Background
The appellants contracted to buy pre-construction condominium units at Wynwood Atriums. The developer had financed the project with a mortgage that barred further liens or subordinate financing without the lender’s written consent. Each purchase agreement also made the buyer’s rights subordinate to mortgage liens and expressly waived any legal or equitable lien rights in the unit.
After the developer failed to complete construction by the loan’s maturity date, the original lender began foreclosure proceedings. BD FL Notes later acquired the lender’s interest and allowed the developer to continue closing unit sales to reduce the debt, but the developer did not meet the agreed closing requirements. The trial court entered a final foreclosure judgment in July 2023. The purchasers then moved to intervene and vacate the foreclosure so they could close on their units.
The Court’s Holding
The Third District affirmed the nonfinal order addressing the purchasers’ intervention motion. Although the trial court added the purchasers as parties after the foreclosure judgment based on a purported junior interest, it did not abuse its discretion by declining to give them the relief they sought.
Post-judgment intervention is available only in rare circumstances when the proposed intervenor has a sufficient property interest. The purchasers’ asserted interest depended on junior-lien status, but their purchase agreements expressly disclaimed and waived all lien rights. Because that contractual waiver eliminated the claimed property interest, the purchasers did not establish a basis for post-judgment intervention.
Key Takeaways
- A purchaser seeking to intervene after a foreclosure judgment must show a sufficient interest in the property.
- An express waiver of legal and equitable lien rights defeats a purchaser’s claim to junior-lienholder status.
- Courts will enforce a contractual lien waiver even if it produces a harsh result for one contracting party.
Why It Matters
Pre-construction condominium purchasers should closely assess subordination and lien-waiver provisions before signing. Those provisions can leave purchasers without a property interest sufficient to challenge or intervene in a later mortgage foreclosure.