State Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, proposed legislation to establish a condominium owners’ bill of rights to protect condo owners from being faced with exorbitant costs from developers.

The legislation will be based on similar laws in Florida and Washington, D.C., Mason said.

The laws allow condominium owners more rights regarding faults from developers that have resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs for condominium owners, Mason said.

Mason visited one specific condo in Racine called the Villas of Racine to gain a further understanding of the conflict between condominium owners and their developers.

He worked with two condominium associates to produce the bill of rights.

Mike Ellenbecker, community manager of the Villas of Racine, said the bill would require developers to put a 10 percent bond down on any condominium project and provide a warrant for the construction certification manager.

Ellenbecker said the the effort to find sponsors of the bill, excluding Mason, began Monday, and will continue until the bill is possibly taken to the Assembly floor in the next session.

The Villas of Racine have been negatively affected by the burdens placed on them from their developers, with the total cost of repairs reaching millions if a separate lawsuit filed by the Villas of Racine does not go through, Mason said.

The other condominium that personally contacted Mason about this issue was the Stonefield Condominiums.

After receiving these two complaints from condos in his district over the span of just a few months, Mason felt concerned and wanted to get involved.

“I thought for certain there would be a legal remedy for them to find closure under the law, but in both cases the developer’s actions were considered perfectly legal, although I question the morality and fairness,” Mason said.

Mason explained more details about the new bill of rights, saying that it is not meant to target developers, but is instead meant to protect condo owners.

“It implements a three-year warranty on condos for the work to make sure that it is ‘good quality construction,'” Mason said.

Developers are required to give a bond to incur the costs of any repairs, such as the ones at Villas of Racine and Stonefield Condominiums, in case any repairs need to be done after the developers finish their project.

If the condominiums do not need any types of repairs, the money will be returned to the developers. This motivates the developing companies to put time and effort into their work in order to get their money back, Mason said.

Developers used to have the legal right to maintain control over the condo for up to 10 years, and this bill would remove that part of the law.

“I look at the government to act as a referee and hope that two parties that engage under the law can do so fairly, and right now the law is favoring the developers over the condo owners, therefore the current law is lacking in terms of fairness,” Mason said.