you signed your contract as part of a pre-construction deal, florida law allows you to recoup your deposit if in two years your property is not ready….anyone else heard of such a law?

Un-Related

doctor bee,

I believe that applies to projects of less than 100 units, provided the contract does not have a “finish-by” date in it. The big developers usually give themselves 3-4 years.

renting

quantum is a very nice building and improving everyday. I believe it will be a success.

Mane

any comments on Isola at Brickell Key?
I have a friend who lived there and liked a lot and I will move from Chicago….rent

eric

Is there any more info on the related groups lawsuits against realtors?

are they going to proceed against them in ongoing projects, like trump 1,2,3 or icon brickell?

any inside info you may have would be helpful.

i noticed that a number of cases against real estate companies over “advanced” commissions have been dismissed, as in the south florida business journal article…

it would great to know their intentions

Jean

Just wanted to let you know about an experience that I had at Icon Brickell tonight. I will try to make it short. I am a professional here in south Florida. I have lived in south Florida most of my life.I was just appreciating the beauty of the area and how finally the downtown area is getting some character . I was blown away in the treatment that a friend of mine experienced at Icon Brickell. She passed out while waiting in line to go into a lounge. She was carried into the lobby. I asked the person who I… Read more »

For Real Estate
Related Needs And Inquiries

please complete the form below

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.