Mosler Lofts legal tussle and the multi-family homeowner’s property rights.

Trolls in Seattle don’t just live under the Fremont bridge, they’re thriving within the reader comments section of the Seattle PI. In this case, PI visitors aren’t showing any sympathy for Mosler condo owners who are caught in the middle of a nasty legal fight between the Mosler’s developer and contractor (oh yeah, and if that’s not enough, there’s a seperate suit between the developer and a neighboring business - Kroll Map Co.).

The Mosler’s contractor feels they are owned $6.7 million for the project, and so they filed a lien against the developer. And what this means for the condo owners is that they’re stuck in a financial limbo because the lien basically prevents them from selling their units.

Coming on the heels of a King County rural landowners property rights decision by the state yesterday (whose regulations to prevent land clearing were designed to help prevent sprawl), it’s kind of ironic that these condo owners (who by living in a multi-family building like this are actually helping prevent sprawl) are facing an even more restrictive property rights situation than their rural counterparts.

But beyond the pain these Mosler homeowners face, the additional harm this situation creates is that it helps reinforce the idea that multi-family ownership is less secure, less protected, and less valued than single-family ownership - and that’s a shame - because multi-family good development like the Mosler should be protected and encouraged.

It would be nice if the city spent as much time lobbying for the rights of multi-family citizens (this also includes protecting their rights to sunlight and privacy) as they are into reducing grocery store bags. Because as long as doubts about their rights as multi-family home owners linger, single family home ownership is going to be most peoples’ Plan A.
The Mosler Lofts - nicely designed, but tied down by legal questions.