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Technicality May Open Floodgates

MIAM-A ruling on how developers handle condo payments could open the door for buyers to recoup deposits.

By Paola Iuspa-Abbott | Updated on April 19, 2010

This story originally appeared in the Daily Business Journal.MIAMI-Miami attorney Alexander Lian may have come up with an innovative strategy to help people recover pre-construction deposits they gave condo developers during the housing boom.

Lawsuits have blossomed since the real estate market collapsed in 2007 as would-be condo buyers go after developers to recover their deposits — often as much as 20% of the purchase price. The results of those suits have been mixed, with some rulings favoring developers and others favoring buyers.

Lian argued that developer Swire Pacific Holdings and title company Lawyers Title Insurance failed to create two separate escrow accounts when his client deposited $232,000, or 20% of the $1.16 million purchase price, in 2004 to reserve a unit at the then-proposed Asia on Brickell Key.

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