The State Attorney General's Office has settled with a Williamsville condo company that failed to disclose leaking and corroding pipes to potential home buyers.
The AG says Fisher Homes, LLC and its principal Peter F. Hunt are required to pay $104,300 to the Fisher Pond Condo Association, which runs a 28-unit condo complex off South Cayuga Road.
That money will cover the cost of replacing pipes and reimburse condo owners for pipes they have already replaced themselves.
“We are grateful to the Attorney General’s Office for helping secure funding to correct our waterline issue,” said Michael Peters, President of the Fisher Pond Condo Association. “The office listened to our issue, provided status updates and prioritized the consumer every step of the way. I hope home builders, developers and real estate firms take notice: there will be consequences for those that don’t do right by the consumer and violate the law.”
The AG says real estate developers are required by law to disclose all material facts about a property to potential purchasers in the offering plan, but its investigation revealed Fisher Homes never did, despite substantial evidence of leaking and corroding pipes and substantially higher-than-normal water bills dating back nearly a decade.
"Fisher Pond Condominium’s soil was surveyed in 2007 and showed the presence of 'slag,' a by-product of smelting," said AG Barbara Underwood in a statement. "Many of the water pipes at Fisher Pond Condominium are made of copper and certain studies suggest that the presence of slag in soil may cause copper pipes - normally quite resistant to corrosion - to corrode in the soil."
