My case is about breach of contract, misrepresentation, and
fraud. Aly Haidar wanted to charge me
$500 to measure the land to build a third unit.
On 1/26/2007 Aly and his wife came to my brother’s house and measured
the land. After measuring, he claimed
that we had enough land to build a three bedroom and two bathroom house (2000
feet) as I proposed. He stated if I paid
him $5,000 down payment of $15,000 on that day, he would waive $500 measuring
fee. He claimed that his plan would be
passed by the city. I signed the
contract with Aly to design a 2000 square feet home. On 2/2/2007 he gave me the plan of three bedroom
and two bathroom house and charged me another $5,000. He claimed that he went to the city and
talked to the city planner named Ariel and he claimed the plan would be
passed. On 2/20/2007 he gave me the plan
of two bedroom and one bathroom house and charged me another $5,000. He stated that he had to make the house
smaller because we did not have enough land.
Nevertheless, his second plan was not passed by the city. I received a letter from the city stating
that Aly’s plan did not comply with the city codes. In March 2007 Aly, his attorney (Steven Golden), and I went
to the city to talk to the city planner who explained that we had to have 6
parking lots for 3 units, they must be enclosed with garage doors, and must not
be facing the street. Then Aly stated
that we did not have enough space in that case.
Aly handed me a plan with the variance.
The city planner stated that the application fee for the variance would
cost between $5000 and $7000 and there’s no guarantee that I would get the
permit. The city planner stated that if
I built a 600 square feet home, he would reduce the parking lots to five from
six. Then Aly stated he did not want to
do it because he would not make money to build such a small house since the
foundation itself would cost $15,000.
Then Aly came up with an idea to build a second story
addition on the top of the existing two units.
He stated I owed him more money. On 3/31/2007 he charged me another
$5,000 in addition to $15,000 that he already charged me. I also paid the city for over $3,000 in
fee. During the meeting with the city
planner, Aly’s attorney Mr. Steven Golden sat quietly and had no saying. I asked Mr. Golden for opinion. He told me that I should not apply for the
variance because it would cost so much money.
He told me to go with Aly’s idea to build the second story
addition.
Aly’s plan for the second story addition was passed by the
city. He stated he would charge me and
my brother over $220,000 to build the second story addition. I took his plan to 6 contractors to bid for
the price. However, none of the
contractors could understand Aly’s plan due to lack of detail such as
demolition walls. Aly designed the plan
that only he could understand it. Some
contractors stated it was not practical to build the second story on top of the
existing house that was built in 1959.
Some contractors recommend demolishing the whole old unit if we went
with Aly’s plan.
I also took Aly’s first plan that he charged me $15,000 to
one contractor (Ruben Campo) and he stated that the plan was a joke because it
had no foundation and it did not comply with the codes.
My brother and I were not able to build the second story
addition because other contractors could not understand the plan. Some were willing to do with it, but they
would charge a lot of money since Aly’s plan was not practical.
Aly used irrelevant arguments such as we were not approved
for the loan, I did not apply for the variance, I knew from the beginning that
I was aware of the variance and city codes, and I misrepresented my brother as
the owner. However, one of these
arguments was true. First, my brother
and I were approved by the loan broker James Samaniego. I signed the contract with Aly to design three
bedroom and two bathroom home of 2000 square feet. I did not hire him for $15,000 to design the
variance of two bedroom and one bathroom home.
He promised me on the first day that I had enough land to build a third
unit and the plan would be passed. My
brother gave me the permission to run the business for him due to his language
barrier.
My wife, brother, other contractors will testify in
court. I spoke with other attorney and
contractors who stated that Aly Haidar was at fault because he was the licensed
architect and should know about the city codes.
It was not my business to know about the variance and city codes. No body hired the architect to design the
variance and it was not in my contract.
My case is still pending in court.
Thank you for your times.
