Condo Owners Delay Vote on Abandoning Units

Members of a Reseda condominium association have delayed a vote on whether to walk away from their earthquake-damaged units after attorneys for a real estate lender obtained a temporary restraining order to stop any action.

Lawyers from North American Mortgage Co. showed up at a Sherman Court Condominium Assn. meeting Friday and told residents of the 132-unit complex at 19350 Sherman Way that they could not vote on the matter until after they had consulted with officials of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, an association board member said.

The 3-year-old federally subsidized complex houses mostly single women and families, said board member Terry Feld, adding that it would cost $3 million to repair the yellow-tagged units.

If residents vote to abandon their units, it would be the second condominium association known to have done so since the Jan. 17 earthquake. In March, residents of a 30-unit complex in Sherman Oaks, some of whom owned their units outright, voted to abandon their homes because they could not afford to rebuild.

Residents have rescheduled the vote for May 26.