Elderly woman is fined more than R$20,000 for her granddaughter’s behavior in a condominium | Santos and Region

An 87-year-old woman was ordered to pay R$20,000 in condominium fines for infractions committed by her granddaughter. According to the decision, in the 2nd instance, of the Court of Justice of São Paulo (TJ-SP), the woman hung clothes in the hallway of the building, and her children played in the garage, which caused damage to vehicles.

The TJ-SP’s determination, therefore, maintains a favorable decision for the condominium obtained in the Court of Praia Grande, on the coast of São Paulo, the city where the elderly woman has the apartment, which was occupied for eight years by her granddaughter. The owner’s defense reported that it had not yet been summoned (see below).

As determined by g1, The elderly woman’s granddaughter never paid the fines that were imposed during the years she lived in Condomínio Ilhas de Marambaia e Jaguanum, in the Guilhermina neighborhood. As a result, the owner was sued in court in 2021.

According to the process, obtained by the reporting team, since 2013, residents had taken complaints to the property manager about the behavior, described in the process as “antisocial”, and recorded the complaints in an incident book.

Among the complaints, as mentioned above, was the damage caused to vehicles parked in the building’s garage, which had allegedly been caused by the tenant’s children playing in that area. Neighbors also said that the woman made the hallway an extension of the house, and hung clothes to dry.

After the unfavorable decision in the first instance, the elderly woman’s defense filed an appeal, but again the condominium emerged victorious.

The decision was taken last Monday (25) by the 30th Chamber of Private Law of the TJ-SP, which maintained the sentence of the 3rd Civil Court of Praia Grande, by judge Sérgio Castresi de Souza Castro, who had already recognized the legality of the fines.

Although other infractions were committed by the resident in other years, the fines prior to 2016 were already prescribed and were not included in the process. Therefore, the records include those applied between March 2016 and 2017.

According to the process, the condominium began applying fines after warn and notify the owner several times. Payment slips were sent along with the collection of the monthly condominium installment, but were not paid.

During the period described, the resident received twelve penalties which, added to the corrections and interest, totaled R$ 20,193.50.

In the records, several complaints from condominium owners were presented on different dates about their coexistence with the resident.

When denying the appeal presented by the defense in the second instance, the rapporteur and judge Paulo Alonso understood that the application of fines is appropriate since non-compliance with the rules was proven.

“We cannot lose sight of the fact that the infractions attributed to the defendant derive from anti-social behavior, which does not allow for complacency, especially in the context of residential condominiums,” he said.

For him, the decision is expected to “encourage the offender to reflect on the harmful consequences of her actions, serving as a brake so that harmful conduct is not repeated, in addition to also serving as an example for the community that lives in the building”. The other magistrates followed the rapporteur’s vote.

To the g1, the elderly woman’s lawyer informed that the issue is under review by the Judiciary and that he has not been summoned recently. This way, arguments will be presented in the process. The reporting team questioned whether the family is still in the property, but the defense said they did not have that information.