I recently purchased a co-op and discovered that a board member on top of me is a childish brat. Her air conditioner was leaking on to mine and I could not sleep in the bedroom because of it. I wrote her a note which I posted on her door asking if she could remedy the situation. In the note I mentioned that her AC was pouring onto mine. She apparently took issue with this and I received a nasty note informing me that AC drip in a very condescending tone. The fact is her AC was pouring when it first came on, and it then turned to a loud drip, eventually as the water cleared out the drips became more infrequent and less noisy. I never addressed it with her again because of her hostility towards me (aside from the note there are other things, she is a piece of work). I discussed this with the super and he informed me that she had said she was here first so it was too bad and I would have to place my AC in another window. He also informed me that he agreed with her claim that she was there first, so too bad. I told the super that there are devices that could divert the water. He came back and told me that she said if I wanted it I could pay for it myself. I told the super I was willing to pay for it. In my estimation it was worth it because I was sleeping in my living room. Since my super is a useless and ignorant creep nothing ever happened. This year I remedied the situation by placing a plastic pot on top of the AC and filling it with dirt. I was able to sleep in my bedroom but was peeved that I had to endure this bullshit. When the AC came out my sill was full of dirt and my screen covered with it. The super said he thought it was a great solution, and I told him that I thought it would be better if I had a considerate neighbor.
From what I can gather about her, the response would have been much different if I were in possession of a Y chromosome. She is no longer a member of the board and gave up on trying seducing one of the members who is in possession of a Y. I actually feel sorry for this gentleman because there are 2 former board members who had the hots for him.
The other one informed me as to the salary of another resident who has a Y and is considered one of the 2 building studs. When she first started to reveal to me this info (which she refers to as his vitals) I told her I did not want to know and she shut up. But then in a subsequent conversation she blurted it out. She was on the board when I was approved and I can only imagine what she has to say about me. The lack of professionalism and gang mentality is really more than I can bear. Any suggestions?

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Has anyone else had a huge increase in their building's water bill since new DEP-installed meters? We we have a 150% increase over last year's YTD and our treasurer says it's because the readings prior to new meters was "estimated" due to readers not getting access to building, and that they ar3e now playing "catch up." Can anyone shed some light on this increase being the norm and what exactly is "catch-up" to mean? Can the DEP bill retroactively for under-estimating and if so, is there a statute of limitations for how far they can go back? Thanks!

I recently noted a bottle/can collector -- the kind you often see fishing in garbage cans -- come into the lobby of our modern (1988), full-service condo building in a nice neighborhood bordering Central Park, carrying a huge garbage bag full of bottles and cans. He greeted the security-desk person and proceeded to our two compactor rooms to pull out cans and bottles from our recycling bins.

Finding this unusual, I contacted the board and the on-site Tudor Realty manager. The board -- and we have a generally good one -- responded quickly and said they'd investigate. The manager also responded, and shortly afterward said the man is the live-in boyfriend of a resident, and that the security desk knows him and it's OK for him to fish out cans/bottles.

I responded by asking whether the residents of our three-building complex generally knew about this, and whether she thought it was OK for someone to bring refuse from other buildings, public trash cans, etc. through our lobby and hallways. It's been two days with no response from her.

Has anybody else run across something like this? What do you think about the building manager being OK with someone hauling outside garbage through our building? Am I being oversensitive, and do other buildings allow bottle/can collectors to bring their bags through the lobby and go through their recyclables? I don't want to make enemies in the building, but this seems less than professional of our Tudor manager.

Any suggestions on how to proceed?

The President of the Board wants me off of the board. In spite of the hard work that I do & the fact that I am the majority shareholder in the co-op I feel that I am being harassed & mentally abused. My brother-in-law has been the agent for our insurance company for many years. The company that he works for lowered our premiums over approximately $50,000. Now, they want to fire him due to the "appearance of improprity'. However, if I resign from the board, they won't. Prior to our last election in the spring, I was asked to withdraw my name from the ballot...which I did and was sorry that I had later. Due to the fact that there was not a quorom, I remain on the board. Any advice or suggestions?

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I purchased my co-op 1 year ago. I was going to have my bath renovated by the super including the plumbing and electricity. Fortunately I called the managing agent and discovered he was not licensed or insured to do this work and I would be liable for any damages. It was a shocking discovery because many people have used him and everyone in the building knows this is occurring without board approval. In fact it was a board member who told me that I did not need board approval if he did the work. Another board member told me that he could do plumbing, but not electric. The managing agent told me I could submit any claim to my insurance company if his renovation to my bathroom had complications. My insurance company does not agree and found it quite entertaining. The recently super gutted several rooms in one apartment with included a bath (a side job that took over 2 weeks) he did not do much of anything around the building during this time because he was to busy. I hope the lady on the first floor is happy, I know I am not, he will not even snake my drain and tells me use drain cleaner. The drain has been slow since my purchase and I have pored 3 bottles of the stuff down the drain with minimal improvement.
He does not have a snake although he claims he used to. Recently while in the basement I overheard an argument between him and a friend and it became apparent he is loaning the equipment out to friends who don't always return it. I guess that is where the snake went. In the bathroom he renovated 2 floors below me he ran into plumbing problems and I had my water shut for 3 days while he and his helper repaired the damage. Well this leakage went into the basement but if he encountered this problem in my apartment I would have flooded the 2 floors below me. What did I get myself into, this place is a disaster. He quoted me a price of 2500-3000 max for his labor alone. So the deal is people are getting these renovations dirt cheap and I feel that shareholders are subsidizing the work because like I said before he has no time for other things while involved in these renovations yet he still collects a paycheck. Also I discovered he is completely dishonest and changes his story real quick in order to avoid responsibility for his actions (like damaging my property). Recently we had a heated discussion about his work, he went into denial mode became extremely hostile calling me a "bitter old woman" and making comments about my mental health status. I also have a note he put under my door in which he refers to me as a "whiner".
Actually I have 2 notes he slipped under my door and they are rich. He even told me about his mother who he has not spoken to in 2 years because she pissed him off. I contacted the managing agent and told him I would like him to send the super a letter to seize and desist with these renovations. I also forwarded him the correspondence between the super and myself (I slipped one note under his door in response to his first note) my note addressed the issues and made no personal attacks. His not was full of personal attacks. The board members are now in possession of this material and the issue of renovations without board approval is on the agenda for the next meeting. The managing agent asked me if I would like to have him fired and I responded 'Yes". I am in the process of writing a letter to the board which more clearly defines my grievances and the trouble I have had with the super since my purchase of this place it will be several pages. I would like general and legal advice on this matter. Thanks
Sincerely
The mentally ill, bitter old whiner on the 3rd floor

Hi again everyone...I get such great answers to my questions each time I submit. So, here's another one.

In short, we have three units where owners (not being aware of the laws and not having read the prospectus or plans) actually illegally converted their cellars. Our engineer drafted a terrific letter that we are going to circulate to the entire complex that speaks to theses sorts of violations in general.

We understand as a board that we can ask the unit owners to either legalize, if possible, part of what they have done or to take apart what cannot be legalized. However, we are not sure we can actually enforce this -- and if we do, how do we go about that task? Also, we learned that despite this being the work of the owner, the entire building could get fined if these violations are discovered. And, if that is the case, can we pass those fines onto the owner who did the work and how do we do that legally? Thank you, as always.

My name is Eric Michaels and I am the Director of Green Building Technologies for the Platinum Energy Group. I have posted several times here on Board Talk and I would like to meet all of you...luckily, the opportunity to do so has presented itself. On Wednesday, September 21 at The Hotel Pennsylvania in NYC NYARM is holding their annual Expo and I will be there with other PEG team members. Please stop by Area 51 and say hello, learn more about PEG and our spectrum of energy related services.

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Our coop has mixed zoning; commercial on the first floor. The original commercial shareholder a sole proprietor is selling his shares. The buyer is an LLC. The 30 year old proprietary lease for the commercial space has business use limitations on the space and we are discussing a consent agreement with the new owner to bring certain aspects of the lease up to date and to be consistent with current commercial realities.

Does anyone have any experience in the share transfer consent process for a commercial shareholder particularly in corporate form?