Condos…(And Everybody Else)
As of today, October 12, condominium associations comprising 91 units with severity class coded 3 foundations have Participation Agreements from the Superintendent’s office.
With one exception, each and every condo association that applied is now is line to have some of its work commence. We will not be providing Participation Agreements in support of any more units until at least July of 2021, when the next round of funding is expected.
So that we can be absolutely clear about what is written above…and so that we can attempt to avoid negative social media comments that suggest CFSIC has been purposely keeping condos behind…we won’t be issuing Participation Agreements on any more foundations of any kind, including stand-alone homes and PUDs, until the next round of funding is received. There’s a reason for this: all the money we’ve gotten has been committed to construction or reimbursements.
What this all means, simply put, is that the Superintendent has committed close to $30.6 million in construction commitments from the $20M received from the last CT Bond Commission allotment and $10.6M from the Healthy Homes surcharge. That’s it. That’s all that can be committed until the next round of funding, whether the funding goes to a condo or it doesn’t.
If you think you are due a Participation Agreement and you don’t have it…first check your spam/junk folder, which is where a number of our emails end up. If it’s not there, call the Superintendent’s office at 860-487-000, and speak with anyone, who can tell you your exact place in line by date and time stamp. If you don’t have a Participation Agreement yet, please bear in mind that we haven’t forgotten about you. We’re not purposely keeping anybody behind. The order in which you receive a PA depends solely and absolutely on one thing: the date and time of day on which your signed and approved construction contract was uploaded by ESIS to the Participation Agreement line. The line cannot be manipulated. The Superintendent can’t move anybody out of line. Contrary to what has been suggested on social media, we exercise objectivity with regard to who is in line for a PA and when. It has never been anything else.
Where We Are
Here are some facts and figures:
– As of Friday, 223 families were back in their homes.
– The average cost of a foundation replacement (CFSIC’s allowable costs) was, on Friday, $155,359…the cap continues to be $175,000.
– CFSIC has 1,639 registered claimants.
– Among those are 431 Pending claimants who may never receive funding. We hope they do…but if they do, it will not be until at least 2026 or 2027, even if they are severity class coded 3.
– CFSIC has paid $48.8 million in Type 1 and Type 2 claims.
– It carries $83.6 million in claim reserves for known Active and Inactive claimants.
– CFSIC has registered claim matters in 47 towns, including, as was reported several weeks ago, a claim in Fairfield County.
– 537 severity class code 3 claimants are in line for remediation ahead of 241 severity class code 2s…which are all ahead of our 431 Pending claimants.
– Three Type 1, severity class code 3 claimants are still in litigation; four are inactive awaiting insurance company acceptances or denials.
-CFSIC’s audited financial report for the period ended 6/30/20 will be posted on this site on or before Monday, October 19.
The Importance of Numbers
It has recently been brought to our attention that a social media posting by a concrete activist has pinpointed exactly the amount of pyrrhotite in the aggregate that guarantees map cracking and the typical manifestations of foundation deterioration.
This is simply not true.
CFSIC has more objective data at its disposal than any other data source, and we can confirm the following:
– There is no fixed or approximate percentage of pyrrhotite in concrete aggregate that establishes, with actuarial certainty, the probability of foundation deterioration at a better than 75% confidence level of statistical projection. It doesn’t even do it at a better than 50% confidence level projection. That’s because it can’t be done.
– CFSIC has dozens of examples of severity class coded 3 foundations within a housing development or neighborhood where neighboring homes built at approximately the same time are in otherwise perfect condition and show no signs of deterioration. The explanation as to why lies with many factors that have nothing to do with the measurable existence of pyrrhotite.
We believe it is always important to tell the truth about the extent of the crumbling foundations crisis, and we have told the truth here. There is no verifiable and statistically measurable evidence existing that supports any percentage amount of pyrrhotite in the aggregate that assures, with a high degree of calculable certainty, that a foundation will fail, and when it will fail.
Over the past year and a half, we have been waiting for concrete activists to ask about what we know and to inquire about the data we have developed. So far…no takers. In a perfect world, all persons concerned with this devastating crisis would be in close communication; but to be clear, the object would have to be about discovering the truth about the extent of this crisis and what causes it…even if that truth is an inconvenient truth.
The next round of funding will only come with a complete reliance on verifiable data. CFSIC’s board of directors and its staff believe that it is only verifiable data about this crisis that will create other sources of revenue. The sooner we rely upon data to support the case for additional funding…the faster that funding will arrive.
Additional Contractor Added to Program
Sometime ago we indicated on this page that the contractor operating under the business name “Jackie’s Homes” had been excluded from receiving CFSIC funds because of non-compliance with CFSIC requirements. That exclusion has now been withdrawn, as Jackie’s Homes has complied with two conditions required by the Superintendent.
An important reminder…CRCOG approves contractors; however, CFSIC reserves the right not to include any CRCOG-approved contractor in the receipt of its funds unless conditions set forth by the Superintendent are met.
If you have any questions about whether a contractor proposing services to you has met CFSIC’s specific conditions, please contact ESIS by email at: cfsic@esis.com
More About Pending Claim Status…
Learn more about what it means to be a Pending claimant, and to learn how our system works.
Transferring Your Claim
All CFSIC claimants (not just active claimants) will be able to transfer their existing inactive or Pending claims to a buyer of their home effective July 13, 2020, retroactive to June 1, 2020. Today, we are publishing on this site the following:
– red-marked changes to CFSIC’s Underwriting and Claims Management Guidelines;
– a new subsection, subsection 20, in the “For Homeowners” section of this site, which will detail how the process will work, inclusive of Q&A;
– a templated Claim Transfer Agreement governing the transfer of a claim in the “For Homeowners” section;
– a new subsection, subsection 11, in the “For Contractors” section of this site, providing claim transfer information for contractors.
What follows is an expanded (expanded from last week) Q&A about this important change.
Question: I’m a Type 1, severity Class 2, inactive claimant. If I sell my home and transfer my claim to the buyer, does that change the status of my claim?
Answer: No. The buyer gets the exact status you had at the moment of transfer.
Question: I’m in line for a Participation Agreement and have been in line for a while. I’ve been told that I may be in the next round of funding at some point after July 1, 2020, but I still plan to sell my house and give up my claim. Does my exact place in line for a Participation Agreement get transferred to the buyer?
Answer: Yes, if the buyer agrees to all terms and conditions of the Claim Transfer Agreement.
Question: Where can I find a sample of the Claim Transfer Agreement on this site?
Answer: View a sample of the Claim Transfer Agreement here (PDF)
Question: I’m a Pending claimant, and I’m aware that, given current anticipated projected funding, I may never get my claim paid unless CFSIC gets more money. If I transfer my claim because I sell my home, will the buyer be taking the same risk I am?
Answer: Absolutely. We may never have enough money to address Pending claimants.
Question: Can I transfer my claim without selling my home?
Answer: No.
Question: Does this apply to condos? Does it apply to PUDs?
Answer: No for condos. (Remember that condo unit owners are technically not our claimants… associations are our claimants, because it is the association that owns the foundation.) It applies to PUDs.
Question: I’m a Type 2 claimant. Does it apply to my claim?
Answer: No.
Question: Once I transfer my Type 1 claim to the buyer, can he or she re-sell the home and transfer the claim again?
Answer: No. The transfer of a claim can occur only once…from one Original Claimant to one Transfer Claimant. It can never be transferred again by the Transfer Claimant.
Question: Will I be able to sell my home first and then transfer the claim at some point after that?
Answer: No. The Claim Transfer Agreement date can only be the same date as the date of the sale of the home or a date prior to the sale. It it’s prior to the date of sale, and for some reason the sale does not go through…then the transfer is voided as if it had never occurred.
Question: OK, but I sold my house in the middle of June…how will the retroactive June 1 date affect me?
Answer: As stated above, on and after July 13, 2020, the date of the Claim Transfer Agreement must be the date of the sale of the home or a date prior to the sale. It cannot, however, be a date prior to June 1, 2020. In your example, you would still qualify.
Question: So are you saying that if I sold my home on May 15, 2020, I’m disqualified?
Answer: Yes, that’s what we’re saying…besides, at the date of sale you ceased to be a CFSIC claimant anyway, and the correct thing to do would have been to notify ESIS of your status so that someone else could have access to your funds. We are grandfathering this process back to June 1 as an accommodation only.
Question: Are you still going to stop the Pending application process on June 30 as previously announced?
Answer: Yes. We have already done so.
Question: I’m a Type 1, severity Class 3 active claimant. So if I transfer my claim to the buyer of my home, what am I really doing?
Answer: Looks like you don’t have a Participation Agreement yet, based on the question. So, what you’re doing is transferring almost every right, obligation, and duty you had for your active claim to the buyer of your home, who then agrees to take over those rights, duties, and obligations.
Question: But I’ve got a signed contract and am in line for a Participation Agreement. What happens if the buyer and the contractor can’t agree on the terms of the original contract or, alternatively, the contractor simply backs out of the arrangement?
Answer: The buyer can seek the required two proposals for construction services from CRCOG-approved contractors to substitute for the original contractor, one of which will eventually substitute for the original contract. CFSIC will keep an active claim “active” for a period of 180 days from the date of the Claim Transfer Agreement in order to allow time for this to happen. If it isn’t accomplished by then, the claim is removed from our system, it is no longer active, and the buyer is no longer in line…and must therefore start the process all over again as if the claim had never transferred. If we are not accepting applications at the time that happens, then the buyer may have to wait for years to reapply, or may never get an opportunity.
Question: Who is responsible for contacting ESIS ProClaim to tell them about the sale of a home?
Answer: Only the original homeowner (Original Claimant). ESIS will not accept communications of any kind from real estate agents or from Transfer Claimants (home buyers) regarding a claim transfer.
Question: Okay…what happens then?
Answer: When you provide ESIS ProClaim with your claim number by phone or email and indicate that you want to transfer your claim to the buyer of your home, they will provide you with a Claim Transfer Data Form to complete. You will send it back to them completed. The Superintendent’s office will then contact you and send you a Claim Transfer Agreement, which will require your signature and that of the buyer, as well as separate witnesses. You will return the fully-executed Claim Transfer Agreement back to the Superintendent’s office. Once this agreement is fully executed and received in the Superintendent’s office, the transfer of the claim can occur, and the permanent records of the claim are changed with regard to who the claimant is.
Question: I’ve already signed a proposal with a contractor. Who is responsible for telling the contractor that I’m selling my home?
Answer: You are. It is not ESIS ProClaim’s responsibility or CFSIC’s responsibility to do this. It also cannot be the real estate agent or the homebuyer. If you want to transfer your claim, you have to do this yourself.
Question: What will CFSIC accept as evidence that the Original Claimant has transferred the home to the Transfer Claimant?
Answer: A copy of the recorded deed.
Question: But I have a CHFA loan agreement that I’ve just entered into. What happens to that?
Answer: You have to address that with CHFA.
Question: My contractor started work on my foundation last week. Can I still transfer my claim?
Answer: No. Once work starts on your foundation, you have to see it through, or you terminate your construction contract. We cannot permit a claim to transfer if even the most preliminary part of the remediation process has begun.
The CHFA Credit Enhancements Program
You should go here to learn more about the CHFA credit enhancements program as it is now constituted. Please note that it currently does not apply to condominiums. CFSIC did not create and is not administering the loan program, and the ESIS claim team cannot advise you in any way about the terms and conditions of any aspect of the program. The link noted in this section will take you to an outline of the program, as well as to a section marked “Frequently Asked Questions.” We also recommend contacting the Homeowner Advocate using the contact information on the Department of Housing website for more assistance.
CFSIC’s 2020 Annual Report
CFSIC’s Annual Report can be viewed here.
CFSIC’s 2019 Audited Financial
View CFSIC’s audited financial report for the period ended June 30, 2019.
___________________
If you have any questions about the operation of the program, ESIS is your best source of information on your claim, and their phone number and email are shown below.
Phone: 844-763-1207
Email: cfsic@esis.com
As you work through the information and application process (understanding that we are in suspension for the taking of new applications), here’s how you can get help:
– Call ESIS (the claim adjuster) at: 844-763-1207
– Email ESIS at: cfsic@esis.com
– Email CFSIC at: info@crumblingfoundations.org
To view a video of how to complete an electronic application, go here.
To apply for a Type 1 claim, go here.
To apply for a Type 2 claim, go here.
To learn more about the program, if you are a homeowner, including application help, go here.
To learn more about the program, if you are a contractor, go here.