Bernard Gengel's Home
Structural Integrity Concerns and the Misleading Handling of Events
The owners of 3683 Angler Drive closed on a home without a Certificate of Occupancy at the builder's urging, were locked out for five days, and received a house whose low-voltage wiring the builder admitted in writing was "wired incorrectly." Every electrical complaint since has been closed without testing. On 14 September 2026 the builder's own supervisor said on a recording that two breakers must be replaced; the next day the builder wrote that nothing was wrong and blamed a "home office" on a circuit its electrician never inspected. The lot does not drain; the garage slab and the kitchen wall are cracking; the upper floor shakes when no train is passing. This document sets out the record, in the builder's own words wherever possible, so that counsel can evaluate it.
Status. A construction-defect law firm contacted the owner on 28 September 2026 and is evaluating the matter. No engagement has been executed and no representation is claimed. Lennar has not answered the owner's 18 September request to reopen the electrical item.
Summary for Counsel
Recurring electrical failures (whole- and half-house power loss, lights energizing when off, breaker trips under a ~12 A load; two NEC deficiencies at the panel documented by a licensed electrician); cracking at the garage slab and at the kitchen wall and cased opening beneath the two-story junction, with shaking of the upper floor felt when no train is passing; standing water along the rear lot line above a Lennar-installed French drain; and roof-to-wall junctions with run-off staining below and interior damage beneath, cause to be determined; an HVAC system deficient upstairs and abnormally loud. Home closed 29 November 2024.
3 December 2024, Lennar construction by text: "The low voltage was wired incorrectly." 4 April 2025: all hardwired alarms sound at 1:30 AM with no fire, 911 called; Lennar replaces "3 defective detectors" and closes the case without circuit testing. 2025: Lennar installs a French drain at the rear lot line with Leonard Gengel present; a later flood at that drain is reported to Lennar and the HOA — no action. Shaking first observed and independently witnessed ~26 July 2025.
14 September 2026, Lennar's electrical supervisor on a recorded visit: two breakers must be replaced; he will return. 15 September 2026, Lennar in writing: no defect; cause is a "home office with a lot of computers"; homeowner to hire an electrician to remove GFCI protection. The only home office is upstairs, on another circuit, with nothing plugged in; the electrician never went upstairs. Nothing was load-tested. The owner's 18 September request to reopen, with the recording attached, is unanswered as of 29 September. See § IV.
B&P Electrical Services (ER# 13016478), site visit 10 September 2026 — four days before Lennar's visit, and without Lennar's knowledge — written report BP-IR-0140 dated 16 September: circuit directory not compliant with NEC 408.4(A); panel terminations without documented torque, NEC 110.14(D); "fire or equipment-failure hazard." Lennar's own supervisor confirmed the same mislabel on tape four days later.
4 September 2026, Victoria Wiles, Lennar Customer Care, recorded: "We do cover electrical for two years within the walls"; "You do have a structural warranty with us for 10 years," confirmed twice. The closing packet's Limited Warranty states one year. Lennar opened and worked electrical case 07722760 in September 2026. The booklet governing any two- and ten-year terms has not yet been located.
Lennar's 16 and 20 November 2024 notices: closing requires a Certificate of Occupancy. Closed 29 November 2024 on an area sales manager's "90% sure" representation, against the buyers' attorney's advice. CO issued 4 December 2024. Owners had no keys or access for five days. A/C non-functional at closing. Buyer requests were deflected to "ARC and HOA approval" — bodies Lennar controlled.
The French drain along the rear lot line — installed by Lennar while Leonard Gengel, a retired builder of some 350 homes, was present — holds standing water along its full length; both inlets sit outside the fence at the lot corners. Lennar Warranty Guide p. 14: water standing more than 48 hours within 20 ft of the home is a deficiency; grading and swales are builder work. The Seagrove HOA is not an alternative respondent: the recorded Declaration (OR 5229/1519) names Lennar as Developer with control of the Board until turnover, and limits the Association's drainage duty to Common Areas (§§ 13.3, 13.12). Garage slab cracking was observed by Lennar's supervisor on 14 September 2026. A structural engineer has not yet inspected.
Chapter 558 pre-suit notice incorporated (Rider A § 13); mandatory mediation then AAA arbitration (§ 17), repeated in the deed; one-year Limited Warranty; implied warranties disclaimed; consequential damages waived; settlement cracks and soils excluded (§§ 8.2–8.4); rail vibration acknowledged (§ 34.5). Which claims remain available after warranty expiry is for counsel. See § VIII.
Reopen request sent 18 September 2026, unanswered. Vibration logging running since 16 September. A structural engineer's inspection, a laboratory water test, and Lennar's Limited Warranty booklet are the three items that would most change the picture; none is in hand. Both owners of record are parties to anything that follows.
The Record in Brief
Owners cooperative and documented; builder fast and wrongThe owners did what they were asked. They signed every document Lennar put in front of them, accepted the home "in good condition" on the morning of closing, and wired $306,000 the week before. When the Certificate of Occupancy had not issued, Lennar's area sales manager told them he was "90% sure" it would come that day; their own attorney told them not to close. They closed. Lennar's construction manager texted that afternoon that "like 15 homes" were in the same position and that the A/C would be fixed or replaced — the A/C did not work. For the next five days the owners held a deed to a house whose door code Lennar would not release: "we can't do anything to the home until we have the CO." Their requests for the shutters and screening they had been led to expect were answered with "the ARC and the HOA would have to approve" — an architectural committee and an association that Lennar itself controlled, which the buyers did not know.
The first defect was electrical and Lennar wrote it down. On 3 December 2024, four days after closing and before the owners had a key, Lennar's construction manager texted: "The low voltage was wired incorrectly. Electrician came and rewired it." The owner moved in on New Year's Eve; his father and stepmother arrived in January, and by the owner's account the electrical symptoms began once the house was fully occupied. Four months later every hardwired alarm in the house sounded at 1:30 in the morning with no fire; the owner called 911 fearing carbon monoxide. Lennar replaced "3 defective detectors" and closed the case the next morning. No one tested the circuits.
The owners kept reporting; the record kept closing. A formal request to investigate water bills running two to six times normal was sent in June 2025 to the utility, the state, the HOA and Lennar — Lennar's published customer-care address bounced, the state answered that it had no jurisdiction, the HOA confirmed receipt by phone, and the utility never replied. Standing water at the rear lot line brought a Lennar crew to install a French drain, with Leonard Gengel — who built some 350 homes and his own subdivision roads over a forty-year career — standing beside them. When that drain flooded during a later absence, Len reported it by text to Lennar and to the HOA — an association whose board Lennar appoints; nothing was done. The owner first told his family the house was shaking in July 2025, inside the warranty year, wondering at first whether a medication change explained it; his stepmother, who worked upstairs more than anyone, said she felt it too.
In September 2026 Lennar said the right things on the phone and the opposite in writing. On 4 September its Customer Care representative told the owner, on a recording, that electrical is covered for two years and structure for ten, that she would send an electrician and schedule the visit with him, and that he should open a structural case. The water complaint she closed the next day by phone, without inspection, as sediment in the water heater. Getting no urgency from a builder whose electricians drive past the house daily to homes still under construction, the owner hired his own; a licensed electrician came the same day, 10 September, and wrote up two code deficiencies at the panel. Lennar's electrician arrived on 14 September without notice and without knowing of that visit. He confirmed the panel was mislabeled, said two breakers had to be replaced, said he would return, and noted cracking in the garage — all on a recording he knew was running. On 15 September Lennar wrote that he had found "nothing disconnected or installed incorrectly," that the owner had "created a home office with a lot of computers" on the failing circuit, and that the owner should hire someone to remove the GFCI protection the code requires. The only home office is upstairs, on a different circuit, with no computer plugged in; the electrician never went upstairs. The circuit that trips holds a coffee maker. The circuit with the owner's one small server has never tripped. The owner asked, in the portal and by email with the recording attached, why the note said what it said. No one has answered.
What is left is a house with a licensed electrician's two code citations at the panel, a slab and a wall that are cracking, a lot that holds water against the builder's own 48-hour standard, roof junctions that stain the walls below them, and a builder that has closed every case it opened. The owners have not repaired anything Lennar might need to inspect. They have recorded, photographed and dated what they found. This dossier is that record.
The Owners, the Purchase and the Money
Owner account unless sourcedOccupant. Runs the Be Like Brit children's home in Grand Goâve, Haiti, founded after his sister Britney died in the January 2010 earthquake; away from the house for months at a time. He has hearing loss and uses his phone's built-in call feature (Google Pixel call notes), which announces to every party at the start of each call that the call is being recorded. Every phone recording in this file carries that automatic announcement. His grandfather was fire chief in Worcester, Massachusetts; the 4 April 2025 alarm event and a sparking outlet were not taken lightly in this family.
Co-owner and father. Retired builder: designed and built about 350 homes and ten neighborhoods, including their roads. Funded the purchase. In residence with his wife Stephanie from January 2025 into the spring (dates to be fixed from photographs); now resident in Polson, Montana. Witness to the French drain installation and to the 2025 flood report.
Leonard's wife. Worked upstairs more than anyone in the first half of 2025; independently confirmed the shaking in July 2025. Signed statement to be obtained.
The owner had lived in West Delray Beach and then in a condominium in Boynton Beach. Because he spent most of the year in Haiti, his father and his life coach suggested selling the condominium. Missionary Flights International flies to Haiti from Fort Pierce; that was the reason to look for a house there. It was the owner, from Haiti, who found the community and began the process — first inquiry Thursday 7 November 2024, 6:18 PM. Leonard, who happened to be in Florida, went to see the home the owner had found with Ben Bryk, his best friend from college and a Vero Beach realtor; they liked it, but across the street stood the Victoria the owner lives in today. The Victoria was, by the owners' account, the most in-demand plan in the community at the time.
Cash: $34,000 deposit and a $306,000 wire on 25 November 2024 (documented). Leonard Gengel paid the full price from his own funds and a loan to him from his cousin Joshua Steinwand — interest-free if repaid within an agreed period, and deliberately kept between the two of them. The Boynton Beach condominium did not sell for more than a year and was ultimately sold at a loss (final settlement 4 March 2026). Because of the delay the loan carried 10% interest on $250,000, about $25,000. The owner's mother, Cherylann Gengel, contributed $40,000 and Leonard a further $15,000, both spent. The all-cash purchase was refinanced through Community Credit Union of Florida (closing 13 March 2026; cash-out at 6.625%), largely to repay the purchase funds; the owner's debt to the credit union now exceeds $200,000. Leonard's total outlay, including improvements to the home, exceeds $100,000. A ledger is being compiled.
Contract price $375,990 (deed stamps on $376,000). Lennar's concessions were large for a quick-close, year-end sale: a $35,990 Decorative Credit applied at closing, a Seller Credit of up to $11,280 toward closing costs, and $29,860 of "incentive reductions" already netted inside the options summary; blinds and $2,000 of landscaping were added after closing. The owners' recollection is $37,000–$39,000 or more in incentives; the exact total should be reconstructed from the Options Summary and the ALTA. Net cash to Lennar was about $340,000.
Blinds (Lennar-added by revision), landscaping ($2,000 Lennar concession in lieu of shutters and screening); screened patio $1,880; three front shutters; ceiling fans $1,000; perimeter fence about $6,000; rock beds. Items Lennar declined were arranged and paid privately.
Because the condominium did not sell, Leonard also forfeited $39,890 of deposit on a separate new home he had contracted with another builder in Vero Beach in 2025 (settled August 2025, with a confidentiality clause). That loss arose from the condominium delay, not from Lennar, and is recorded here only so counsel has the whole picture. The Purchase Agreement waives consequential damages (§ VIII).
Lennar's Statements, Side by Side
A. The closure of item 44285831
Confirms the panel directory is mislabeled. States two breakers — island; dishwasher/refrigerator — require replacement; he will order them and return. Attributes whole-house outages to utility service routed from across the railroad on a temporary "close wire." Recommends removing the kitchen GFCI. Observes cracking in the garage. Agrees to give notice before the next visit. Does not go upstairs.
"Electrician checked our end to make sure that there was nothing disconnected or installed incorrectly with breakers. He mentioned that the homeowner has created a home office with a lot of computers all connected to that one circuit that also is connected to kitchen. She would need to hire an electrician to change her GFCI breakers to regular ones or add dedicated outlet."
What is actually on the circuits. The circuit that trips is the non-GFCI kitchen receptacle circuit beside the second kitchen GFCI: it trips when the coffee maker (~12 A) is run, or the house loses power. The GFCI receptacle near the refrigerator serves one Ubuntu server used as a lightweight web server — a small machine with a mid-range graphics card (NVIDIA 3060), on a battery-backup unit, drawing on the order of 150–300 W — and that circuit has never tripped. The owner's laptops are used one at a time and are not charged together on one circuit. A standing desk in the living area between the living room and kitchen was set up after the 14 September visit. The only home office is upstairs: a three-monitor desk with no computer plugged in, on a different circuit; the electrician did not go upstairs. A small NVIDIA compute device and two routers are in the bedroom. Combined continuous computing load in the kitchen is on the order of 2–4 A. No load test was performed. Kitchen countertop receptacles require GFCI protection (NEC 210.8). The closure note refers to the owner as "she." No appointment window was communicated to the owner before the 14 September visit; the window (9 AM–1 PM) appears in Lennar's portal. Lennar had not been told that B&P Electrical inspected the same panel on 10 September.
Homeowner electrical work, stated plainly. Ceiling fans hung at existing fan boxes, 27 Jan 2025 (owner-paid; not on the circuits at issue). Four wall switches replaced by a hired worker in January 2025, after a smart-switch attempt on 23 Jan 2025 that the owner texted Lennar about ("we had a hell of a time with the wires"). No work by the owners or anyone they hired on the panel, breakers, service entrance, feeder conductors or utility equipment. Whether the switch or fan work bears on any condition is a question for the electrical expert; the file does not say "nothing was modified." Lennar's Supplemental Documents item 5 (unpermitted homeowner electrical modification voids the electrical warranty) should be expected in reply; the 23 Jan 2025 text is in Lennar's hands.
B. Notice inside the warranty year
"The low voltage was wired incorrectly. Electrician came and rewired it. AC tech is coming back to retest the unit tomorrow."
Owner, 7:57 AM: "911 Fire Alarms going off at 1:30am (Not chirping). Extremely concerned it's Carbon Monoxide!!!" Resolution, 4/5 7:03 AM: "3 defective detectors were replaced." No circuit testing recorded.
Standing water reported; Lennar sends a representative whom Leonard meets on site; French drain installed with Leonard present. Later flood at the drain reported to Lennar sales contacts and to Campbell Property Management; acknowledged, no action.
C. Coverage
"We do cover electrical for two years within the walls, so I'm going to go ahead and send this out to my electrician to schedule them to come out and do an inspection and make any repairs that are necessary."
"You do have a structural… warranty with us for 10 years." Asked again: "Yes, sir, correct."
One-year Limited Warranty from closing (to 29 November 2025); notice of claim within 30 days after expiry. Implied warranties disclaimed. Settlement cracks excluded (§ 8.3); soils excluded (§§ 8.2, 8.4.2).
The full Lennar Limited Warranty booklet setting out any two-year systems and ten-year structural terms is not in the file reviewed. Lennar's statement at left is presented as Lennar's statement, not as the owners' established coverage.
D. Closing without a Certificate of Occupancy
| 16 & 20 Nov 2024 Mel Lau, Lennar Closings | "Closing can take place once we have been issued with a Certificate of Occupancy." Utilities and CO "still outstanding." "Do not make any moving arrangements until AFTER you have closed." | Gmail – Accepted Walks CONFIRMED; 1st Walk CONFIRMED |
| 29 Nov 2024, 12:25 PM Macki Fadness, SMS | "There were like 15 homes that did not get a CO on Wednesday… I'm expecting we have it before Wednesday." Closing funded ~5 PM the same day. | Owner SMS export; Final Signed ALTA.pdf |
| 30 Nov 2024, 8:12 AM Macki Fadness, SMS | "We don't have the CO for the home yet, so I cannot give the code yet." | Owner SMS export |
| 4 Dec 2024 Macki Fadness, SMS; Lennar Title | 11:40 AM: "We got your CO, you should hear from closing." 2:37 PM: "FILE CLOSED OK TO RELEASE KEYS." Door code provided. | Owner SMS export; Gmail – FILE CLOSED OK TO RELEASE KEYS |
E. The "home office," located by a third party
Interior photo page: the room labeled "Office" is a carpeted upstairs bedroom with a desk and a screen. Rear exterior photo shows no gutters. Condition C2; "no physical deficiencies or adverse conditions"; Dampness and Settlement boxes left blank. Value $370,000 — below the $375,990 contract price of a then most-in-demand plan. A Reconsideration of Value (47 sq ft discrepancy against Lennar's published Victoria plan; three comparables) was filed 26 Feb; the appraiser issued a correction 5 March 2026.
"This appraisal report is not a home inspection… cannot be relied upon to disclose conditions and/or defects in the property." The form also records the house as one story (it is two), with aluminum gutters (it has none), no fence and no patio (both present); the signature date printed is 01/22/2026, a month before the inspection.
The report therefore cannot be used as evidence of no defect in February 2026. It does fix, by a disinterested party, that the only "office" in the house is upstairs — on a different circuit from the kitchen — seven months before Lennar's 15 September note. The upstairs desk today carries three monitors and no computer.
F. Requests deflected to an HOA that Lennar controlled
Shields: shutters are "an architectural item and the front elevations are what we have approved"; "I do not have a screening company as a trade partner." Smart: "unable to accommodate the change in front exterior." Bryk, 5 Dec: Shields "would not call us back for three days… would not speak to the buyers."
The buyers' requests were repeatedly answered with "the ARC committee and the HOA would have to approve." The Association's Board is appointed by the Developer until turnover (§ 7.7) and the Developer is Lennar Homes, LLC; the buyers did not know this at the time. Shields declined a requested video meeting with the buyers. The 4 September 2026 claim emailed to the salesman, Sebastian Gonzalez, has had no reply.
Open Defects
As of 29 Sept 2026 · six conditions, none resolvedElectrical
First evidence · 12/03/2024Low-voltage miswiring at delivery, admitted by Lennar in writing. Since then: intermittent whole- and half-house power loss (one to two times a month); lights energizing when switched off; appliances alarming; switches and fans malfunctioning; sparking at the upstairs outlet outside the bathroom; the kitchen receptacle circuit tripping under a ~12 A coffee-maker load. At the panel, a licensed electrician documented a circuit directory that does not comply with NEC 408.4(A) and terminations without documented torque to manufacturer specification, NEC 110.14(D) — a "fire or equipment-failure hazard" (B&P Electrical, 10 Sept 2026). Lennar's own supervisor attributed the whole-house events to a possibly temporary utility feed (14 Sept 2026). Owner account: the symptoms began after the house was fully occupied in January 2025.
Lennar item 44285831 closed 15 Sept 2026 as homeowner-caused, without a load test. Reopen requested 18 Sept 2026 with the 14 Sept recording attached; no response as of 29 Sept. The two breakers Lennar's supervisor said must be replaced have not been replaced. The cause of the whole-house outages has not been investigated by anyone.
SMS 12/3/2024; Case 06614085; Report BP-IR-0140; 9/14 recording and transcript; 9/15 closure email; 9/18 reopen email.
Structural
First evidence · ~07/26/2025Cracking of the garage slab (Exhibits A–G). Horizontal cracking and peeling at the kitchen wall and cased opening beneath the two-story junction (Exhibits H–M). Shaking of the upper floor felt when no train is passing, and in the exterior masonry when vehicles pass. First observed about 26 July 2025 and independently confirmed by Stephanie Gengel; by the owner's estimate more than tripled since, with most of the increase in the last four months.
Raised by phone on 4 Sept 2026; Lennar's representative stated ten-year structural coverage, invited a new case and said she would raise it with management — no response. No structural case yet opened. Garage cracking observed by Lennar's supervisor on 14 Sept 2026. No engineer has inspected. Vibration logging running since 16 Sept 2026 (§ XI). The contract excludes "settlement cracks" (§ 8.3); an engineer's report would need to say which these are.
Owner; 9/4 recording; 9/14 recording; photographs 10–16 Sept 2026.
Site drainage
First evidence · 2025 — dates to fix from Leonard Gengel’s textsStanding water along the full rear lot line above the French drain that Lennar installed; both storm inlets lie outside the fence at the rear lot corners; the inlet grate is overgrown and rusted. After several days of heavy rain on 16 Sept 2026, a sulfur / stale-water odor at the inlet — the same odor met inside the house on 3 Sept. Rear turf waterlogged and matted; standing water photographed again after rain on 22 Sept 2026 (Exhibits O, P, T–Y). Lennar's own Warranty Guide (p. 14) treats water standing more than 48 hours within 20 ft of the home as a deficiency and makes grading and swales the builder's responsibility.
Reported in 2025 by Leonard Gengel by text to a Lennar employee and to the HOA; Lennar sent a representative and installed the French drain; a later flood at the drain was reported and nothing was done. On the owners' reading the responsible party is Lennar — as builder for the lot grading and as Developer for the French drain and the tree removal; the Association is under Lennar's control. Not yet the subject of written notice.
Drone photographs 9/4/2026; 9/4 recording; Lennar Warranty Guide p. 14; Leonard Gengel.
Building envelope
First evidence · 09/04/2026 (photographs)This is not a complaint that the house lacks gutters — it was sold without them and the owners knew that. The question is how water is handled where the two-story roof discharges onto the one-story roof and against the wall (Exhibits N, Q–S). Below those junctions the fascia and soffit carry dark run-off streaking, and inside, the kitchen wall and ceiling beneath the junction show peeling paint, cracking and dark speckling (Exhibits H–M). Whether the junctions are properly flashed and drained, whether there is a moisture path into the wall, and whether the interior damage is connected to the exterior at all are questions for the engineer and a moisture survey. No code violation is asserted here.
Not yet reported to Lennar. Flashing and kick-out inspection and moisture readings are needed before anything is claimed. Listed so that the engineer looks at the junctions and the interior damage together.
Drone photographs 9/4/2026; stills 10–16 Sept 2026.
Water / plumbing
First evidence · 02/2025 (billing) · 09/03/2026 (odor)Sulfur odor at every fixture, hot and cold, on the owner's return on 3 Sept 2026 — by his account the worst he has met in any home, and unlike earlier absences of similar length — clearing after roughly an hour of flushing; white guest towels stained blue, indicating dissolved copper. The same odor outside at the rear inlet on 16 Sept after heavy rain. Water and sewer bills two to six times the normal range from February to June 2025, with three occupants in residence from January into the spring and one thereafter; the irrigation controller found running all three programs on 28 Feb 2025 accounts for part of that period, not all.
Lennar item 44285832 closed 5 Sept 2026 by phone, without inspection ("sediment in the water heater"; anode rod). No laboratory test — copper, pH, hydrogen sulfide, sulfate — has yet been run at the tap or the inlet. Towels retained unwashed. Whether the storm system connects to the house plumbing or sewer lateral is unknown (§ X).
Lennar_Warranty_Claim_Gengel.pdf; 9/5 closure email; 30 June 2025 letter and statements.
HVAC
First evidence · 11/29/2024Non-functional at delivery (the low-voltage miswiring). Unbalanced airflow upstairs and in the master bath reported 11 Feb 2025; "Balanced air" recorded 18 Feb 2025 with no written report of what was adjusted. The upstairs rooms remain too warm to work in on hot days. The system is also abnormally loud: the indoor unit runs loud enough that an owner with hearing loss calls it loud, and the outdoor unit intermittently produces a bang sharp enough to be mistaken for a firecracker.
Case closed 18 Feb 2025. Upstairs cooling still deficient; noise not yet reported to Lennar. To be included in the engineer's or an HVAC contractor's inspection.
Owner SMS export; Case 06520929; WO 34837430.
Chronology
Rows sourced to "owner" or "Leonard Gengel" are witness accountsPurchase and closing — Nov 2024 – Jan 2025
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 11/05/2024 | Declaration for Seagrove recorded, OR 5229/1519 (134 pp.), made by Lennar Homes, LLC as Developer; signed by Michael Meyers, Vice President (Palm Atlantic Division President). Developer controls Board composition through the Turnover Date (§ 7.7) and need not turn over before the statutory date. Association maintains drainage only within Common Areas (§§ 13.3, 13.12); a Community Development District may own the surface-water system (§ 10). § 15.2.3: an Owner who alters grade or drainage pays for the result — on Lot 4 the Developer installed the French drain and removed the tree. § 19.11: drainage easement across every lot in favor of Developer, District and Association. Disputes: mediation, then AAA arbitration. Recorded 24 days before closing; binding on the lot at purchase. The Association remains under Lennar's control as of this revision. | Declaration for Seagrove (recorded).pdf (OCR 9/17/2026); Seagrove Club Plan (recorded).pdf, OR 5229/1655 |
| 11/07/2024 | 6:18 PM: the owner, from Haiti, makes the first inquiry that leads to Seagrove. Leonard Gengel, then in Florida, visits the home the owner found, with Ben Bryk (his college best friend; realtor, Coldwell Banker Paradise, Vero Beach); they like it, but the Victoria across the street becomes the purchase. Five days from first inquiry to contract. | Owner; email of 11/7/2024 6:18 PM (to pull) |
| 11/12/2024 | Purchase Agreement executed. Buyers Bernard S. Gengel II and Leonard F. Gengel; seller Lennar Homes, LLC. Price $375,990; Decorative Credit $35,990 (Special Addendum SG04); Seller Credit up to $11,280; $29,860 of incentive reductions inside the options summary. Incorporates Ch. 558 rider, AAA arbitration, implied-warranty disclaimer, consequential-damages waiver, § 8.3 settlement-crack exclusion, § 34.5 rail-vibration acknowledgment. Addendum prints "Estimated Start Date" 04/11/2024 (to be verified against county permit records). Seventeen days from contract to closing. | Contract_Documents (4).pdf; 35990-lennar.pdf |
| 11/16/2024 | Lennar Closings (Mel Lau): utilities and CO "still outstanding"; "Closing can take place once we have been issued with a Certificate of Occupancy." Walks set 11/21 and 11/29; closing 11/29 online. | Gmail – Accepted Walks CONFIRMED |
| 11/20/2024 | Mel Lau: utilities and CO still outstanding; "do not make any moving arrangements until AFTER you have closed"; close date "Subject to Change"; closing can take place once a CO is issued. | Gmail – 1st Walk CONFIRMED |
| 11/21/2024 | Home Demonstration. Sole pre-closing item: "Paint touch up interior and exterior" (W25). Supplemental Documents signed with Macki Fadness, Construction Manager: Purchaser's Certificate, warranty acknowledgement. Buyers off-site; walk attended by realtor via video call. | New_Home_Orientation_7795600004.pdf; Supplemental_Documents_7795600004.pdf |
| 11/22–25/2024 | Closing-statement dispute over credits. Sebastian Gonzalez confirms ALTA: $11,280 Seller Credit + $35,990 Decorative Credit. Leonard Gengel wires $306,000 balance 11/25. Cash purchase. | Gmail – Fwd: Customer Message – LennarTrack; Final Signed ALTA.pdf |
| 11/26/2024 | Lennar Title "Escrow, Indemnity & Hold Harmless Agreement" template for closing "prior to Home Acceptance and/or receipt of the C/O" received (copy names a different buyer). Whether the Gengels signed an equivalent is to be determined. | email/ACFrOgA0….pdf |
| 11/27/2024 | Realtor Ben Bryk to Mark Shields (Area Sales Manager), 11:29 AM: buyers "willing to move forward with the closing against the advice from a Real Estate Attorney not to close," requesting blinds, front shutters, screened patio. Shields agrees to blinds; declines shutters ("not in line with the approved front elevation") and screening ("I do not have a screening company as a trade partner"). Revised Purchase Agreement adding blinds sent for signature. Owner account: requests were repeatedly met with "the ARC committee and the HOA would have to approve" — bodies then controlled by Lennar, which the buyers did not know (§ IV-F). | Gmail – closing on Bernie and Len Gengel home with out a CO; Gmail – Document to sign – Revision; owner |
| 11/29/2024 | New Home Acceptance signed 7:32 AM, home accepted "as being in good condition." Macki, 12:25 PM: "There were like 15 homes that did not get a CO on Wednesday." 12:58 PM, on the A/C: "My boss has contacted Lindstrom to have it taken care of… Worst case is they'll have it replaced." Closing funded ~5 PM ($34,000 deposit + $306,000 wire). No CO issued. Shields had stated he was "90% sure" the CO would issue that day. One-year Limited Warranty runs to 11/29/2025. | New_Home_Acceptance_7795600004.pdf; owner SMS export; Gmail – FW: 3683 Angler Dr (treated unfairly) |
| 11/30/2024 | Macki, 8:12 AM: "we don't have the CO for the home yet, so I cannot give the code yet." | Owner SMS export |
| 12/01–03/2024 | Bryk to J. Richelle Smart (VP Sales): buyers closed without a CO "per Mark Shields suggestion… Mark failed to disclose that the buyers would not be able to obtain access after the closing." Lennar Title: "We are closed, construction will contact them when they receive the CO next week." Macki 12/2, 7:27 AM: "The homeowners can't do anything to the home until we have a CO." Home unlocked for the owners' painter; door code withheld. 12/2–3: owner sends the signed Seagrove Welcome Packet to Campbell Property Management (Laura Fess, Administrative Assistant, 525 NW Whitney Place #202, Port St. Lucie) and asks to register and begin paying dues; declined until Lennar Title transmits closing documents — "about a month from closing." HOA account #XN21797358 opened 12/11/2024. | Gmail – FW: 3683 Angler Dr; owner SMS export; Gmail – Seagrove |
| 12/03/2024 | Macki, 4:18 PM: "The low voltage was wired incorrectly. Electrician came and rewired it. AC tech is coming back to retest the unit tomorrow." 10:45 AM: Special Warranty Deed recorded, St. Lucie County Clerk File 5415134, OR 5240/1536–1539; doc stamps $2,632 ($376,000); dated "as of" 11/20/2024; grantees as joint tenants with right of survivorship; § E arbitration covenant running with the land (three arbitrators above $250,000 or for punitive damages), § F jury waiver, § G incorporates the Seagrove Declaration (OR 5229/1519) and Club Plan (OR 5229/1655). No door code. | Owner SMS export; Deed – recorded.pdf (OCR 9/17/2026) |
| 12/04/2024 | Macki, 11:40 AM: "We got your CO, you should hear from closing." Lennar Title, 2:37 PM: "FILE CLOSED OK TO RELEASE KEYS." Door code provided. Macki, 5:41 PM: "AC is being fixed now." | Owner SMS export; Gmail – FILE CLOSED OK TO RELEASE KEYS |
| 12/05–17/2024 | Bryk to Smart, "treated unfairly by Mark Shields": closing without CO, no access, A/C, missing blinds; requests shutters and screened patio; Shields "would not call us back for three days… would not speak to the buyers." Bryk to Lennar leadership: the buyers "were helping Lennar reach the final sales numbers for the year end" (the realtor's contemporaneous statement, not a Lennar admission). Leonard Gengel, 12/5: "I wired $306k because of what Mark said." Lennar Title issues a $1.00 check via LennarTrack 12/9. Smart offers $2,000 of landscaping in lieu 12/16; accepted. Owner account: Shields declined a requested video meeting with the buyers. | Gmail – FW: 3683 Angler Dr (treated unfairly); Gmail – Customer Message – LennarTrack; owner |
| 12/18/2024–01/03/2025 | Blinds installed by 1/3/2025. Macki 1/3: sod to be repaired where "guys had to dig over there before Christmas" (front-yard utility dig, Dec 2024). | Gmail – Status of the blinds; owner SMS export |
| 12/31/2024–01/2025 | Owner moves in from Boynton Beach on New Year's Eve; officially resident 1 January 2025. Leonard and Stephanie Gengel arrive for the winter in January (Leonard's 12/17/2024 email: 6 January; exact date to be confirmed from photographs). Owner account: the electrical symptoms first appeared in the period after their arrival, when the house was fully occupied for the first time. | Owner; Gmail – FW: 3683 Angler Dr (12/17/2024) |
| 01/02–02/06/2025 | Landscaping enhancement installed 1/15 after repeated follow-up. Owners fund screened patio ($968.20 + $940.00). Owners apply to ARC for shutters and screen porch (patio approved 1/24). Bryk sends St. Lucie County EnerGov permit/CO link and recorded deed 1/17. | Gmail – Re: 3683 Angler Dr.pdf; ledger; Gmail – certificate of occupancy |
Warranty year — 2025
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 01/23–27/2025 | Owner to Macki: smart-switch attempt with a helper, "we had a hell of a time with the wires… Yea we did something wrong"; asks for an electrician referral. Owner account: four wall switches were replaced by a hired worker; ceiling fans hung at existing fan boxes 1/27 ($1,000, owner-paid). No work on the panel, breakers, service entrance or feeders by the owners or anyone they hired. | Owner SMS export; ledger; owner |
| 02/11–18/2025 | HVAC case 06520929 / WO 34837430: "Unbalance Air Flow. Upstairs and the master bathroom is not cooling." Resolution "Balanced air," completed 2/18 7:03 AM. Work order carries a "Trade Partner – Did Not Show" flag. | Case_ 06520929.pdf; Work Order_ 34837430.pdf |
| 02/13–06/2025 | Water and sewer bills 2–6× the normal range (Account 33417-10084); first statements circulated in the family 2/13–14; Jan–Jun statements later attached to the 6/30 letter. Three people were in residence January into the spring and one thereafter; the owners' position is that no household of three uses the volumes billed — on the order of 20,000 gallons in a month. 2/28: Macki finds the Rain Bird controller running programs A, B and C (builder setup); resets to A only. Working theory (§ X): water for Lennar's continuing construction or irrigation metered to this lot — unproven; the meter-read history for winter 2025 would resolve it. | Utility statements Jan–Jun 2025; owner SMS export; owner |
| 02/23/2025 | Realtor Ben Bryk emails Leonard Gengel and Sebastian Gonzalez (Lennar New Home Consultant), cc owner: referral to Bechtold Well Drilling (Tim Bechtold, 772-321-1424) for an irrigation well. Owner's account: Bryk had confirmed with Lennar that a well was permissible before sending the referral. No written confirmation from Lennar is in the file; no well was drilled. Sent four days before the 20,000-gallon bill was raised with Lennar. | Gmail – The Water company that drill the well for my sons home |
| 04/04–05/2025 | All hardwired smoke/CO alarms sound 1:30 AM; 911 called. Case 06614085 / WO 38124181, 7:57 AM: "911 Fire Alarms going off at 1:30am (Not chirping). Extremely concerned it's Carbon Monoxide!!!" Same-day visit. Closed 4/5 7:03 AM: "3 defective detectors were replaced." Work order carries a "Trade Partner – Did Not Show" flag. No root-cause or circuit testing recorded. | Case_ 06614085.pdf; Work Order_ 38124181.pdf; Gmail – Completed item(s) |
| 2025 (dates to fix) | Standing water at the rear lot line. Leonard Gengel reports it by text to a Lennar employee; Lennar sends a representative whom Leonard meets on site; a French drain is installed along the rear lot line by Lennar personnel or a Lennar-directed contractor while Leonard is present. (Leonard's qualification to judge the condition: he designed and built about 350 homes and ten neighborhoods, including their roads.) Standing water persists afterward. A Lennar crew later cuts through the yard and removes a tree without notice. Later in 2025, while the owner is in Haiti and Leonard and Stephanie occupy the home, a significant flood at the rear French drain; Leonard reports it to Lennar sales contacts and to the HOA (Campbell Property Management); acknowledged, no action. Dates, names and the texts are to be fixed from Leonard's phone. | Leonard Gengel; 9/4/2026 call transcript; texts (export pending) |
| 06/30/2025 | Owner's formal high-water-bill investigation request (meter test, hourly data log, service-line leak survey, billing audit) sent to the County utility, Florida PSC, Seagrove HOA and Lennar. Delivery record: customercare@lennar.com bounced (invalid address); the County's mail system rejected the .zip attachment; PSC responded — no jurisdiction over a county utility; the HOA (Campbell) confirmed receipt verbally during a phone call about the patio ARC approval. No response from the utility or Lennar. The Association was, and remains, under Lennar's control. To do: re-send the same letter, dated as originally sent, to lennarcares@lennar.com and to the County via its web form, so both are on formal notice as of June 2025. | Gmail – High-bill investigation request; PSC response; owner |
| ~07/26/2025 | First reported observation of the house shaking — inside the warranty year. Owner begins telling family (Leonard and Stephanie Gengel) that he feels the house shake; initially wonders whether a concurrent medication adjustment is the cause. Stephanie Gengel, who had worked upstairs more than anyone before that date, independently confirms she feels it too — the sensation is not subjective to one person. Date anchored to a houseguest's visit immediately before the owner's departure for Haiti. Owner's estimate: the sensation has more than tripled since July 2025, with most of the increase in the last four months. Not reported to Lennar at the time (attributed to rail vibration, § 34.5). | Owner; Stephanie Gengel statement to obtain; family messages to pull |
| 11/2025 | Fence permit 2402-005497; survey affidavit; Notice of Commencement 11/11. ARC approvals: fence 11/12, rock beds 11/13. | dwayne-notarized.pdf; Survey.pdf; ARC emails |
| 11/29/2025 | One-year Limited Warranty term ends. No cases open. | Closing packet |
| 12/2025 | Property tax paid 12/5; homestead exemption filed 12/8. Owner departs for Haiti in December. | Tax receipt; application I-2026-25-12-0000020319; emails |
Second year — Dec 2025 – Aug 2026
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 2025–~Apr 2026 | Owner away (Haiti, per December 2025 correspondence; return date to confirm). No odor, staining or breaker symptoms reported on return. | Owner; emails |
| 01/06/2026 | Perimeter fence installed. Both storm inlets lie outside the fence at the rear lot corners. | Ledger; fence quote |
| 02/20/2026 | Refinance appraisal inspection, Devon Conde (Cert Res RD8464, Boyle & Drake, Inc.), for Community Credit Union of Florida; value $370,000 — below the $375,990 contract price of the community's then most-in-demand plan; C2/Q4; "no physical deficiencies or adverse conditions"; Dampness and Settlement boxes blank. Addendum: "not a home inspection… cannot be relied upon to disclose conditions and/or defects." Form errors: one story, aluminum gutters, no fence, no patio. Photo labeled "Office": upstairs bedroom, a desk and a screen. Rear photo: no gutters. Leonard Gengel files a written complaint with the lender about the appraiser's unsolicited remarks during the inspection. | appraisal report 3683 angler drive.pdf; incident-appraiser.docx |
| 02/26–03/05/2026 | Reconsideration of Value: 47 sq ft discrepancy against Lennar's published Victoria plan; three comparables; written account of the appraiser incident. 3/5: "The appraiser made the correction." | RECONSIDERATION OF VALUE.docx; CCU emails |
| 03/04/2026 | Owner's Boynton Beach condominium closes, at a loss, after more than a year on the market. | Final ALTA (condo); owner |
| 03/13–24/2026 | Refinance closing at Supreme Title Solutions, Vero Beach (Community Credit Union of Florida; cash-out, 6.625%), attended by Leonard, Bernard and Stephanie Gengel. Lender withholds funding 3/17–19 pending tax returns; the credit union later sends a letter of apology acknowledging its error, with a Lowe's gift card (unused). Post-closing complete 3/24. Owner's debt to the credit union now exceeds $200,000. | Qualia / CCU emails; CCU apology letter (to file) |
| ~03/2026 | Upstairs floor vibration reported by owner as markedly greater than at first observation; felt when no train is passing. | Owner |
| 05/2026–09/03/2026 | Owner away approximately four months (the "four-month absence" of the 3 September claim), ending in a road trip from Montana with his mother, Cherylann Gengel, departing 29 August and arriving 3 September. Realtor attends the home twice; on the second visit finds breakers tripped and declines to operate the panel. | Owner; 9/4/2026 call transcript |
September 2026 — Case 07722760
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 09/03/2026 | Owner returns: sulfur odor at all fixtures, hot and cold — by his account the worst he has encountered in any home, and unlike earlier absences of similar length; white guest towels stained blue; two to three breakers tripped. Runs every fixture for roughly an hour until the odor clears. Prepares three-page "Lennar Home Warranty – Service Request" requesting panel, neutral and service-entrance inspection, load testing, FPL coordination, water-heater and anode inspection, water test (copper, pH, H₂S), bonding check; photograph of a stained towel attached as its Exhibit A. | Lennar_Warranty_Claim_Gengel.pdf |
| 09/04/2026 | 12:13 AM: case 07722760 opened — item 44285831 "Breaker Issue"; item 44285832 "Severe sulfate smell and towels turning blue after four-month absence." Request emailed to Sebastian Gonzalez, cc Leonard Gengel, Ben Bryk; no reply to date. 7:07 AM: drone photographs of the roof and the rear lot line (Exhibits N, O, P). | Lennar portal; Gmail – 3683 Warranty Claim; DJI photos |
| 09/04/2026 11:00 AM | Unscheduled call from Victoria Wiles (Lennar Customer Care) — recorded and transcribed; the owner's phone announces the recording to all parties at the start of every call. Lennar's representative states on the record: (a) "We do cover electrical for two years within the walls" — she will send the electrician to "do an inspection and make any repairs that are necessary"; (b) "You do have a structural warranty with us for 10 years" — confirmed twice when asked; (c) plumbing covered one year only; her water-heater sediment / anode-rod explanation is offered by phone, without inspection, after consulting "my team"; gives Ridgeway Plumbing's number; (d) invites the owner to open a new case for the shaking and says she will raise it with management; (e) commits that "either myself or the electrician will be contacting you to schedule a time." Owner reports on the call: sulfur odor detectable outside the front door that morning; ongoing breaker trips and Wi-Fi loss specifically after each departure; realtor unwilling to touch the panel during the owner's absence; sparks from the upstairs outlet outside the bathroom near the desk; significant increase in upstairs shaking since May, felt with no train passing, confirmed by Leonard and Stephanie; a flood at the rear French drain during a 2025 absence reported to Lennar and the HOA with no action; Lennar crews cut through the yard and removed a tree without notice. Owner declines a structural inspection at that moment. Neither promised follow-up occurred: the 9/14 electrician visit was not scheduled with the owner, and no management response on the structural question was ever given. | Call recording and transcript (Google Drive; filenames to index) |
| 09/05/2026 | 11:08 AM: item 44285832 closed without inspection: "Advised homeowner to run the water… Recommended he contact a plumber to inspect anode rod if issue persists." Item 44285831 remains open. | Gmail – An Update on Your Home Service 2 |
| 09/10/2026 | 2:00 AM (the owner stays up when the house shakes): owner posts a request on Angi. Lennar's trade electricians drive past the house daily to homes still under construction in the community; the owner's account is that Lennar showed no urgency, so he hired independently. Everton, of B&P Electrical Services Inc. (ER# 13016478), Vero Beach, answers and attends the same day at about 2:00 PM (Exhibits AB, AC: the open panel and the electrician at work). Scope: service panel, circuit identification, terminations. Two deficiencies: circuit directory not properly labeled (NEC 408.4(A)); panel lugs and terminals with no documented torque to manufacturer specification (NEC 110.14(D)) — "fire or equipment-failure hazard." Shown the coffee-maker trip on site, he reassures the owner that it is not an immediate fire risk. Corrective work quoted $318.00 (INV0140). Scope excludes concealed wiring, load calculation and GFCI/AFCI testing. Lennar is not told of this visit. A four-point inspector is referred; not yet engaged (cost). Same day: photographs of the kitchen wall and cased opening (Exhibits H–K); the non-GFCI kitchen receptacle circuit trips when the Keurig (~12 A) runs, or the whole house drops; half-house power loss recurring; the server's circuit has never tripped. | Angi request; INV0140; photos; owner |
| 09/14/2026 | Quality Electric supervisor "Jose" attends 9 AM–1 PM, unaware of the 9/10 inspection. Appointment window present in Lennar's portal; not communicated to the owner. Recorded with consent announced; Ring cameras visible. Statements as set out in § IV-A. Observes garage cracking. Does not go upstairs. | Audio and transcript; Ring video; portal |
| 09/15/2026 | 10:24 AM survey email: case 07722760 "closed on 2026-09-15." 11:04 AM closure email (victoria.wiles@lennar.com), item 44285831 Completed: electrician "mentioned that the homeowner has created a home office with a lot of computers all connected to that one circuit… She would need to hire an electrician to change her GFCI breakers to regular ones." Contradicts the recorded 9/14 statements. A home office does exist — upstairs, where the electrician never went: a three-monitor desk with no computer plugged in, on a different circuit. The computer next to the refrigerator is a lightweight Ubuntu server (NVIDIA 3060 graphics card) on a battery-backup unit; the standing desk in the living area was set up after the visit; the owner's several laptops are not on one circuit and are not used or charged at the same time (§ IV-A). Nothing was inspected or load-tested. Owner replies by SMS: "Jose came yesterday… said he needs to come back to install multiple breakers." Seven-day reopen window runs to 09/22/2026. | Gmail – An Update on Your Home Service; Gmail – Your feedback matters; SMS screenshots |
| 09/16/2026 | B&P Electrical issues written Inspection Report BP-IR-0140 documenting the 9/10 findings with NEC citations (delayed a week by the electrician's unexpected travel). Report expressly excludes concealed wiring, load calculation and GFCI/AFCI testing — the whole-house outage cause remains uninvestigated by any party. Morning, after several days of heavy rain: strong sulfur / stale-water odor outside near the rear storm inlet — the same odor first met inside on 9/3, since cleared from the interior; the drain smells the same after heavy storms. Whether the storm system connects to the house plumbing or sewer lateral is unknown. Lennar's 9/5 "water heater sediment" explanation does not account for an exterior odor at the drain. Owner purchases vibration-monitoring instruments; continuous, timestamped logging begins (protocol § XI). | BP-IR-0140; owner; Exhibits T, V; purchase receipt |
| 09/18/2026 | Within the reopen window, owner asks Lennar in the portal and by email to reopen item 44285831 and explain the closure note, attaching the 14 September audio recording of the electrician's statements. To preserve: sent email with full headers, attachment, delivery evidence, portal history. | Owner sent email; portal |
| 09/22/2026 | 2:30 PM, after rain: a continuous channel of standing water runs the length of the swale outside the rear fence, along the line of the French drain (Exhibits W–Y). Six days after the odor observation at the inlet. Garage slab cracks re-photographed in detail (Exhibits E–G). | DJI stills 9/22/2026 14:30; BSG08115, BSG08123 |
| 09/28/2026 | A construction-defect law firm contacts the owner and is evaluating possible contingency representation. No engagement executed. | Owner |
| 09/29/2026 | No response from Lennar to the 9/18 request. Vibration log running. This revision. | Owner |
Exhibits
Photographs shown uncropped, one or two per pageGarage slab — Exhibits A–G · Sept 2026 · cracking observed by Lennar's supervisor 9/14/2026
Garage slab — continued
Garage slab — continued
Garage slab — continued
Kitchen wall and ceiling beneath the two-story junction — Exhibits H–M · 10–16 Sept 2026
Kitchen wall and ceiling — continued
Kitchen wall and ceiling — continued
From the air — Exhibits N–P · DJI drone · 9/4/2026 07:07
From the air — continued
Building envelope — Exhibits Q–S · Sept 2026 · two-story block over the one-story roof
Building envelope — continued · roof edge at the garage from grade
Rear lot line at ground level — Exhibits T–Y · Sept 2026
Rear lot line at ground level — continued
Rear lot line after rain — Exhibits W–Y · 22 Sept 2026 14:30
Rear lot line after rain — continued
Electrical panel — Exhibits Z–AC · Sept 2026
Electrical panel — continued · B&P inspection, 10 Sept 2026
Water — Exhibit AD · 29 Sept 2026
Contract Terms, as Read by the Owners
Purchase Agreement 11/12/2024, 122 ppA lay reading of the documents in the file, prepared with AI research assistance, so that counsel can see what the owners have noticed. Nothing here is a legal conclusion.
Chapter 558 incorporated (Rider A § 13). Pre-suit notice, 30-day inspection, 45-day response. Appears to apply regardless of warranty status.
One-year Limited Warranty in the closing packet; term ended 29 Nov 2025; notice window 30 days thereafter. No case was open at expiry.
Fla. Stat. § 553.84 — civil action for building-code violation; the owners understand a four-year limitation from discovery and a seven-year repose from the CO (4 Dec 2024). B&P's NEC findings and the GFCI-removal advice are the code points noticed so far.
Mandatory mediation, then binding AAA arbitration (§ 17), repeated in the recorded deed § E as a covenant running with the land; three arbitrators if the claim exceeds $250,000 or seeks punitive damages. Deed § F waives jury trial for anything not arbitrable.
Negligence in construction — whether it survives expiry of the express warranty, and on what periods, is a question for counsel.
Implied warranties disclaimed. Habitability and workmanlike-construction claims will be contested.
Lennar's conduct. Opened and worked electrical case 07722760 in September 2026, ten months after expiry; representative stated two-year electrical and ten-year structural coverage on a recorded call (§ IV-C). Counsel to say whether this matters.
Consequential damages waived. Lost time, living expenses, financing costs and distress may not be recoverable under the contract; repair cost and diminution in value appear to be the measures.
Lennar's own standard. Warranty Guide p. 14: water standing more than 48 hours within 20 ft of the home is a deficiency; grading and swales are the builder's responsibility. Declaration § 15.2.3 charges whoever alters grade or drainage with the consequences — here the Developer, which installed the French drain and removed a tree. Association drainage duty is limited to Common Areas (§§ 13.3, 13.12).
Exclusions. Settlement cracks (§ 8.3); soils and subsurface conditions (§§ 8.2, 8.4.2). Supplemental Documents item 2: stucco settlement cracks "non-warrantable." An engineer's report would need to distinguish construction defect from excluded settlement.
The February 2026 appraisal disclaims itself as "not a home inspection" and mis-describes the house; it cannot show that no defect existed. Its "Office" photo places the only office upstairs. Its value came in below the contract price.
Supplemental Documents item 5. Homeowner electrical modification without a permit voids the electrical warranty. Owners' work: ceiling fans at existing boxes; four wall switches replaced by a hired worker. Described accurately in § IV-A; the file does not say "nothing has been modified."
Both owners of record hold title as joint tenants with right of survivorship (deed recorded 12/3/2024, OR 5240/1536); both would be parties. The 2/3–1/3 figures elsewhere are internal contribution arrangements, not title.
The HOA is Lennar. Declaration § 7.7: Developer controls the Board until turnover; § 4.3: no amendment without Developer consent. Seagrove Club, LLC lists Lennar Homes, LLC as managing member. A complaint routed to the Association is heard by a board Lennar appoints.
Rail vibration acknowledged (§ 34.5). Any structural claim would need to show movement not attributable to trains — hence the no-train vibration log.
New Home Acceptance signed 29 Nov 2024: "in good condition." Purchaser's Certificate 21 Nov 2024. Possible Hold-Harmless signed at closing — to be located.
Price. $375,990 including $10,000 homesite premium (options $19,860 less $29,860 incentive reductions inside that figure); Decorative Credit $35,990; Seller Credit up to $11,280 toward closing costs; net about $340,000. Cash purchase, $34,000 deposit + $306,000 wired 25 Nov 2024. Total incentives to be reconstructed from the Options Summary and ALTA (§ III). Refinanced March 2026; owner's debt to the credit union exceeds $200,000.
Contradictions in the Record
14 Sept 2026, on tape: two breakers require replacement; will return; garage cracking observed. 15 Sept 2026, in writing: no defect; homeowner's equipment. No load test between the two. Owner's request to reopen, with the recording attached (18 Sept), unanswered as of 29 Sept.
14 Sept 2026: supervisor recommends removing kitchen GFCI; 15 Sept 2026: closure instructs owner to have GFCI breakers changed to standard. NEC 210.8 requires GFCI protection for kitchen countertop receptacles — the advice is itself a code problem.
4 Sept 2026: Wiles states electrical is covered two years and structure ten. Closing packet: one year. Case 07722760 accepted and worked in month 22.
4 Sept 2026: Wiles commits that she or the electrician will schedule the visit with the owner, and that she will raise the shaking with management. 14 Sept 2026: visit occurs unannounced; window present in Lennar's portal. No management response ever given.
5 Sept 2026: water item closed as water-heater sediment, by phone, without inspection. 16 Sept 2026: same odor present outside at the storm inlet after heavy rain.
5 Apr 2025: fire-alarm case closed as "3 defective detectors were replaced" with no root-cause testing — three hardwired units on a system Lennar had rewired four months earlier; the same symptom family as today's whole-house events, misdiagnosed and closed inside the warranty year.
16 and 20 Nov 2024: closing requires a CO. 29 Nov 2024: closed without one on a "90% sure" representation; "15 homes" in the same position. 30 Nov–4 Dec 2024: no keys, CO or access. 29 Nov 2024: home accepted "in good condition"; same day, A/C non-functional.
15 Sept 2026: "home office with a lot of computers" on the kitchen circuit. The only office is upstairs — where the electrician never went — on a different circuit, with three monitors and no computer plugged in; a third-party appraisal photo placed it there in Feb 2026. The circuit that trips carries a coffee maker; the server's circuit has never tripped.
Nov–Dec 2024: buyer requests answered with "the ARC and the HOA would have to approve." The ARC and the Association's Board were, and remain, controlled by Lennar as Developer (Declaration § 7.7).
Working Theories — Unverified
Possibilities the owners have considered, some suggested by AI research tools. None is asserted as fact. Each is listed with the test that would confirm or eliminate it, for the experts and counsel to accept or discard.
| Theory | Why it is on the list | What would settle it |
|---|---|---|
| Saturated bearing soil → slab and wall movement | Standing water along the rear lot line against Lennar's own 48-hour standard; garage slab cracking; cracking at the kitchen wall; shaking that has grown over fourteen months. | Structural engineer; soil-moisture readings at the footings; geotechnical boring if warranted. |
| Storm system ↔ house plumbing or sewer lateral | The same sulfur / stale-water odor inside on 9/3 and outside at the storm inlet after heavy rain on 9/16; the drain smells the same after storms. Could water be backflowing toward the house? | Sewer-lateral camera inspection; check for a backflow preventer; dye test; utility's storm/sanitary separation drawings for the lot. |
| Source of the copper (blue towels) | Blue staining indicates dissolved copper. Candidates: corrosion of copper piping in stagnant water (Lennar's water-heater theory); or — suggested by an AI research tool — copper sulfate, used on landscaped grounds and stormwater ponds, if any cross-connection with the house supply exists. The second is speculative. | Certified laboratory test — copper, pH, hydrogen sulfide, sulfate — at a kitchen tap (first draw and flushed) and at the rear inlet; retain the towels sealed. |
| Whole-house outages from the utility feed | Lennar's supervisor said on 9/14 that service is routed from across the railroad on a temporary "close wire." A front-yard utility dig occurred in Dec 2024. | FPL written confirmation of the service connection (permanent or temporary) and outage history; service-entrance inspection. |
| Construction water metered to this lot | Bills 2–6× normal, Feb–Jun 2025, including a month on the order of 20,000 gallons, in a community still under construction. The irrigation controller running three programs explains part of it, not all. | St. Lucie County Utilities meter-read history from meter set; meter test; comparison with neighboring lots. |
| Shaking not attributable to trains | Felt with no train passing, upstairs and in exterior masonry; independently felt by Stephanie Gengel; increasing over time. Rail vibration is disclosed in § 34.5 and will be Lennar's answer. | Continuous vibration log with train / no-train record and a time-lapse camera excluding footfall (§ XI); engineer's floor-system assessment. |
Owners' Notes and Questions for Counsel
The owners are not lawyers. This section records what they have done, what they can do while counsel evaluates the matter, and what they need counsel to decide. It was drafted with AI research assistance and is offered for correction.
A. Done since the last revision
Reopen request for item 44285831 sent 18 September in the portal and by email, with the 14 September recording attached. No response.
B&P written report BP-IR-0140 received 16 September. Corrective work not authorized, so that Lennar can inspect the panel as found.
Vibration logging begun 16 September (protocol in C below). Purchase receipt retained.
Contact from a construction-defect law firm, 28 September. This dossier prepared for that review.
B. Questions the owners need counsel to answer
Do the two-year electrical and ten-year structural terms Lennar stated on the recorded call bind Lennar, and what does its Limited Warranty booklet actually say? Should the owners request the booklet in writing now?
Should written notice of the drainage condition go to Lennar now (Customer Care and Michael Meyers, Vice President, signatory of the Declaration), and how should the Association be copied given that Lennar controls it?
Chapter 558: when should notice issue relative to the engineer's report, and should both owners of record be named?
What do the mediation/arbitration clauses and the deed covenant mean for forum, and does the consequential-damages waiver hold? What is the measure of loss — repair cost, diminution in value (the appraisal came in below contract price), the financing costs in § III?
Should the owners keep communicating with Lennar through the portal, or route everything through counsel from here? Should the corrected 6/30/2025 letter be re-sent now?
Do the homeowner switch and fan work (§ IV-A) and Supplemental Documents item 5 matter, and how should they be presented?
Which experts first — structural engineer, electrical diagnostic, water laboratory — and should they be retained through counsel?
C. What the owners can do now, subject to counsel's direction
Preserve. No corrective work at the panel until Lennar has had notice and an opportunity to inspect. When anyone opens the panel: photograph before and after; keep every removed breaker, labeled; get a signed work record. Towels sealed and unwashed. Portal screenshots of every case and closure. Sent emails with full headers.
Vibration log protocol. Two phones running Physics Toolbox Sensor Suite, fixed in place and kept connected: one at the upstairs bedroom floor corner, one on the garage slab corner. Daily CSV exports, filenames dated. A written log of time, train / no train, weather, and who was in the house. A time-lapse camera covering the upstairs sensor runs alongside so that footfall — including the owner's own — can be excluded from any event. Weekly dated backups.
Photograph standing water at the rear lot line within 48 hours of each rain, timestamped (as on 22 Sept 2026, Exhibits W–Y).
Statements. Stephanie Gengel on the July 2025 shaking. Leonard Gengel on the drain: what he reported, to whom, by text; the Lennar representative he met; the French drain installation he watched; the flood and its report. Export Leonard's texts with Lennar employees and Campbell (search: French drain, drain, flood, standing water, swale, backyard, tree, Campbell, Laura Fess, Macki, Sebastian, Mark).
Records requests the owners can make themselves: FPL — nature of the service connection and outage history at the address; St. Lucie County Utilities — meter-read and billing history for Account 33417-10084 from meter set, and storm/sanitary drawings at the lot; St. Lucie County EnerGov — CO date and permit history; Sunbiz — Association board roster.
Experts, if counsel agrees: a licensed structural engineer (garage slab; two-story/one-story junctions; floor system; roof-edge flashing; drainage and soil moisture at the footings; whether observed movement is attributable to rail vibration; findings against the Florida Building Code); a certified laboratory water test (copper, pH, hydrogen sulfide, sulfate — kitchen tap first draw and flushed; rear inlet); a four-point or full electrical diagnostic covering what B&P's scope excluded.
Index the recordings. Exact Google Drive filenames for the 4 September call audio and transcript and the 14 September visit audio, transcript and Ring clips, tied to the events in § VI.
Evidence Inventory
Recordings. 4 Sept 2026, 11:00 AM, call from Victoria Wiles — audio and transcript (Google Drive; filenames to index). 14 Sept 2026, site visit by Quality Electric supervisor — audio, transcript, Ring video; recording announced by the owner, cameras visible. The owner has hearing loss and uses his phone's built-in call feature, which announces to all parties at the start of every call that the call is being recorded; every phone recording in this file carries that announcement.
Contract and closing. Contract_Documents_for_Bernard_Stephen_Gengel (4).pdf (122 pp); 35990-lennar.pdf / SPECIAL_Addendum_SG04.pdf; New_Home_Orientation_7795600004.pdf; New_Home_Acceptance_7795600004.pdf; Supplemental_Documents_7795600004.pdf; Final Signed ALTA.pdf; CLOSING_DOCS_-_111605-009088.pdf; Signed Buyer Documents.pdf; Deed – recorded.pdf; eCheck Refund – $250.00.pdf.
Lennar portal. Case 06520929 / WO 34837430 (HVAC); Case 06614085 / WO 38124181 (alarms); Case 07722760, items 44285831 and 44285832, with closure emails 5 and 15 Sept 2026, the 14 Sept appointment window, and the 18 Sept reopen request.
Independent inspection. B&P Electrical Services Inc., ER# 13016478, 1755 Oslo Rd, Vero Beach — site visit 10 Sept 2026 (electrician Everton); Report BP-IR-0140 dated 16 Sept 2026; Invoice INV0140 ($318.00, corrective work not authorized). Angi request of 10 Sept 2026, 2:00 AM.
Owner SMS export. Macki Fadness thread, 134 messages, 21 Nov 2024–28 Feb 2025 (parsed). Threads after 28 Feb 2025 — Mark Shields, drain flood, tree removal, 2026 scheduling — remain in the 12.6 GB export; re-export by conversation. Leonard Gengel's texts with Lennar employees and Campbell on the drain — to export.
Correspondence. Leonard F. Gengel mailbox export (1,836 messages; 227 PDFs) covering closing coordination, the concessions thread, warranty cases, the 30 June 2025 utility letter and PSC response, HOA, refinance. Independent parse: "Email Findings — Timeline of Events." Companions: "Key Issues & Statements Brief" (16 Sept 2026); Timeline, Quick Reference Sheet and Attorney Intake Summary, version 4 (28 Sept 2026). Owner's 18 Sept 2026 reopen email.
Governing documents. Declaration for Seagrove (recorded).pdf, OR 5229/1519, 134 pp. (OCR 9/17/2026); Seagrove Club Plan (recorded).pdf, OR 5229/1655; Seagrove Welcome Packet.pdf; Deed – recorded.pdf, OR 5240/1536 (OCR 9/17/2026). Sunbiz: Seagrove Community Association, Inc. N22000004325 (filed 5/2/2022); Seagrove Club, LLC L24000289781 (filed 6/26/2024; AMBR Lennar Homes, LLC). HOA management: Campbell Property Management, 525 NW Whitney Place #202, Port St. Lucie, FL 34986 — Rodney Vick, community manager; Laura Fess, Administrative Assistant, lfess@campbellproperty.com.
Photographs. DJI drone set, 4 Sept 2026 07:07 (front-half roof; rear yard annotated and clean). Interior and exterior stills, 10–22 Sept 2026 (Exhibits A–M, Q–AC). Drone stills of standing water after rain, 22 Sept 2026 14:30 (Exhibits W–Y). Panel interior and electrician at work, 10 Sept 2026 (Exhibits AB, AC). Towel photograph, 3 Sept 2026 (in the warranty claim PDF).
Loan and appraisal. appraisal report 3683 angler drive.pdf (20 Feb 2026); RECONSIDERATION OF VALUE.docx; incident-appraiser.docx; Closing Disclosure; Community Credit Union apology letter and gift card (unused); condominium final ALTA (4 Mar 2026); expense ledger.
Instruments. Vibration sensors, purchased 16 Sept 2026 (receipt); daily CSV exports and written log from that date.
Lennar Limited Warranty booklet — full text of the one-, two- and ten-year terms.
Exact Google Drive filenames for the 4 Sept and 14 Sept recordings and transcripts.
Leonard Gengel's texts on the drain; the Lennar employee's name; the date of the French drain installation, the tree removal and the flood; his signed statement.
Signed statement of Stephanie Gengel on the shaking (~July 2025); family messages from ~26 July 2025.
Date Leonard and Stephanie Gengel arrived in January 2025 and the date they left (from photographs); date of the owner's return from Haiti in spring 2026.
Original 3 Sept 2026 towel photographs (Lennar_Warranty_Claim_Gengel.pdf, its Exhibit A) and a daylight frame of the stained towel beside a new white one, for colour reference (Exhibit AD).
St. Lucie County EnerGov record fixing the CO issuance date and permit history.
Any Escrow, Indemnity & Hold Harmless Agreement signed by the Gengels at closing.
Portal screenshots for all cases; 15 Sept 2026 SMS closure and owner reply; 18 Sept reopen email with headers.
Vibration-sensor exports and written log, from 16 Sept 2026, ongoing; time-lapse footage; 48-hour post-rain photographs of the rear lot line.
FPL written confirmation of the service connection; St. Lucie County Utilities meter-read history and storm/sanitary drawings.
Structural engineer's report; laboratory water test results; four-point or full electrical diagnostic.
Sunbiz annual report for N22000004325 (board roster); recorded plat, Plat Book 121 Page 14 (holder of the rear drainage easement; inlet positions relative to Lot 4); SFWMD permit, Declaration Exhibit 4 (approved lot grading and swale plan).
Lennar's confirmation that an irrigation well was permissible (Feb 2025) — Bryk's or Gonzalez's message, or a statement from Bryk, with the Lennar representative's name and date; Seagrove Declaration and ARC rules on private wells.
Outcome of the 30 June 2025 utility investigation, if any; the re-sent letter and its delivery receipts.
Options Summary and ALTA line items reconciled into one total of Lennar incentives; the 7 Nov 2024 6:18 PM first-inquiry email.
Community Credit Union apology letter; loan and contribution records supporting § III; ledger of the owners' outlay.