Residents cannot afford to 'wait and see'

Maybe your article "Residents Complain About Backyard Water Woes" (Tri-Town News, March 29, 2007) had to leave out details due to space, but I shudder to read that residents in developments with problems are "taking a wait-and-see approach," or that they worry that their warranty deadlines are about up and nothing's been done.

A builder is not supposed to be able to just ignore complaints until the warranty runs out and then be off the hook. If that's all they had to do, what would be the purpose of a warranty?

Of course, warranties are notoriously hard to enforce and many builders do ignore verbal or even written pleas.

But if homeowners put their complaints in writing and send it certified return receipt mail, they'll get proof of notification that can be crucial in their cases.

I believe your state just recently completed an investigation on these problems and some new legislation was to come out of it.

Some states also have builder-friendly laws laying out a strict process homeowners have to go through with a builder complaint.

These are usually known as "right to repair," "right to cure," or "notice of opportunity to repair" laws.

That's great there's been media coverage; now the homeowners need to find out what they have to do and get it done before it's just their word against Lennar's that they ever notified them of problems. They have already found out that promises aren't worth much.

Cindy Schnackel

National Secretary

Homeowners Against

Deficient Dwellings

Norman, Okla.