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Griffin & Murphy, LLP, is a boutique law firm in Washington, D.C. concentrating its practice in real estate law (including development, finance, leasing, zoning and condominium conversions), as well as estate planning and probate, civil litigation, and business law. The attorneys of Griffin & Murphy, LLP are licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. Griffin and Murphy, LLP was founded in 1981.
Please send any legal questions relating to real estate, rentals, buildings, renovations or other legal items to princeofpetworth (at) gmail (dot) com, each week one question will be featured. You can find previous questions featured here.
Question:
I recently moved into a brand new condo building. It’s small, with only 12 units. The problem is that the lights dim significantly and often, sometimes when I plug in the iron or the HVAC kicks on, other times for no apparent reason. This is very bad on refrigerators, electronics, and the life of everything electrical in the house. I’ve asked the developer about it who assures me it’s “normal” for this to happen. I’ve never lived in a home where this happens, and I don’t know anyone else in the city who has this problem, so I’m not finding it too normal. My question is: How long are the developer and builder responsible for making good on fixing the problem if an independent electrician rebuts the “it’s normal” argument? Thanks. David
Answer:
We are not sure what you mean when you describe your building as a “brand new condo building.” Is your building a fully renovated older building which was completely gutted and rehabilitated, or is your building one that was built new from the ground up? As you will see later, this distinction may be relevant in determining why you are now experiencing electrical problems. In either case, your building should have adequate electric service. The electrical problems you are experiencing are not normal and are not acceptable. The more pressing questions are (i) what is causing these problems, and (ii) what recourse you have against the developer to force him to correct these problems?
If your building is a fully rehabilitated structure rather than one that was newly constructed, then the problem may be that the original electrical service to the building may still be in place. When buildings are renovated, a new and upgraded electrical service is ordered from Pepco. It often takes a long time for Pepco to come and put in this new and upgraded electrical service. It is not unheard of for a developer to sell condo units and allow occupancy with the old electrical service in place while waiting for the new and upgraded service to be installed by Pepco. If this has occurred in your building, then this would explain the diminished electrical service to your unit. Continues after the jump. More… »
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