A lot of buildings have tried but they have all failed. A sponsor obviously has written the by-laws to favor him/her. There is no legal precedent that I'm aware of that favors a board in this matter.

Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman, www.bbwg.com
Gallet Dreyer & Berkey, gdblaw.com

Good luck!

Bruce Levinson, who's in private practice in Manhattan. Excellent, smart, down-to-earth, and he doesn't pad the bill. I say this as one who has used him on several occasions. (Note: One pecadillo: Don't let him talk you into tipping the guy who checks for liens. You don't have to pay that. But that's a minor gripe. Otherwise, he's frighteningly good.)

Here try these law firms Braverman & Associates • Kagan Lubic Lepper Lewis Gold & Colbert • Kurzman Karelsen & Frank • Stark & Stark • Wagner Davis • Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz

Doug Heller at Herrick, Feinstein is a true gem.

We are amending our Lease to include fees for service, fees for usage and fines. This is even though we have been charging for electric sub-metering for quite a few years. It was after an arrears case in Court that we saw we had a risk (we eventually received the owed funds). I would say that you can do anything you want but if your Lease is not allow for it, if it is challenged in Court, you are at risk of paying it back.

Thank you Steve.

A co-op can impose fees for moving in/out, also penalties. Leases generally ahere to House Rules, most Offering Plans have House Rules in them and they can be expanded upon. Once expanded upon and legitimized by your attorney, House Rules stand.

Steve is correct. You cannot legally impose fines that are not authorized by your proprietary lease. Without that authorization, if fines are challenged in a court you are likely to lose.

In our co-op, we do not have fines.

We do have fees, e.g.: late charge fee, move in/out fee, elevator use damage fee (refunded), application processing fee.

But we do not have fines.

We do use the term "quiet enjoyment" in defining rules as to what can be done and when. Here is a brief recap:
1. Move in and move out = 9 to 5, Monday to Friday
2. Deliveries in and removals out = 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, large and bulky deliveries.
3. Deliveries in and removals out = 9 to 1 PM Saturday, small parcels, one piece of furniture, etc.
4. Banging on walls, = 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, hanging pictures, mounting shelves
5. Work in the apartment = 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, with no work on the eve of religious holidays, Christmas, Yom Kippur, etc.
6. Contractor in the apartment = 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, with no work on the eve of religious holidays or religious holidays, Christmas, Yom Kippur, etc.

If one violates the rules, the first two "violations; cause the generation of a warning letter. Beyond the second occurrence, the shareholders receive a letter indicating that they are in violation of the proprietary lease. In turn, the lease could be terminated for any subsequent violations.

RN, That's very sage advise that you provided -- I appreciate all of your time and attention typing it up. I'll going to print it up for the other directors. I also like your caution not to use the word "fines" but "fees" in its place.

What exceptional blogging this is!

The only person who's a shareholder is the one who's name is on the stock certificate. Anyone else is a roommate, although if related by blood or marriage they may be a family member depending on the propreitary lease.

Spouses are determined by being married. Spouses are not shareholders simply by being married. Their names must be added to the stock certificate, which is usually pretty easy unless there's a mortgage, then the bank has to ok the new name (crdit check and the like.)

Are nonshareholder residents considered tenants legally?

If a non - shareholder resident is there 30 days or more they become a legal tenant by Squatters Rights. They are not the S/H but they do become a Tenant, once again, after 30 days. All co-ops should be aware of this and be careful. Many co-ops don't even allow this because it brings the value down, just as too many sublets can lower the value. Many co-ops that I know that used to sublet and allow what you are speaking of have stopped this because these people have no vested interest and it becomes difficult to get squatters (whether roommates or not) out. I do suggest that if someone wants a roommate or boarder, they should have agreement, such as a Lease with the person for length of time, etc. That would make things easier in the long run.

Roommates i.e., boarders are not S/H's. They are not on the Lease nor on the Stock Certificate whether married or not. The problem with this situation if not married or family member, is that after 30 days they become a Tenant (considered month to month)as a Squatter. Then it becomes difficult to get that person out, the S/H if wanting to get that person out would have to go to Housing Court and start eviction proceedings. In a marriage that might be quite different, but with a family member if there is any problem and the S/H wants the person (family member) out they would have to do the same thing. It becomes a very touchy issue. One must be careful to allow this because Roommates cannot be held to the standard a S/H should be held to. They have no vested interest which can become a problem. A married person is not a S/H, and most do have mortgages so it becomes more difficult to add name to a Stock Cert.
Just an opinion.

HabitatReporter here with advice from Edward T. Braverman, Esq., of Braverman & Associates , P.C.:

"A tenant is one who has a contractual relationship with the landlord. In Co-op parlance, that would mean one who is named in and who has executed a Proprietary Lease. A roommate is legally considered to be an occupant: a person who occupies the housing accommodation with the consent of the tenant. Under New York Law every tenant is entitled to have a roommate to whom the landlord (Co-op) cannot object. A subtenant is one who has a formal agreement with the tenant, who (the tenant) has assigned his lease rights to the subtenant, subject to all of the terms and conditions of the lease (Proprietary Lease) with the express written consent of the landlord. His sublease must be something less than the full term of the lease so that the occupancy of the apartment reverts to the tenant of record prior to its expiration. A spouse who is an occupant, while not a tenant, generally will be entitled to receive the transfer of the apartment upon the tenant’s death without the consent of the Co-op’s Board of Directors."

Your sole responsibility, as a Board Member, is to consider any application to buy with no consideration to legally protected status, such as race, religious orientation, age, etc.

I assume you are a new member of your board and strongly urge you to read widely, deeply and quickly everything you can find about what it means - legally and otherwise - to be a member of a board of directors in a co-op. There are legal pitfalls aplenty, and you don't want to be the cause of any action through unfamiliarity with, say, housing law, as an example.

Thanks for your comments. I am aware of not discriminating against any applicants and FYI I am not Caucasian. However, if the board's responsibility was only fiduciary, then boards would never interview prospective buyers or subletters, right? All the info they would need would be in black and white in the board package.

Not necessarily Carol..

An interview many times reveals insights to the financial picture as well... do they plan on subletting in a couple months, is she pregnant then quitting her job to be a full time mom (cutting the current salary in half), lots of other questions and clues as to the posterity of the prospective shareholder and if they are a character match for your building (ie: they sing opera all day or teach piano in the afternoons... they hate kids and its a kid friendly building..)

Best
~AR

There are other safeguards....
What the board should always do with all cash offers is place a 2-5 year wait period on any refinances. This way, A buyer that would have shaky financials and would otherwise be denied, would be less apt to buy all cash with daddy’s money and then refinance and pay back in a year.
did the way i worded that make sense?

~AR

Thank you for your reply. If the sale went through for all cash with a 2-5 year moratorium on mortgage, it would be too late by then, wouldn't it? Sure, the parents couldn't be repaid immediately, but the building would be stuck with the deadbeat child, wouldn't it?

Yes, but u8nfortunately, if the rest of the sales package was ok, you just have to hope they mature well in the 2-5 years!
Still, the board must approve the refinance and any shareholder changes, so there is still some control.

On another note, if there is a refinance with the parents name on it, it may be beneficial in on sense because it is easier sometimes to collect arrears when a bank is involved (they usually pay the arrears to protect their interest)

Best
~AR

So the parents are paying for the apartment. This means they are gifting the apartment and thus one may ask that they file a notarized letter to that effect? Was a "gift" letter requested. Don't forget gifts are subject to IRS rules.

Are the parents gifting the maintenance? If yes, are they living in the apartment? If no, then in our co-op its not permitted.

Without going through ratios, let me assert that anyone buying a unit in our co-op must have a gross annual salary of $50,000. If two are in the apartment and both are working then the "base" it higher.

Regardless, one may not have annual expenses that exceed 30% of one's gross income. Thus in this case its $13,200 (maintenance) + assessments + electrical; costs + natural gas costs, education costs + + +).

If one moves into the building with or without a mortgage, our rules stipulate there is no new mortgage or refinancing within the first five years following the sale.

A poster here said if parents gift an apt (and mention was made of their paying the maintenance too) - that "one may ask that they file a notarized letter to that effect".

I was in notarization/mortage holding work for years. Many people mistakenly think that notarizing a document means that the signer agrees to comply with any promise made in the document or that any statement made in the document is true.

Having a letter or whatever notarized is verification that the signer is who he says he is - nothing more. It doesn't bind the signer to anything that he agrees to or states just by virtue of the fact that the document is notarized.

Ask for a copy of the IRS gift form....By the way we have sometimes asked an applicant to sign a form that allows us to obtain the 1040 etc. information direct from the IRS. We do this when there is a fish smell to the application. 99 of 100 times, the fish mongers refuse.

In our coop even if an apt is gifted the occupant has to have a documentable income. If the parents are going to pay the maintenance then they have to be co-purchasers with full Board pkgs submitted.

Great note!!

Dear Escape,

Your posting is timely. In an effort to de-risk our reserve funds and to tackle that note in the audited financial statements, our Co-op purchased several CD’s from Vanguard (all of our reserve funds are at Vanguard). They are all FDIC insured.

Over the weekend, I saw that three banks in Puerto Rico failed. We have CD’s at two of them totaling $72k. As a result of the FDIC insurance, I do not foresee any problem getting the funds back (perhaps we might encounter a small delay).

As a former Treasurer and current President, believe me that it is much easier going to the Co-op and the Board saying that we may have a small delay in accessing the funds than it would have been saying that the funds are fully or partially gone. I am so glad that we have that FDIC coverage!

You never know when a bank is going to fail until after it does fail. In my opinion, all co-ops/Condos and Con-opts need to make sure that all of their funds are FDIC covered immediately. The only exception would be to have the funds placed in similarly guaranteed investments like U.S. Treasury Bills/notes or agencies. Also in my opinion, I would not even invest in municipals at the moment due to all of the trouble our state and local governments are having.

Here is the link to the news article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/30/AR2010043003084.html?wprss=rss_business

Steve

WOW!

~AR

Income is not the goal. Protection is the objective. All our reserve funds are in T-Bills. There is never a problem of liquidity or access.

Contact an ADA advocacy organization for advice and referrals.

This is just wrong, wrong, wrong.

The board of Lido Towers is behaving both illegally and immorally. As RLM says, it's time to contact a lawyer -- AND the press. Once you get an attorney involved, if the board doesn't start behaving like human beings, then it's time to get the newspapers and TV cameras in.

Uncaring board vs. a frail woman in a wheelchair. I'd love to see that all over the 6 o'clock news.

Shame on you, Lido Towers board.

contact united spinal org, they are in queens

This does not make sense do not allow this to happen.
They should fix the problem after it has been corrected, have your ceiling opened up so it could dry out so there is no chance of any mold to grow. e-mail me if ou would like to talk some more.

if the leak is in the area betweenthe apartments, it would be the co-op responsibility to repair it.
in many cases if the leak is in the primary plumbing, meaning the flushomotor or connecting pipes ,in my case it is the co-ops responsibility, but not all.
exterior leaks are not that hard to fix.
i guess the issue is , is it the coops responsibility or the share-owners and where exactly is it leaking from? even a flushometer leak could be negated by a bucket until fixed

Find it funny that you should ask where is the leak coming from (how do I know) also outside leaks are easy to find???. Let me break it down simply for you. In most Coops I know of, outside the wall = shareholder, Inside = Coop. You need to follow up if you want it fixed. Only then can you address liability. A good super/plumbing Co should be able to find out very quickly. Document take photos,call management etc, like I previoulsy said.

Another RM

In the Coop that I manage I have never been restricted from carrying out repairs. However for what it is worth here is my two cents on what I would do. Two choices here. If you want to be nice or not....

1. Document everything,take photographs and get a letter from the Coop and shareholder assuring you that the repairs will be carried out when your upstairs neighbour take care of his issues so to speak. Taking care of it means that the ceiling damage once repaired will not be noticable.

2. Same as above documentation wise, but write the Coop/shareholder saying you want the issue resolved right away. If they drag there feet threaten legal action.

ANR

it is the big bending pipe connecting the toilet to the waste line.

The pipe you may be talking about is called the lead-bend and a plumber will have to cut out the exisiting one if it is leaking and will have to gain access to the apartment which the toilet is in and the one below it at the same time.

If it is only the flange or the wax gasket on the lead-bend then he may only need access to the apartment which the toilet is located.



Good luck!

Suggest you print and show this to the Board.
Cooperative Ordered to Purchase Apartment
http://cooperator.com/articles/1582/1/Cooperative-Ordered-to-Purchase-Apartment/Page1.html

Here's the listing for the above unit:
http://www.trulia.com/property/3002097063-2077-Center-Ave-Fort-Lee-NJ-07024

The co-op still can't sell the unit for the hugely discounted $770,000 price after paying over a million to buy it.

And, don't forget all the residents are forced into underwriting the "unpaid" maintenance and taxes for the vacant unit owned by the co-op because of the Board's actions or inactions.

Do you think a $300,00 loss (if they even sell it) a multi-year payment of taxes and underlying building maintenance and legal fees are worth it? And the building has been "holding" the apartment for 2-1/2 years with no buyers in sight. Let's see -- maintenance + taxes at perhaps $4,500 a month for 30 months is another $135,000 out the window.

Do you think the board acted properly and discharged its fiduciary duties properly?

What is your judgment?

Ensure there is a paper trail for your complaint. If you didn't write one before, then document the first day that you complained in the new letter. Send letter to: managing agent, president of board and co-op attorney. Be clear, be forthright, be complete, etc. And ask for a written response as to "When will the identified leak be repaired in its entirety?

CALL A LAWYER.

You are kidding right? Never heard of that right-off!

donate to me I will write it off!!

Could one, two or more posters who are using the name "Anonymous" please change to a different name? It's confusing to know who's asking questions and who's providing answers when several posters all have the same name.

Would appreciate it. Thanks.

There is no deduction or "write off" if you voluntarily give money to your coop. Your coop is not a charity. Frankly, it's probably not even a "Not For Profit". Most coops are just regular corporations that just have a balanced budget. And if there's profit, the reason you don't pay taxes is there is usually a huge loss carryforward based upon the depreciation of the building.

There is a numerical code under the date it is an the individual code for each contributor, thus you will know who is writing even if they change the name from time to time.

One needs to understand the definition of a not-for-profit corporation and a non-profit corporation. Co-ops are the former, charities are the latter..