For nearly five years, Amelia Owens has tried to sell her condominium at Boca View in Boca Raton. She has had willing buyers. She has signed contracts. She has submitted paperwork. And every time, the sales have collapsed.
Her problem is not the real estate market. Instead, according to a lawsuit Owens has filed in Palm Beach County circuit court, the obstacle is the condo association board and its president, Diana Kuka.
The complaint alleges the Boca View board and Kuka refuse to approve the unit’s sale even though the courts have ruled the association’s bylaws do not allow them to veto sales. In an interview with The Palm Beach Post, Owens’ lawyer, Rosana Naverez, said there is a motive for the board’s intervention by claiming that Kuka once made a low-ball offer to Owens for the property that she rejected.
“This is retribution for not allowing Kuka to buy the condo,” said Navarez. “Kuka also has refused to allow Owens to make repairs to the condo, again claiming that the board must approve all work in the condo. Like the sales agreements, they simply do not act on them.”
West Palm Beach lawyer Robert Rubin represents Kuka. Efforts to obtain comment from him were unsuccessful.
In a court filing, though, Rubin called the accusations against Kuka and the condo board “a figment of Plaintiff’s imagination.” The response called Owens’ lawsuit a sham. It alleges that Owens’ late husband performed unauthorized work on the condo unit that resulted in citations by Boca Raton code enforcement.
Kuka and her brother currently own nine of the 72 units, according to property appraiser records. Owens’ lawsuit says expanding unit ownership is the overriding interest.
“Kuka’s motivation is not to protect the community, but to add this unit to the portfolio of units she and her brother already own,” the complaint states. “Kuka is using her position on the board to prevent Amelia Owens from occupying, renting or selling her unit.”
Boca condo board asserting authority court ruled it does not have?
For more than a decade, Boca View’s board of directors has asserted the authority to approve or deny unit sales and transfers — which was challenged by other unit owners in previous court cases.
In lawsuits filed years ago, unit owners sued, arguing that the association’s governing documents grant no such power. In 2020, the Fourth District Court of Appeal agreed, ruling that Boca View’s board does not have authority under its condominium documents to approve or deny sales.
Currently, there are three active lawsuits involving that same approval issue. And for Owens, an elderly widow, the legal standoff has left her with a condo that she cannot sell.
Navarez said that even though the courts have ruled that the bylaws do not give the board the power to approve sales, the board continues to claim they have that power. Eventually, buyers walk away, unable to get title insurance, which kills the sale, Navarez said.
“There is no way to close,” she noted.
Condo board, owners have litigious past over leadership’s authority
Boca View has been involved in numerous lawsuits with other condo owners who also claim the board has overstepped its authority. Both state and federal courts have ruled that the board improperly failed to allow another owner, Elanor Lepselter, to inspect condo records. The board has appealed those rulings.
That dispute began in 2019 when Lepselter sent Boca View a written request to inspect and photograph the association’s financial records, court filings show.
She asserted her right under state law to bring Jonathon Yellin, her attorney, to the record inspection as her personal representative. The board refused to allow Yellin to accompany Lepselter into the room where the records were kept, case filings show.
State courts have ruled that Boca View must pay Lepselter’s legal fees that currently total nearly $100,000 and they do not include the fees that have been incurred to defend the appeals filed by the board.
Boca View appealed to a federal magistrate to overturn the state court ruling. The judge found the appeal of the Lepselter case to be meritless. He ruled that it was “factually and legally frivolous,” and “filed in bad faith based on a legal theory with no reasonable chance of success, all for an improper purpose.”
He sanctioned the lawyers who represented Boca View.
Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Boca Raton condo board accused of illegally blocking sales. Owner sues
Reporting by Mike Diamond, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
