Townhouses Awash With Difficulties : Sherman Oaks Complex’s Problems Spark Legal Fight

Joan Sindel was explaining what it’s like to live behind sandbags in a leaky condominium when--as if on cue--water suddenly started pouring off a neighbor’s balcony.

Another flood had struck her 5-year-old Sherman Oaks condominium complex. It would add to the misery of homeowners who complain that their 118-unit townhouse is literally awash with problems that are causing it to fall apart.

With several neighbors in tow, Sindel hurried into the townhouse building and started banging on doors to alert residents. To her dismay, no one was home at the 2-bedroom unit where water was apparently seeping through the balcony door.

“They’re gonna be flooded,” Sindel said. “There’s nothing we can do. Who knows where the water is coming from.”

Constant Leaks

Residents of the rustic, three-story Sherman Village Condominiums at 13331 Moorpark St. in Sherman Oaks complain that they suffer leaks in walls and ceilings on even the driest summer day. When it rains, things really pour, they say.

“Water has come through the fixtures in my closet. It’s come in through the smoke detector in the ceiling,” homeowner Jacky Meister said. “It’s gotten to the point that a lot of us leave keys with the neighbors when we go away so they can get in case of a flood.”

The leaks, coupled with loosened outside wall and roof panels, peeling exterior paint and exterior balconies that slope inward and drain into living rooms, have sparked an escalating legal fight.

Homeowners have sued the savings and loan association that financed the construction. The bankers plan to sue the builder who did the work. The builder, meanwhile, is blaming the homeowners--suggesting they have failed to adequately maintain the $15-million development.

Fault Denied

The residents deny they’re at fault.

“We’ve spent almost $40,000 of our own money to hire consultants to figure out what needs to be done to fix things,” said Larry Trimble, president of the Sherman Village condo owners association.

“They’ve told us we’re looking at about $1.5 million to repair problems caused by poor workmanship and poor materials. Our frustration level is at the boiling point.”

The manufacturer of pre-finished exterior wood panels used throughout the townhouse complex has agreed to repaint the walls for free--provided the panels are first re-nailed down and properly caulked and treated to prevent rain leakage, Trimble said.

Homeowners sued Valley Federal Savings for $750,000 to pay for those repairs when the financial institution refused to do the work on its own, Trimble said.

Issued Loan

Valley Federal officials issued the construction loan for the project in 1981. In 1984, they foreclosed on the builder and completed the construction project themselves.

“The builder did not pay his construction loan and we reluctantly took the property back,” said Greg Hughes, a Valley Federal spokesman. “The builder wasn’t finished, so we finished it, using the same contractors and subcontractors he’d been using.”

David Fleming, a lawyer for Valley Federal, said the savings and loan feels the dispute is between the residents and the builder, whom Valley Federal plans to sue.

But builder Ron Flesch said he is blameless.

“There are no defects,” Flesch said. “The planters and the walls are properly sealed. The owners are not maintaining them properly. They let the drains fill up.”

Flesch agreed that the pre-finished wood siding was not painted properly by its supplier, however. “It is peeling and I’m embarrassed by that. But when that building was finished, it was perfect,” he said.

Glen Kulik, a lawyer for the homeowners, scoffed at that. “Maintenance is not the problem. It’s preposterous to say that when there are so many waterproofing problems out there,” he said.

Because Valley Federal took the project over as owner and developer, it is responsible for construction defects for up to 10 years, Kulik said.

Condominium residents said they plan to erect a large banner across a townhouse wall today to demand action by Valley Federal. They said their sign will be hung beneath the place where a half-ton overhang ripped loose last year and fell to the ground, shearing off a greenhouse window box in the process.

“We’ve had it,” said Sindel, who purchased her 2-bedroom unit 5 years ago for $130,000. “We’ve had to pay to repaint cars that were damaged by leaks in the garage. We live with sandbags around our doors. Wood in walkways that weren’t sealed is starting to rot.”

Residents have hung a series of makeshift troughs across the ceiling of the garage that sits beneath their condominium units and landscaped planter areas. The troughs funnel leaking water away from parked cars, Sindel said.

In her dwelling unit, Sindel said she has peeled carpeting away from walls where water often seeps in.

“Water has come from my bedroom wall, from my den wall and my bathroom ceiling. Every time I turn around, water is coming from somewhere else.”