Condo Residents Forced From Homes As HOA's Failure To Pay Utility Bills Results In Water & Electric Shutoffs, Causing City To Condemn Building

In Danville, Virginia, GoDanRiver.com reports:

• Cabin Lake Apartments have been emptied of residents, the doors have been boarded up and its fate — and the fate of people who owned the apartments — is uncertain. The complex was condemned when majority owner Raymond Pyant failed to pay the utility bill, even after Danville Utilities gave him extensions and set up payment plans to bring his account up to date.

• Pyant, who also was president of the Unit Owners Association, collected money from the residents to pay utilities that were used cooperatively by the residents. [...] Tenants and owners all had to move out as soon as the building was condemned for not having water.(1)

For more, see Cabin Lake boarded up, residents out.

For story updates see:

(7-2-09) Danville apartment complex fire ruled arson:

• A fire at a Danville apartment complex Thursday morning has been ruled arson. The fire started a little before 4 a.m. at the former Cabin Lake Apartments. According to a news release, the building was unoccupied and was under renovation at the time. Investigators believe the fire started on a second floor deck. Police say a man wearing dark clothes and a white hoodie was seen leaving the area shortly before the fire was spotted. He was traveling on foot towards Piney Forest Road. Cabin Lake was auctioned off in March after the former owner, Raymond Pyant, failed to pay several months worth of water bills to the city of Danville. Those defaulted payments led to the condemnation of Cabin Lake and the foreclosure auction.

(7-2-09) Cabin Lake fire ruled arson:

• The fire damaged or destroyed 24 units. Those units were unoccupied and under renovation at the time of the fire. No one was injured, said Bryan Shields, acting assistant chief for the Danville Fire Department.

(3-16-09) Cabin Lake apartment complex to be sold to highest bidder today:

• Pyant, who lives in Richmond and owned 48 units at Cabin Lake Apartments, was responsible for the condemnation of the complex when he failed to meet his agreement with the city to pay several months’ worth of water bills in January. Problems at Cabin Lake began in October. Residents said they were surprised when their utility services were suddenly cut off by the city since the cost of utilities was included in the rent. Though many units were owned privately, Pyant was responsible for paying the water bill on all units, none of which had private water meters, and the power bill on some that didn’t have their own electricity meters, city officials said.

(3-17-09) Cabin Lake units under new ownership:

• Properties owned by R&C Investments and its representative, Raymond Pyant, were auctioned off yesterday as a result of foreclosure proceedings by the note-holder, Springfield Financial Company LLC.

(1) Reportedly, one resident who has owned his apartment for thirty years expressed concerns over (a) how unit owners will cope with having to make mortgage payments on those apartments while having to live elsewhere, (b) pipes that will burst during the cold weather, and (c) how there is no lighting at all at the complex, which will make the complex even more of a target for looters as the vandalism has already begun.