Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 02/06/2011 - 20:57
Posted in
Hi, we had to close with a punch list and with-held funds. One year later, most of the items on the list - many of which are things from our purchase and sale agreement, have still not been done. Now, all the units in our Condo are closed and the builder is demanding the with-holdings from all the people who ad a punch-list - he had his lawyer send out certified letters to us all. He's telling us these items will have to be paid for by us or our new Association.
What is the statute of limitations in MA for us to sue him for these items?
Do we need to give hi the moneys we've with-held if he never completed the work - especially those items that were in our respective P&S agreements?
dispute with condo developer
The statute of limitations on claims in Massachusetts varies depending on the type of claim involved. Generally, for contract disputes the statute of limitations is 6 years. Without reading the Purchase and Sale Agreement, it is difficult to provide a meaningful answer. One issue you face is whether the punch list was properly worded so that the developer's obligations survived the closing and the execution of the deeds. Given that you apparently have several owners and perhaps the new association involved in this dispute, I would recommend that all of you contact a MA real estate attorney and ask her to review the situation and respond to the developer's claim. Don't sit on your hands and let the developer obtain a default judgment against you. Good luck