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Highlighted in the Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly article “Site Plan Doesn’t Expand Clear Condo Association Declaration,” Stacey Nakasian led the team that successfully defended a condominium developer in a recent case that clarified how real estate deeds and condominium documents are interpreted under Rhode Island law. The matter involved a developer who had established a residential condominium in a building on Benefit Street in Providence and leased a parking area on a separate lot to the condominium association.
Although the condominium declaration defined the condominium’s property as the building lot, the association claimed that it also owned the parking lot because that lot was included in the survey map attached to the condominium declaration. The association argued that the survey map established the land owned by the condominium.
The Rhode Island Superior Court acknowledged that a map or survey may be used to determine what land is being conveyed if the language of a deed or declaration is not clear. But when the deed or declaration clearly identifies the land being conveyed, a map or survey cannot enlarge the conveyance.
