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Condo Association Sues Unit Owners for Creating Nuisance

Laura Manning-Hudson
January 10, 2018

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Our firm’s other community association attorneys and I are often called upon by association boards of directors and property managers with issues involving obstinate and disruptive unit owners who become a serious nuisance to directors, management and other residents.  In such cases, after warnings, incident reports and fines have failed to have any effect, legal action can serve as an effective recourse.

Such appears to be the case in the recent lawsuit filed by the condominium association for The Mark Yacht Club on Brickell Bay (pictured here) in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.  The association is suing Nuri Munis, Pelin Munis Cakov and Seda Munis, who own two units in the 36-story condo building, for putting the board of directors, property manager, staff and fellow residents through a hellish ordeal.

The suit contends that Nuri Munis and his relatives have engaged in a campaign to harass and intimidate condo association board members, property management employees and their fellow residents.  The suit also states that the family stalks other residents and accuses them in a threatening manner of violating the association’s rules.

“Nuri Munis shows up to the management office unannounced and pushes other residents out of the way so that he can get immediate access to the manager.  He repeatedly and rudely interferes with conversations taking place between management and other residents concerning personal matters,” reads the complaint.

The suit alleges that during a five-week period, Munis made 21 unannounced visits to the property manager’s office without an appointment, and he sent incessant emails making unreasonable demands and asserting false accusations to the board members and property manager.  The complaint seeks an injunction to stop him and his family from going to the property management office without an appointment, sending emails and harassing workers and residents.

Based on the allegations chronicled in the association’s complaint, a lawsuit of this nature seeking an injunction against a resident and his relatives to force them to cease their offending behavior appears to be entirely justified when the resident can’t be bothered with the rules or common decency.  While it is generally best to avoid litigation whenever possible, in extreme cases such as this, litigation is sometimes the only truly effective option against recalcitrant owners and residents.