(The Capitol, where the U.S. Congress meets, in Washington, DC photo above)
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Opinion Article By Alan Becker & Allen M. Levine Urges U.S. Congress, HUD Action to Resolve Problem
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Opinion Article By Alan Becker & Allen M. Levine Urges U.S. Congress, HUD Action to Resolve ProblemFORT LAUDERDALE, Fl, April 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Individuals who purchased Florida condo units in good faith in recent years face yet another threat to their property's value from a rising tide of lawsuits by speculative investors seeking to exploit loopholes in a 40-year old law known as the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act, say two prominent South Florida attorneys.
In an Opinion piece published Saturday (April 12, 2008) in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, attorneys Alan Becker (top left photo) and Allen Levine (top right photo) of the law firm Becker & Poliakoff (www.becker-poliakoff.com) write that the mushrooming litigation, based on perceived loopholes in the federal legislation, known as ILSA, and governing regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), represents a serious problem for the residential real estate market, particularly in Florida and potentially nationwide.
The full text of the Opinion piece can be found online at the Sun-Sentinel.com at: http://tinyurl.com/5czs7q or http://www.sun-/sentinel.com/news/opinion/sflcondo12forumsbapr12,0,2260792.story .
Becker, who is a co-founder and Managing Shareholder of the firm, and Levine, who leads Becker & Poliakoff's statewide real estate litigation practice, have called on the U.S. Congress and HUD to immediately address the problems with the ILSA legislation and governing regulations, which threaten to exacerbate the already troubled Florida residential condominium 
market.
market."ILSA was originally intended to protect unknowing home buyers from unscrupulous developers who were selling property on swampland or wasteland unsuitable for development," Becker & Levine said in their article.
While the legislation made sense 40 years ago when parts of Florida were truly undeveloped, they added, "now that the condo market is in a slump, some purchasers are taking advantage of the ambiguously worded regulations" to get out of contracts in highly developed areas.
"The majority of buyers behind these lawsuits are speculative short-term investo
rs, commonly referred to as 'flippers,' who purchased units in highly developed areas of Florida but are now worried they won't be able to resell the units or make as much of a profit as they had hoped," the attorneys continued.
rs, commonly referred to as 'flippers,' who purchased units in highly developed areas of Florida but are now worried they won't be able to resell the units or make as much of a profit as they had hoped," the attorneys continued. "If these lawsuits are successful, it will set a dangerous precedent for large numbers of buyers skipping out on their contracts every time the market takes a downward turn, despite being provided with the completed unit they originally purchased."
CONTACT:
Michael Tangeman, Pen Group Communications,
+1-305-529-1944,
for Becker & Poliakoff, P.A.
Web Site: http://www.becker-poliakoff.com/
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