When she inherited a condo in a 55+ association, she was told come clean it up. When she started doing that they told her to get out. Can they do that? It’s Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser.
Christina’s task began after a tragedy.
Christina Suchsland: “This is my father-in-law’s con
do and he passed away.”
Christina and her husband live in Illinois. After her father-in-law left the condo to them, she was contacted by the building president.
Christina Suchsland: “And said that I needed to come down and fumigate and pull up the rugs because of the smoke smell.”
Christina left her husband and two sons in Illinois and came down to do what the president asked her to do.
Christina Suchsland: “It took me a month to clean the walls, just enough to paint them. It’s been a long process, a long process.”
She then replaced the kitchen cabinets, re-did the bathrooms, and got approval from the association to put in new windows.
Christina Suchsland: “So I signed the contract with the windows and the doors.”
A few days later– the association that approved the new windows had their attorney sent Christina a stunning letter.
Christina Suchsland: “Saying that I have less than 20 days from the date of the letter to vacate the premise permanently because I’m not 55 and my husband is not here.”
Her condo is in Leisureville, a 55 and older community. Christina is 52, but her husband turns 55 in May, and all she is asking for is to live here in her condo for a few more weeks.
Christina Suchsland: “Let me stay and finish my renovations.”
In the short time she has been here, Christina has made a lot of friends.
Christina Suchsland: “My 94-year-old has just stopped driving, so I take her to the stores.”
But kindness isn’t rewarded in Leisureville apparently and it’s aggravating some of her neighbors.
Nancy Kelly: “Horrible and heartless and how can they do this to this woman?”
Not what Christina expected when she came to Leisureville.
Christina Suchsland: “They asked me to come down. They told me I needed to clean it up. Now they are telling me to leave. Beyond frustrating.”
Her husband is a month away from 55. She only wants to stay to finish the work on her condo—your turn Howard.
Howard Finkelstein: “Legally they have the right to do this, but it’s wrong and it makes no sense because she will be moving in after her husband turns 55. And what she is doing, at their request, benefits herself and her neighbors. Plus the law allows 20 percent of the owners to be under 55. These are the types of decisions that give associations a bad name.”
Why won’t Leisureville give Christina time? I still don’t know.
I called the building president three times. He wouldn’t return my calls. The Leisureville Management Company said ‘We have no comment.’
The board’s attorney, Dan Wasserstein, wouldn’t respond to my emails trying to reason with them. When I got him on the phone he said, ‘I got your emails –we have no comment to you.’
Christina Suchsland: “Mean. Mean spirited. Not kind.”
But there is a way for Christina to finish the fix-up of her condo.
Howard Finkelstein: “She can work during the day at her condo and stay at a hotel, or better, stay with one of her new neighbors.”
A neighbor has invited Christina to be her guest for the next month. And rather than selling her condo and getting away from the people causing her so much trouble, when her 55-year-old husband moves down, she wants to stay here to be with her friends.
Christina Suchsland: “I met people. I fell in love with them. They fell in love with me. I want to make this a home for my husband to come and live.”
If living in a condo isnt difficult enough right now. We will keep an eye on Christina to see if she can finish the clean up and renovations.
Facing a problem that’s like talking to a board? Their leisurely response stressing you out? Let us see if we can get it cleaned up using common sense. With this Help Me Howard, I’m Patrick Fraser 7News. ...read more read less
