Miami Condo Building Ravaged By Unit Foreclosures, Code Violations KO'd As City Officials Order Remaining Occupants To Vacate

In Miami, Florida, WFOR-TV Channel 4 reports:

• Families living in Cedars Pointe in Miami were left to deal with the reality of their building's foreclosure. While some tenants abandoned their units and others remained with mounting bills, the City of Miami on Thursday asked tenants to leave because of insufficent funds to correct building code violations.

• Last week, Daisy Cruz told CBS4 Reporter Jorge Estevez, "This is abandoned, destroyed," as she showed him around the Cedars Pointe complex located at 1531 NW 16th Ave. Today, she said, "For me, this is the first time I have ever been evacuated. I have never been in a situation like this."

• The Cruz family was among the 17 of 51 people who remained to deal with the conditions where garbage was piled up outside and backed up the trash chute. Exposed wires and a broken fire alarm system made the building dangerous. The elevator has been out of order for 6 months. Even worse, squatters lived in the abandoned units at night. Residents told CBS4 most of the other owners abandoned their apartments because they couldn't pay the mortgage.

• At one point, 51 unit owners paid the maintenance fee of $120 a month. Now, only ten units have paying owners. With fewer families to pick up the expenses of running a building, the bills backed up. [...] The remaining tenants from Cedars Pointe have been temporarily placed in hotels and shelters, at least, until Monday.

Source: Families Leave Neglected And Foreclosed Building (Complex Foreclosure And Lack Of Maintenance Forces Tenants To Leave Because Of Code Violations) (go here for video).

For earlier post on this story, see Condo Foreclosures About To KO Entire Miami Building; Remaining Residents Face The Boot As Trash, Water, Electric Bills Remain Unpaid.

Go here, Go here, Go here, and Go here for other posts on vacant foreclosures leaving their mark on neighborhoods. ForeclosuresDestroyNeighborhoodsApple