A Maryland District Court judge has ordered property managers to file for repair permits at an Adelphi-area condominium complex whose residents say vagrants disabled their heating system nearly five months ago.
Judge Bryon Bereano gave county inspectors and Marylander Condominiums officials two weeks to hold a closed-door discussion of the legal requirements for new heating and electrical systems during a Tuesday status hearing.
“Going forward, there are no bad actors at this point, because everyone is working towards the same goal,” Judge Bereano told a Hyattsville courtroom packed with roughly 50 condo residents.
He praised the condo owners’ association for making “significant progress” by ordering a new electrical panel and planning to install individual HVAC units in windows before the weather gets cold again.
The panel is expected to regularize jerry-rigged electrical feeders that have powered space heaters since roughly half the complex’s 200 units lost heat the day before Thanksgiving.
As of Tuesday, residents remained in more than half of the affected 108 units, defying a Dec. 10 notice to “vacate immediately” that county inspectors posted after finding them “unfit for human habitation.”
Overuse of portable heaters overwhelmed the electrical system during one of the coldest winters in recent memory, leaving many units without power as well. But property managers could not afford to repair a broken boiler, noting that the county’s notice had prompted a bank to withdraw financing.
“The only issue throughout this has been safety,” said Calisa Smith, a county attorney, during the hearing.
She insisted that county inspectors could not verify that the units are safe again until condo officials submit a permit application and plan for the new systems.
Duane Demers, an attorney representing the condo association, said property managers would file the materials as soon as possible.
“They’re working towards everything here,” Mr. Demers told the judge.
Judge Bereano swatted down motions by Mr. Demers to dismiss the case and by two other attorneys representing a rival condo owners’ board to intervene in the proceedings.
He described recent state circuit court and federal lawsuits seeking to prevent deputies from forcibly evacuating residents as “a waste of everyone’s time,” noting that judges in both cases left him with jurisdiction over the situation.
As a result, a February enforcement order from Judge Bereano authorizing deputies to force residents to leave for the duration of repairs has remained in effect, despite the county taking no steps to evict people yet.
Meanwhile, county officials have petitioned the circuit court for receivership, which would allow them to direct repairs and appoint a new property manager.
Gilberto de Jesus, one of two attorneys representing 25 condo residents who elected the rival condo association board, said they would prefer to find a new management company and make repairs themselves.
He pledged to file a lawsuit to dislodge the current board of directors.
“Receivership isn’t going to fix anything,” he said after the hearing.
Stephen Williams, another county attorney assigned to the case, said inspectors plan to visit the property in the coming week as officials assess whether to force residents out.
“If it’s not safe, nothing is off the table,” Mr. Williams said outside the courtroom. “It’s a 2,000-volt accident waiting to happen.”
Several condo residents attending the hearing insisted they could not leave their homes.
“We don’t want the homeless coming in while we are gone,” said Heidy Perez, a condo owner since 2002 who lives with her 71-year-old father and leads the rival condo board. “If we leave, nobody guarantees we will come back.”
Residents say police rarely arrest transients from a neighboring encampment who frequently break into their common spaces to sleep, defecate, have sex and use illegal drugs.
Several homeowners reported that vagrants were using a ladder to scale a fence that property managers had recently repaired.
“It’s our property,” said Leonildo Leiva-Pena, 66, who has refused to vacate the unit he has owned since 2006. “We have nowhere else to go.”
Kenneth Brown, CEO of the property management company Quasar, said he’s not optimistic about working with the county on permits after seeing 10 vagrants roaming the encampment on Saturday afternoon.
“The county just wants to take over the property,” Mr. Brown said in a phone call. “Even if we built a brick wall, members of the encampment would just climb over it.”
Kevin Vargas, a tenant outreach specialist at the Central American Resource Center, also attended the hearing.
His D.C. housing rights advocacy group is advising the rival board, which he said represents 51% of condo residents.
“I would say stay together as a group and fight the evacuations,” Mr. Vargas said. “See what can be done until the very end. They are homeowners and that should be respected.”
