Agoura Hills Development : Builder May Buy Back Faulty Condos

Owners of condominiums in an Agoura Hills development built with leaky roofs and sinking foundations learned Friday that builders of the project apparently are willing to buy back their $100,000 units.

Residents will be offered reimbursements for down payments and mortgage payments with interest, and a relocation fee to help them move, according to John E. Lorenze, president of the homeowners association at Westlake Villas town homes.

Amounts Will Vary

“We’ve spread the word that individual figures for the settlement offer should be coming next Tuesday,” Lorenze said Friday night. “The amount will be different with everybody, depending on how long they’ve lived here, how much they’ve put in and what kind of damages they’ve suffered.”

Homeowners at the 2 1/2-year-old, 27-unit complex have experienced cracking walls and floors, roofs that accumulate water and slipping exterior walls. The walls of one unit had to be shored up with planks.

Residents complained that they were not notified of known deficiencies at the project, constructed at a cost of $1.4 million. The project’s developer had sued its builders before the first unit was sold in 1983.

The project prompted Los Angeles County supervisors late last year to tighten building inspection procedures. A county investigation disclosed that “a complete breakdown” of county safeguards allowed the condominiums’ builders to take “deliberate” shortcuts.

The apparent settlement was negotiated by retired San Diego County Superior Court Judge William Yale, Lorenze said.

The settlement terms would be offered to the 19 families that purchased the units before residents learned of the problems.

Belli’s Firm Retained

The homeowners association is being represented by Pasadena attorney John Mallon. But about eight of the families have retained Melvin Belli’s Beverly Hills law firm to file claims of $3.5 million each against developer Hilbert Chu and various contractors.

Diana Shulman, one of those who has retained Belli’s firm, said Friday night that she is not satisfied with the offer.

“I’m madder than hell. Certainly this is just a first offer,” said Shulman, who lives next door to the unit with the wobbly wall. “I’ll be satisfied with an offer that totally replaces what we have to give up so we can afford to move to a nice place.”

But she said that some of her neighbors are eager to move out of the Colony Drive units as quickly as possible. “We’re terrified of living here,” she said.