{"id":37481,"date":"2021-07-29T17:39:29","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T17:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=37481"},"modified":"2021-07-29T17:39:29","modified_gmt":"2021-07-29T17:39:29","slug":"clash-of-the-condominium-owners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=37481","title":{"rendered":"Clash of the Condominium Owners"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We all know it is getting harder and harder to find our little piece of this earth to call our own. Housing prices continue to rise and the demand for houses has only gotten more competitive. This have never been more true than on Cape Cod, where one condo owner believed they owned more than their deed described.
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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In a recent Land Court decision in Barnstable County Massachusetts, an owner of a condominium filed suit against the Trustees of the Condominium, stating they have acquired a piece of the common area property as their own property through adverse possession. Adverse possession is law designed to promote the use of land throughout the Commonwealth. In Massachusetts to acquire land through adverse possession, one must have exclusive use and control of property for over 20 years. This use must be done openly, so that the owner would be able to see another using the property. The person using the land must also not have permission to use the land. In the case at hand, the plaintiff met all the requirements of obtaining the common area land as their own via adverse possession.
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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In this case the judge ruled against the plaintiff. Even though all the requirements for obtaining land via adverse possession were met, it violated the Massachusetts condominium laws, stating each condo owner already owns a proportional, undivided interest in the common areas, which can not be modified without the consent from the other owners in the association, and a modification of the Master Deed would be required. Furthermore to award the property to one owner via adverse possession would make the laws pertaining to the governing of condominium associations meaningless.
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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It’s understandable why the court came to this decision. As more and more condominiums are built, we need well defined laws to allow them to peacefully and independently run.
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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Thinking of buying or selling a condominium? Do you have questions about your current condominium or its association? Contact us at Topkins and Bevans, we have decades of experience in all types of real estate law, including condominiums.
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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We all know it is getting harder and harder to find our little piece of this earth to call our own. Housing prices continue to rise and the demand for houses has only gotten more competitive. This have never been more true than on Cape Cod, where one condo owner believed they owned more than … Continue reading Clash of the Condominium Owners<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[40,144,450,164,3,41,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-closing","category-condominium","category-home-ownership","category-litigationdisputes","category-real-estate-law","category-title","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":415,"url":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=415","url_meta":{"origin":37481,"position":0},"title":"That Old Stand-By “The Condominum Conversion”—Some “how to” Steps for a Real Estate strategy that Still Remains Viable","date":"July 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Even in today's distressed real estate environment, there are times where a condominium conversion makes sense. I have been working on condominium conversions for more than twenty year. There follows a short summary of the process, with the thought that condominium conversion may make the best sense for your multi-unit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Condominium"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":285,"url":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=285","url_meta":{"origin":37481,"position":1},"title":"Having Trouble with Unit Owners in Massachusetts who are behind in their Monthly Common Area Fees?–There is a Simple Way Out, and We can Help","date":"July 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The current economic slowdown has hit people's pocketbooks\u00a0across the board. People are behind on their mortgage payments, and people are behind on their taxes, and people are behind on their monthly common area fees. Lenders are dragging their feet on starting, and completing, foreclosures. Their data may indicate that things\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Condominium"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":264,"url":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=264","url_meta":{"origin":37481,"position":2},"title":"Massachusetts Condominiums Should have Websites–It outta be the Law","date":"June 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Condominiums in Boston, Massachusetts and surrounding towns come in all shapes and sizes. There are a plethora of 2 and 3 Unit condominiums, former personal\u00a0properties where the owner usually lived in one of the apartments, and rented out the other apartments to family or third parties. These \"Mom and Pop\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Condominium"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":228,"url":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=228","url_meta":{"origin":37481,"position":3},"title":"The Collection of Unpaid Common Area Fees–A Success Story with Legs","date":"June 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently, a client of mine contacted me with a problem. He was the sole Trustee of a six unit condominium in Massachusetts, where I practice as a title attorney with over 40 years of experience. It seems that one Unit Owner had not paid common area fees for more than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Condominium"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":190,"url":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=190","url_meta":{"origin":37481,"position":4},"title":"Difficult Condominium Trustees and Officers–The Enemy Down the Hall","date":"June 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently. I have experienced difficulty in dealing with Condominium \"management\", so-called, with respect to matters which involve my clients. I am a Massachusetts title and real estate attorney, and in the course of my representing both Buyers, Sellers and current\u00a0 Unit Owners of condominiums in Massachusetts, I have experienced an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Condominium"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":355,"url":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=355","url_meta":{"origin":37481,"position":5},"title":"Condominium Trustee Meeting Minutes–Important Information Often Neglected","date":"July 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The problem is this. Many condominiums are frightfully mismanaged. Nobody wants to serve as a Trustee, and so the people who do serve are either megalomaniacs or people who don't have much business savvy, but have a lot of time on their hands. Meetings of Trustees are poorly attended. A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Condominium"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37481"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37491,"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37481\/revisions\/37491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}