Consumer complaint received 2023-01-05
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — 
Company: PNC Bank N.A. (NJ)

On XX/XX/XXXX, there was a flood in the basement of my condo building that destroyed the electrical infrastructure of the building. Me and the other unit owners called XX/XX/XXXX and immediately had to evacuate. The town of XXXX XXXX, NJ deemed the building uninhabitable and shut it down pending major repairs to remediate the basement flooding and replace the building 's entire electrical infrastructure because it was submerged and destroyed by more than 5 feet of water coming up through the foundation of the building. Because of the pandemic, many necessary parts were on back order and we did not receive a certificate of occupancy to move back into the building until XXXX of XXXX. I was displaced for a total of 16 months and had to rent a new apartment for more than a year. I could not afford to pay a {$3500.00} a month mortgage in addition to rent and bills for another apartment for the 16 months I was displaced. As a result, I stopped paying my mortgage and sought mortgage relief from my lender. My lender wanted me to resume payments in XX/XX/XXXX, even though there was still no certificate of occupancy for the building. I hired a foreclosure defense attorney to communicate with the bank on my behalf and for whatever reason, the bank seems determined to foreclose despite the fact that I earn {$160000.00} annually and am able to resume mortgage payments now that the condominium is finally legally inhabitable and I have moved back into my residence. 

When I purchased my condo back in XXXX of XXXX, me and the other unit purchasers had it written into our contracts that there would be no HOA or maintenance fees until all 8 units were sold. That was a perk advertised by the sellers for early buyers, since the building had just converted from high-end rentals to condos, and I was among XXXX of the first to buy into the building. Since the building transitioned from rentals to condos, we were told that the property management company that had been tending to the building while it was a rental property would continue maintaining the premises until all XXXX units were sold and the building 's sponsors turned over the HOA to me and the other unit purchasers. 

Less than a year into living there, me and the other owners who bought into the building realized something was terribly wrong. The property management company stopped maintaining the building and it began to fall into extreme disrepair. A family of squirrels took up residence in our garage, the garage was never cleaned or power washed since purchasing our units, pipes were leaking in the garage next to power sources, the garage and front of the building were not plowed during the wintertime, the heat broke down in the common areas and was never fixed, and many more problems. 

By XXXX of XXXX, we noticed significant flooding in the basement with mold and an extreme foul odor. This was clearly a public health hazard. After notifying the building sponsors and the property management company that had stopped responding to us, the flooding was never addressed and it kept getting worse. In early XXXX, we called a public health inspector for the town who came and documented the premises but said that because of covid, he was unsure what could be done because there was such a backlog in violations. Me and the other unit owners were in extreme distress and hired a law firm to file suit against the building 's sponsors for breach of contract, consumer fraud, and a host of other violations. Before we could file the lawsuit, the flood happened and we were then immediately displaced. As soon as the building was shut down by the town, we then learned that the building 's sponsors had allowed the master insurance policy to lapse without notifying any of us. We then had the devastating news that we, as unit owners, were on the hook to make hundreds of thousands of dollars in building repairs for an uninsured building. Our individual units had insurance, but the common areas of the building did not. In addition to paying for a rental to live for more than a year, I also paid more than {$50000.00} in special assessments to rebuild the building 's electrical infrastructure. We still need to repair the XXXX elevators that were fried by the flood, but have been quoted $ XXXX and can not afford to fix them. 

As a first-time buyer, this experience has been absolutely devastating and demoralizing. I remain in shock over what has happened, and that I have had to navigate this ordeal during a once -- in-a-lifetime pandemic. Being displaced has taken a tremendous toll on my mental health and well-being, and I needed to take an emergency medical leave of absence from work. Dealing with this issue became a full-time job and to have my lender not acknowledge the extraordinary circumstances I was dealing with and repeatedly threaten foreclosure instead of loss mitigation seems cruel and unusual. I am unable to sleep at night due to XXXX XXXX about the situation, as well as the financial stress of not having the liquidity available to fund 'my share ' of the catastrophic building repairs plus pay 16 months worth of mortgage in arrears. 

I am merely asking my lender to work with me on a modification. I am gainfully employed and am more than capable of resuming payments. I have also spent more than {$10000.00} on a foreclosure defense attorney who has not been able to help me. The financial devastation I have endured through no fault of my own is indescribable and surreal.