Is the Project Dead? & Fox Management Group Defaults, OWES OVER $700,000! (#914)

Mara looked thru the list, picked the single cheapest item and informed us haughtily that only that one item would be paid for by the Board.
The rest was our problem!

Here's her letter and my response...

I am in receipt of your startlingly-inaccurate letter of 4/13/12.
There are five items that your contractor is suggesting to correct and or repair. The Association hasauthorized Piotr to complete the installation of the cleanout for the laundry units, $450.00; item 1.
Items 2 through 5 all relate to the 5060 G unit specifically, not the common elements or the Association, and are the unit owners’ responsibility to repair and maintain.
2. Current bathtub connection inside the ground is made out of copper.
All in ground connections need to be installed with cast iron pipes.
Copper can only be used above the ground.
3. Bathtub drain is missing a vent.
4. Kitchen drain is missing a vent.
5. Bathroom radiator is concealed in the ceiling, metal box is constructed around, and electric fan is installed next to it with hidden switch.
All connection for the radiator (union) can’t be hidden and access is need.
Electric fan, in areas where water is present has to be supplied thru a GFCI outlet.

Mara, this is why having only a degree in accounting and no actual certification in anything else (beyond a grandfathered license, which we will use this situation to challenge) is a problem.

Items 2-5 are all...
a) behind the drywall, therefore your responsibility under the Condo Code.
Feel free to cite otherwise.
b) part of the original conversion to condo done in the late 1990s, long before we bought the unit in 2005 and inaccessible/unobservable until the walls had been ripped down.
Therefore, not our responsibility.
c) The bathtub connection is in 2 is "in-ground", therefore beyond the drywall (or floor), therefore, association responsibility.
d) Note that we had complained about laundry backwash from other units into our tub and kitchen sink...which you failed to correct.
These incorrectly-installed items in 3 & 4 are the cause, therefore, part of the common elements, since other unit's use of their washing machines caused a problem directly-attributable to these items.
Item 5 is part of the building's heating system embedded behind the drywall, therefore a common element.
e) Correcting previous construction problems that predate the present owner is the responsibility of Fox and the Board, who can then go after the original contractor to recover fees.
Not our responsibility under the Condo Code.
Again, feel free to cite otherwise...

We are subpoenaing Jeffrey as a licensed plumbing professional/expert to make a statement regarding the particulars of this matter.

Using your own documents and statements, we are filing complaints with the Department of Buildings and you are being reported to the Disciplinary Committee of the Department of Financial & Professional Regulation on several different charges we have evidence on, including this matter.
(I suggest you ask art therapist Eddie Foss, since he's licensed by the same agency.
He'll tell you they don't fool around.)

You're playing God with M's health and I will not allow that!

As it stands, M is so depressed that she's considering just "walking away" from the unit.
The property's value has dropped to just barely being worth paying the mortgage.
The hassles with Maniac Mara have pushed M to the edge.
Being forced to lay out an additional $5,000 for either a lawsuit or plumbing fees we shouldn't have to pay is probably the last straw.
And life is just too short to deal with apparently-unemployed / underemployed arrogant idiots like Diego Arce, Carol Krengelis, and Eddie Foss.
They want to get rid of us, so we'll go!
If our leaving sank their investments in the condominium, it would be poetic justice!

Quite frankly, it would cost almost $50,000 to make the property marketable (including the plumbing upgrades), so it's doubtful the bank would even bother, probably opting to just dump it for $50,000 or less, making it the second Claremont unit in a year to go for less than half it's original value.

Friday's total for Fox Management Group's still-unpaid bill from July, 2008 (over three years ago!)...$704,003.39 from an original $75!    

They've broken the $700,000 level!Now that the 1% per workday cumulative late fee is over $7000, it's really mounting up, at a rate of $30,000+ a week!

It's 900 (NINE HUNDRED) late charges, and now the amount (with late fees) is over 2600 times the original bill...

Isn't that just pitiful?

But then, what can you expect from Mara Feldman-Fox, 

someone with only a bachelor's degree in accounting
and NO other accreditation, whatsoever?

I hope for her sake Mara's better with her library books and DVD rentals! 

But I doubt it... ;-)