SOUTH JORDAN — Kori Emerson lives in a master-planned community, a carefully designed neighborhood she says turned out to be more like a movie set than a permanent place to live.

"It looks great, but it is not meant to last."

Emerson is among the hundreds of residents in the Daybreak community in South Jordan who are now suing the companies that they claim sold them their land, cut corners building their homes and then failed to maintain them as promised.

Still, Emerson says her experience hasn't been as bad as some of her neighbors.

"I'm one of the lucky ones, my roof hasn't collapsed in," she said.

Emerson is a member of the Daybreak Townhome 1 Owners' Association, one of three homeowners associations that have filed separate lawsuits seeking a minimum of $300,000 each, as well as additional damages to be determined at trial.

Companies named in the lawsuits include Kennecott Land Company, Hamlet Homes and Holmes Homes, Hearthside at Founders Park, DB Towns and Capital Consultant Management Corporation.

According to the lawsuits filed in 3rd District Court, members of the three resident associations — Townhome 1, Eastlake Village Condominium Owners' Association, and the Carriage Home Condominium Association — are alleging negligence, misrepresentation, breach of warranty and breach of contract for defects in more than 650 individual townhomes.

The Townhome 1 association claims more than 390 of its townhomes were damaged; Carriage Homes Condominiums lists 184; Eastlake Village says 84 of its condos are damaged.

'Widespread construction defects'

Since moving into the Daybreak area as far back as 2007, residents in Townhome 1 say they have witnessed a pattern of problems and now believe that most, if not all, of the homes in the area have serious construction defects due to faulty design, defective workmanship, or improper or defective materials, according to the lawsuit.

The result, the lawsuit claims, is a long list of problems: Leaks in doors, windows, walls, siding and roofs, which is causing rot and structural failure; potential fire hazards from corroding electrical components; weakening or shifting supports for walkways, porches and steps.

Because of their involvement in Daybreak's day-to-day construction, the lawsuit claims the various companies should have known the homes had defects well before they handed them over to Townhome 1.

In response to the problems, the homeowners hired J2 Building Consultants to perform inspections on the homes. The company identified "widespread construction defects and resulting water damage," according to the inspection.

The J2 inspection report says roof flashing, or weatherproofing, was defectively installed. The report says "unflashed and inadequately flashed roof-to-wall transitions have allowed water infiltration and damage to occur."

The report additionally notes that defective installation of flat-roof components represent "hazards to habitability and life safety."

Emerson said she has seen stage sets with more careful construction during her time in film and theater than she has seen in some of the homes in her community.

Emerson, who became aware of some of the damages to her home after six years, said she struggled not to be "vindictive" in recounting the problems with the development's homeowners associations and builders of the Daybreak community.

She cited the J2 inspection documents as she described the damage to her home, including improper and missing insulation and seals against water damage.

Emerson said there was flashing missing from her home, and she says windows rated for Florida's climate were installed, creating windows that sweat and cause water damage.

"Kennecott, Holmes and Hamlet have breached the terms of the declaration and have materially breached the implied warranties over the dwellings," the lawsuit claims.

Emerson alleges the builders were responsible for maintaining and repairing the properties during a 10-year warranty period, but instead tabled complaints until the warranty period had passed.

Rio Tinto Kennecott released a statement saying that Kennecott's involvement in the liability for the homes ended when it sold the land to the Daybreak community.

"We do not build homes, and we are not responsible for the construction or inspection of homes," said Kyle Bennett, on behalf of Rio Tinto Kennecott. "Residents in the Daybreak community should have a quality home, and we always encouraged builders to work closely with buyers to ensure they had a good experience."

The law firm of Smith and Glauser, which represents Holmes Homes, declined to comment on the case. Hamlet Homes representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

"All of these people are aware of these defects," Stephanie Farwell, another homeowner represented in the claim, said. "They were just putting Band-aids on all of these defects."

Rising costs, decreasing value

The Townhome 1 homeowners group met last month to discuss the extent of the damages and costs, and members agreed to temporarily take on an extra $55 a month in HOA fees for immediate repairs until November. The residents hope to cover the costs until they can reach either a settlement or see the case move forward.

The rate changes would raise the combined local and master HOA costs to $316 a month. According to Farwell, the Townhome 1 homeowners are considering additional rate increases starting in 2018.

The Townhome 1 claim also names law firms and attorneys who, at times, represented both the Townhome 1 homeowners and the master homeowners association that oversees all of Daybreak. The lawsuit alleges a conflict of interest, claiming the attorneys couldn't tell the residents to get inspections that might have negatively implicated the land developers, which would have negatively impacted their business relationship with the developers.

Related:

HOA in Daybreak files lawsuit against homebuilders

Leaky roofs, leaky windows and damage to insulation: just some of the problems homeowners in a Daybreak neighborhood are dealing with. Now the HOA has decided to sue the builders of the nearly 10-year-old homes.

The rising cost of living in their homes and the loss in value of their property have burdened Farwell and the other residents.

"I can't sell if for the market demand, I can't sell it for what I bought it for," Farwell said.

Farwell, a real estate agent, said she bought her home in 2007 as an investment property. She expected the value to rise with the high demand for homes in Utah. Instead, she said she continues to see that value decreasing and may not be able to sell her home.

"A lot of people are going to short sell and that is going to affect Daybreak overall," Farwell predicted.

Farwell and Emerson are just two of the residents who have expressed frustration at what they feel is a slow resolution in their case, which began in March 2015.

"These buildings are leaking, it's not like we are making stuff up," said Ted McBride, a representative for the plaintiffs of Eastlake and Carriage Homes.

According to the Eastlake claim, "The owners and association observed problems associated with failing plumbing and other problems in the fire prevention system, concrete cracking, and water intrusion."

McBride said the homebuilders have continued to deny liability, and that he expects the case to drag out and individual subcontractors will be blamed for various construction defects in the homes.

McBride said the Eastlake and Carriage Homes claims both represent multimillion dollar defect lawsuits from homes that have begun experiencing dry-rot.

Contributing: McKenzie Romero Email: rmorgan@deseretnews.com

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