Villas at Hidden Lakes Condominiums Ass'n v. Geupel Construction Co.

847 P.2d 117, 174 Ariz. 72
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedMarch 16, 1993
Docket1 CA-CV 90-263
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 847 P.2d 117 (Villas at Hidden Lakes Condominiums Ass'n v. Geupel Construction Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Villas at Hidden Lakes Condominiums Ass'n v. Geupel Construction Co., 847 P.2d 117, 174 Ariz. 72 (Ark. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

OPINION

TOCI, Judge.

In this appeal, defendants Geupel Construction Company and R.G.W. Investment Co., Inc. (“Developer”) challenge the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of plaintiff, The Villas at Hidden Lakes Condominium Association (“Association”). The Association, a group of condominium owners organized under a declaration of horizontal property regime (“Declaration”), claimed the Developer owed the Association for delinquent monthly assessments on units formerly owned by Developer. The Association had enacted a late payment charge on past due assessments and had applied the late payment charge retroactively to the Developer’s alleged delinquent assessments. Developer disagreed, asserting that it owed no assessments because it had exercised the right to temporarily withdraw twenty-three units from the project. When Developer did not pay, the Association filed suit.

We reverse the granting of summary judgment and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion. We hold that: (1) because the Developer lawfully withdrew twenty-three units from the original fifty-three unit development, the twenty-three lots in Phase Two were not subject to the monthly assessments and late charges; (2) although the Association possessed the necessary contractual and statutory authority to impose late fees, it exercised its power unreasonably by making the late fees retroactive; and (3) because the affidavit in support of summary judgment did not contain admissible evidence of the Developer’s liability for assessments, interest, and late charges, the Association did not establish a prima facie case against the Developer entitling it to summary judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Paradise Isle Associates, a joint venture between the defendants Guepel Construction Company, Inc. and R.G.W. Investment Company, Inc., started a condominium project in northeast Phoenix called The Villas at Hidden Lakes. The Developer recorded *75 its declaration of horizontal property regime (“Declaration One”) on August 30, 1985. The Developer later reworded Declaration One and recorded an amended Declaration on October 11, 1985 (“Declaration Two”).

The Developer formed The Villas at Hidden Lakes Homeowner’s [sic] Association under Declaration Two in October of 1985. According to Declaration Two, beginning on May 1,1986, the Developer would pay to the Association monthly assessments on each of the condominium units it owned. Declaration Two also required Developer to make a reserve payment equal to twice the monthly assessment on each unit it owned within sixty days of the date it sold the first unit. Developer conveyed the first unit on April 22, 1986.

On July 24, 1986, after four units had been sold, Developer, acting pursuant to authority granted in Declaration Two, withdrew twenty-three of the original fifty-three units from the project. Developer’s position was that it was not required to pay assessments on these twenty-three units until they were rededicated to the project almost five months later.

In October of 1987, after the Developer had sold all condominiums but Unit Six, the Association enacted a late payment penalty and imposed a $10 per unit per month late charge on all past due unit assessments, including the twenty-three units the Developer had withdrawn from the project. According to the Association, upon the enactment of the late charge, the Developer automatically owed $2,170 in late charges for past due assessments.

In November, when the Developer did not meet the Association’s October 1987 demand for payment of delinquent assessments, interest, and late charges, the Association claimed an additional $3,070 in late fees. This sum increased each month until July of 1988, when the Association began to charge a flat, monthly late charge of $3,180. By the time the trial court entered judgment, the late fees totalled $47,160. Most of this sum derived from assessments on the twenty-three units Developer withdrew from the project.

The Association sued to recover the unpaid unit assessments, late fees, and interest. In addition, it sought to foreclose a lien on a lot then owned by Developer. Developer counterclaimed, alleging that the lien was invalid and that it did not owe the assessments and late payment fees because it had effectively withdrawn twenty-three of the lots from the project. Alternatively, the Developer asserted that the late fees exceeded the twelve percent interest specified in the Association bylaws for delinquent assessments and were therefore unenforceable.

THE SEQUENCING OF THE PROJECT

We hold the Developer had the authority to amend the Declaration governing The Villas at Hidden Lakes and that the Developer properly executed and recorded the July 1984 Amendment. Although the Association claimed the Developer should be equitably estopped from enforcing the Amendment, we hold the Association failed to establish a prima facie case of estoppel. Therefore, the trial court erred in granting summary judgment for the Association on this issue. We remand for a determination of whether the Developer is estopped to enforce the Amendment, but we also question the standing of the Association to raise an equitable estoppel claim on behalf of persons who purchased units from Developer.

1. Did the Developer Have Authority to Amend the Declaration?

The parties do not dispute that Declaration Two, recorded on October 11,1985, governs the Villas Development. They also agree that Developer recorded a document on July 24, 1986, to amend this Declaration, and that this document correctly and legally describes The Villas at Hidden Lakes. The Association argues, however, that because the Developer had already sold five units, it did not have authority to “unilaterally” amend the Declaration. This argument is without merit. The issue is not whether Developer had a “unilateral” right to amend, but whether Developer satisfied the provisions for amending the Dec *76 laration in the governing Declaration itself. We find that the Developer met these provisions.

The Developer owned more than ninety percent of the subdivision at the time it sought to divide the fifty-three unit project into two phases. Article Fourteen, section three of Declaration Two states that “this Declaration may be amended ‘at any time’ by an instrument signed by not less than sixty-seven percent (67%) of the Unit Owners.” In addition, Article Six, section two of Declaration Two, entitled the Developer to three votes per unit it owned, while only entitling the five other unit owners to one vote per unit. Thus, the Developer had one hundred forty-four votes versus the five votes of the other unit owners and more than enough votes to amend the Declaration.

The Association also argues that the Amendment is invalid because the Developer did not obtain the consent of the mortgage holders to withdraw the units in Phase Two. We disagree. The owners of the units already sold held less than four percent of the votes. Therefore, according to the plain language of Declaration Two, whether these mortgage holders approved or not had no effect on the Developer’s right to amend.

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Bluebook (online)
847 P.2d 117, 174 Ariz. 72, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/villas-at-hidden-lakes-condominiums-assn-v-geupel-construction-co-arizctapp-1993.