Condo Media - February 2011 - 17

RHODE ISLAND

by Frank A. Lombardi, Esq.

C A I

This Is Where It Starts
The Purchase and Sale Agreement

R e g i o n a l

“

ey, why does that unit owner have an additional parking space and nobody else does? That’s not fair.” How many of us have heard that before? The problem usually arises when one unit owner wants to use a space that another unit owner believes belongs to him exclusively. As the association must operate and manage the common elements, and in most condominiums is ultimately responsible for the operation and management of limited common elements as well, the request for action will eventually end up on the desk of a board member, property manager or attorney. If all the “paperwork is in order” affirming the unit owner’s right to exclusive use of the space, then the problem should be simple to solve. If there is no written evidence that this space was either deeded to the unit owner in question or made a limited common element appurtenant thereto, then obviously there will be a problem. Very often, the problem emanates from the original negotiations between the developer, his broker and the original buyer.

N e w s

Competing Interests
Due to a combination of different competing factors — such as the developer’s need to sell the unit to finish off the project or the broker’s understandable need to button up the sale and the buyer’s willingness to overlook the specifics in order to get his dream unit — mistakes are made. Just last week, clients came in to my office excited to have signed an agreement to purchase a condominium unit. At the initial showing, the buyers fell in love with the unit. Due to a site

configuration problem, the driveway of that unit is shortened so there is only room for a small car, but the clients have two big cars. No problem, says the broker, we’ll give you two extra parking spaces. Since this is an end unit and there are extra spaces at the end of this particular road, the developer doesn’t see a problem and agrees. In the purchase agreement, there is language, “Additional two parking spaces designated for exclusive use.” Stop right there — is that paperwork in order? Certainly not. This is where it starts. The buyers, the broker and the developer each knows what that means, but that’s not the concern here. I explain to my clients that in reality, in order for the “paperwork to be in order,” third parties need to know what it means, such as a neighboring unit owner whose daughter returns from college to live in her unit and brings along with her cat an extra vehicle, or the future board president who needs to

reallocate the space for handicap access for another disabled unit owner, or how about 20 years from now a person with a large family needs those extra spaces. All of these people need to understand that the parking spaces in question are for the exclusive use of our subject buyers.

Specific Language
How is this accomplished? Starting with the purchase agreement addendum, revisions must be made to the effect that: “Seller agrees to the following: Seller agrees to provide two consecutive legal parking spaces appurtenant to and on the side of the unit. Seller shall at its cost prepare, execute and record amendments to the current site plan and the declaration to reflect a valid reallocation of these spaces from common elements to limited common elements appurtenant to this unit. These amendments shall be recorded contemporaneously with the deed to the unit.

CONDO MEDIA • FEBRUARY 2011

Condo Media - February 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Condo Media - February 2011