Ready to close on a condo in Florida in 3 days., today, we rec'd adjusted HUD doc with prev undisclosed HOA fees, can we walk?

Property 3 views 3 answers
These charges were not included in the original HOA disclosure paperwork; they include a title transfer fee and a new homeowners initiation fee. Neither of these charges were listed in any of the HOA docs nor on the initial HUD document. My husband and I are furious as we are paying cash for the property and an additional 1K on top of what was agreed upon is a deal breaker for us. Legally, is this something we can walk away from? I'm fine to lose the deposit we placed in escrow if we have to in order to walk.

Attorney Answers

3
Lewis Matthew RobertsBankruptcy AttorneyAltamonte Springs, FL ·
How much was your deposit? More than $1000? No one can answer the question specifically without looking at your contract. You probably had some sort of period to look over all HOA docs. You may have waived being able to get out of the contract as the time period to raise this objection has likely passed. So that is why I asked about how much the deposit is... more than $1000? You could walk away and lose your deposit. The contract probably has a liquidated damages clause limiting the seller to keeping the deposit. But again, no one can answer this specifically without seeing your contract. There are many ways to approach this, but an attorney is also going to cost money to help you get a result. You need to factor this into the $1000 unexpected cost. Cost benefit analysis is the best advice anyone can give without looking over all the documents.
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Marshall Deason ·
While it is clear that a mistake was made in the original settlement statement presented to you, it is not clear whether this was an intentional non-disclosure, who was responsible for making the disclosure to you, and what your contract says about expenses like this. If you think you are being treated unfairly, you should consult an experienced real estate lawyer in your area to represent you.
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Barbara Billiot StageForeclosure AttorneyOrlando, FLFL licensed ·
Transfer fee and initiation fees of $1,000 seem pretty excessive. Transfer fees in condo associations are limited to $100, but the HOA statutes do not have the same limitation. A review of the declarations and bylaws would be required to see if the association is authorized to charge these fees. You would need a local attorney to review the documents and the disclosure statements for advice on whether or not you could get out of this deal.
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