We allow living trusts...I think there is a legal name, but as I am not in the office and don't have it at my fingertips.

We haven't had anyone transfer their shares to a living trust yet, but just curious why do that? Is there a tax advantage to the shareholder? I am under the impression there is not.

Thanks,
BN

Per the experts, perhaps the biggest advantage of a living trust is that it does not have to go through probate, as does a will.

http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/money/living-trust/livtrust.htm

Yes, most of my buildings permit it. In NY and NJ it is not as common as it is on the west coast, where it is done quite predominately.

You might want to speak to your Atty and find out about maintaining a personal guarantor, in spite of the living trust being the owner of shares of record.

~AR

Before doing or signing any contract, your counsel should be engaged to review any contract and provide the expected requisites before a contract is accepted by way of a rider.

No matter if a contractor is listed with the City or jurisdiction (i.e., in Westchester with the County, etc), the board's obligation is to demand from the contractor to provide certificates of insurance, extended to the co-op, its directors, officers and shareholders as additional insured and PROOF of worker compensation insurance.

The contract should be valid contingent on satisfying the insurance portion. Similarly, your board should protect itseelf by stating that no subcontractors are allowed for the work.

In the event of a sole proprietorship, there are jurisdictions that waive the need for worker compensation insurance. IN such a case, the co-op should have a waiver of claim against its insurance for the sole owner and worker to sign.

Finally, know the work and what would be the manpower requirements i.e., a person who scrapes floor can do it by himself; a painter can paint on his own without a helper; a bathroom renovation requires a helper, etc. This advice is given so that when reviewing renovations of shareholders the co-op will be able to properly cover and demand the right insurance.

AdC



AdC

pls see the quesiton. thanks

To stop work in a building being performed by a contractor and or his subs, Management or the superintendent simply tell the contractor to stop work. Before work can resume, contractor needs to satisfy management that the reasons for the stoppage have been cured.
Pgrech

The contractor and his workmen have to get into the building through the service entrance? The Superintendent must be there and turn them away until they cure the violation or get the necessary paper work done that is how you stop the work from being done.

thanks mike - unfortunately the super is part of the problem. he is benefiting directly. if you catch my drift. we, the neighbors, are concerned. the board nd management is in rip van winkle land. so? what to do?

If you or the Board/Management Company have proof that the Superintendent is taking money, then you should have enough proof to terminate him/her! If no proof, then it is a dead issue.
Good luck to you.

I must disagree on you opinion about NO subcontractors are permitted to work. A contractor may need to bring in a licensed plumber or electrician for certain portions of the work. Not to allow the contractor to bring this subs in would mean the contractor would have to have his crew do the work which in it self may be a violation. Subs are needed, but they are to be used in the right way... insurance, licenses and permits where and when needed. There is work done by a plumber or electrician that do not need a permit but do need a license.
Pgrech

In the event of a GC with plumbing requirements, I always stipulate that the GC must name the plumber, provide his license # and also their own insurance. The same goes for an electrician.

Papers should be completely checked. After all, allowing a GC to assume responsibility for plumbing w/o accredidation will be "in it self may be a violation".

Thanks for the opportunity for further clarification.

AdC

The information is listed in the original package submitted to the Board. Even if the contractor working is not listed with Consumer Affairs (I am assuming since you are making these allegations that you checked?), does not mean that they are not insured. There is no way for you to publicly find this out since the insurance can from several companies. NYS Workman’s Comp will usually verify for you, but it can also come from AIG or some other companies.... Point is: be sure before you act.

Also, did the primary contractor name the sub as additionally insured in the alteration package?

After all these probably useless points are said... if there is an accident, the GC is still responsible, and the SH is also jointly responsible for anything.

It is the Boards responsibility to obtain the alteration package and review and approve it, not to police and investigate the companies.

I suppose, the question then is, why does it matter?
(I ask with respect, just trying to understand)


~AR

it has been illegally done frmthe start with at least one violato so far. they have manuvered it every which way through the city buerocrary o get in the unlicensed copany. it is unethical and dangerous to the resicence of the coo;. that is why.

If what you say is true, I assume you have proof of this?
Then the Board did not approve it, and thus should stop all work and fine the shareholder.

However, if the Board did receive a full package and approved it based on the plans and information provided to them, and the proposed contractor is insured and licensed and a proper permit was filed, and obtained, the only possible violation of rule I can imagine is the alleged hiring of an unlicensed sub by the approved contractor. In which case, the contractor themselves are liable, they will have to pay the workman’s comp to cover any checks written to a possibly non-covered party or employee, and the contractors liability insurance will most definitely cover in case of accident or claim; and if, by chance something does get by, the shareholder is still responsible.

All that said, with you as a shareholder who is on the sideline of this whole process and not part of the original approval & review process, your hands are tied. I suggest you run for the Board next term so you can be a part of the processes going forward.

~AR

I agree with your message. The time to review is before not during or after.

If the renovation may mean taking walls down and reconfiguring an apartment, building permits will be required, an engineer or architect and even change of occupancy for the builidng if two or more units are combined.

The sponsor is the only one that may retain certain right of "not informing" the board regarding combining units, but the co-op should know about open building permits and changes in occupancy. Also, the co-op may demand from the sponsor insurance from its GC's.

In the event of shareholders doing renovation, the burden is ON THEM to provide the paperwork and ascertain that their contractors are not a fly by night organization.

The board should have in WRITING with DRAWINGS the renovation plan, with all the GC requirements including plumbers and electricians licenses, etc. in order to (a) approve in a simple project (b) give it to the co-op engineer to review and ensure that there are issues with the submitted plan of alteration or renvation.

AdC

Our by-laws (34-unit condo) only allow us the Right of First Refusal in considering whether or not a sale should happen. Regardless of how they got the money, or for how long they've had it, if they have the money and the price is right (market value), the prospective buyer gets in.

Usually the financials for the past few years should be reviewed. You want to determine, did the prospect make 250K this year, and he is boasting this, while he only made 65K for the last 2-3 years before that. This is a red flag... did he inherit the money to buy the unit? then the insurance of a steady adequate income is more important... you have to look at the picture as a whole, put the financials in, then formulate "what if" questions, and ensure you have answers.

~AR

Our board has no committees but I have begun to discuss this with them. Right now we all are involved in every decision.

Our coop has a seven person board.

We have a summer pool committee that consists of one board member and three residents.

We have an interior decoration and refurbishment committee that consists of one board member and several residents. Several years ago, they engaged an interior designer who prepared the “new look”. Separately we dealt with the design of the new mailroom. Then, we engaged several contractors to bid on the work. Based on the feedback from the interior designer; the building manager, the committee and myself selected a contractor to perform the work. Our legal counsel then worked out the formal documents.

For capital improvements such as the $1,300,000 elevator upgrade and new larger generator, we had two board members and six residents.

For our window replacement program, we have one board member and one resident who is a former general contractor as our committee. The building manager and the superintendent oversee the project, but do read much further below.

Our landscape program is managed by one board member and our building manager.

Our union negotiation committee had several board members and the building manager. Being in NJ, we have a separate contract (not a group contract among a number of high rises) for our maintenance and janitorial staff.

We have a 24x7 security firm. The day-to-day security operations are managed by the building manager and our resident superintendents. (We have two.) For contract negotiations and occasional summit meetings with our security provider, our building manager and two board members are engaged.

For our inside parking deck overhaul, our building manager dealt with our outside engineering consulting firm that wrote the RFP. Then, the engineering firm and our building manager reviewed the bids and brought term to my attention. Based on the recommendations, we selected a contractor and then our legal counsel worked out the necessary legal documents.

Please note that the president is an ad hoc member of the committees, but remains on the sidelines.

Also, all should be aware that we have a zero punch list policy to the greatest extent possible. By this, I mean our outside engineering firm will be on site during the work or while the work is in progress to validate the work and the quality of work. Thus with the window replacement program, the contractor does not leave the apartment until our engineer reports zero defects.

For our elevator upgrade we hired an outside elevator consulting firm that wrote the RFP fore the elevator and for the generator, provided a list of bidders, and then evaluated the responses. The consultant then interviewed the firms with us. Finally, the consulting firm was on site several times a week to monitor the work and approved progress payments.

The committees cannot make any financial commitments or sign any documents. Legal documents are signed by the secretary with the approval of the board for expenditures over a certain amount.

Legal counsel is engaged as necessary.

Please see my posting within:
Budget Time — Gabrielle, Wed Sep 26 5:26PM

--

I believe the Habitat Magazine published two to three years ago a good article on committees. In our particular case, we only have three committees and we are trying to put in place a fourth one. These are in our case:

1. Admissions Committee - Approx. 5 individuals who review applications and make recommendations. However, 3-4 individuals will meet for the interview.
2. Pool committee - Right now it consists of one person only.
3. Parking committee - 2 individuals only.
4. Elections Committee - one person, but hope it would be a 2-3 member committee.

In the past we have also formed adhoc committees for refinancing and commercial space.

As you can see the work is plentiful, but the laborers are few in our case. The main thing that you aim at with a committee is interest and development of leadership; however, communcations and coordination among the groups are critical to ensure that your co-op will serve the needs of your residents rather than stagnate under small arguments or no action with dysfunctional individuals and groups.

AdC

Most all these questions are and should be answered in your legal documents.
Typically, the Board does have the right to institute fines and a fine structure. Usually these will become amendments to the House Rules. Sometimes the amount imposed will vary depending on the severity of the infraction, so the exact amount may not always be written.

You should have received a letter stating that you are being fined in accordance with XXX Rule in the amount of XXX for XXX infraction... or something along this order.

~AR

Also, there is such a thing as "recovery charges" for acts or omissions of the shareholder that had to be covered financially or otherwise by the Lessor or co-op, including legal charges.

So, make sure you are not given a "recovery charge."

AdC

I don't know from your message if the leak was from infrastructure and consequenlty, co-op responsibility or if it was a leak caused by the owner of another apartment going into the sponsor unit.

If the problem was co-op responsibility to fix, then the co-op takes care of the expenses for mold remediation and any other expenses associated with the leak.

Bottomline is: the sponsor is another shareholder and his tenants get the same privileges of a shareholder as far as being entitled to services.

AdC

no? big one at thAT. the upstairs neighbor may have had questionable plumbing working on her drain but hard to prove - they had a renovation few years back.

In a building, nothing is questionable: it leaks or it does not leak.

What is the source will lead to who is responsible.

Speculation is just for the BIRDS!!! Facts only count.

AdC

what was the cause of the leak and what leaked?
Pg

supposedly that was it. a neighbor who was home notified the super repeatedly of a bad smell. no action was taken util stains appeared in the apt below . the sponsor's managing agent hored a mold inspector but the cop, as far as i know, got hte 3k bill.

The source of the leak must first be identified. At this time, the responsible party is named.
If it is a faulty drain in the tub, then it is in the wall and a coop repair and expence.
nevertheless, I reccomend emediate testing and remediation, let the billing be sortted later.
Unfortunately, the private property damage will have to picked up by insurance and not the responsible party, unless they want to make a civil case out of it and atempt to collect through other means... in which case neglegence may have to be proved.

~AR

You don't want to have too frequent increases. Increasing maintenance annually is pretty frequent. Combine larger maintenance increases every two or three years, with assessments if necessary to fill in the gaps.

A good idea is to budget for building maintenance that is usually deferred. Example: a building just undergone a 180K renovation of the facade and other areas. This particular building as a 45 unit, 6 story building. I recommended budgeting in 30K per year for capital items such as these. Now every 5-6 years, they perform the work needed in any area and have the money put aside for it. They do not have to assess, or borrow to pay for these items.
inflation should ALWAYS be put into the budget, I usually add 6% across the board. budgeting in the added 30K per year (obviously, this amount will vary for different buildings), it will allow me to float the budget through an average of 2 years before having to reraise maintenance.
If you find yourself in a jam, you can always place a fuel cost assessment for the winter months to make up a shortfall.
- just a few ideas

~AR

We increase maintenance every year. After all our corporation’s expenses increase every year: salaries (we are self managed), insurance, services, consumables, fuel, repairs (e.g.: the building is aging), etc.

In this way, the residents are conditioned from the admissions committee interview to expect an increase every year. Thus, there is virtually no quibbling at the shareholders’ meeting.

Further, by increasing every year, we avoid the shock of the double digit increase.

For the record, through good and bad times, over the twenty-five year life of the coop, the maintenance increases have averaged 3.9%. Guess what? That’s the US inflation rate.

By having a cash reserve, not the capital reserve, we can take care of the swing up in one year and the swing down in the next year, thus we do not panic and increase maintenance 7% one year and 2% the next year. Our swings are more like 3.5% to 4.1%.

Further, very early in the life of the coop, we imposed an assessment every year that started at 25 cents a share and rose 25 cents a year cents and is now nearing $12 a share. Seems large, but it stopped at $6 a share and then when we paid off the mortgage two years ago, we did not decrease maintenance costs and just flowed the former revenues destined for mortgage retirement into the capital reserves.

Again, from the admissions committee interview residents expect an assessment every year. Thus, once again, there is no quibbling at the shareholders’ meeting.

We now garner about $900,000 a year for capital improvements. Our AICPA dictated capital improvement schedule shows that over the next fifteen years, we will need to face $15,000,000 in capital improvements at current costs. Yes, it looks like a shortfall with inflation and such, but through diligent maintenance we can push out some costs.

Of equal importance, we have not shirked our capital improvements as the building infrastructure ages. This year, we expended $250,000 to replace our central AC chiller plant. Last year, we repaved our driveways and outside.

The year before, we rebuilt our lobby, refurbished our indoor parking decks and built a new mail room – $1,200,000 for all.

The year before that, we overhauled our elevator system and put in a very large generator (we had a small generator for the fire pump) -- $1,300,000.

And over the last six years, we have replaced windows and terrace doors at the rate of about 10% a year and now we are nearing 55% completion.

In all, we have expended $15,000,000 for capital improvements since the building became a coop. Not all are documented here.

Along the way we have repointed sections of our brickwork each year (ongoing) and about six years ago we refurbished all our terraces (80%) of the units have terraces. And, we have upgraded all our heating and cooling systems to automated controls.

At the same time, we retired the original mortgage without ever refinancing.

Next year we have a new roof planned and replacement of our hot water boilers.

Hope this provides some ideas.





.

Sounds like you guys are doing a great job in self managing

Ted;

Can you explain being self managed and all that it entails. We are very unhappy with the service our coop has gotten from, so called, professional management companies.

Perhaps a separate posting might help others who are interested in this topic.

Thanks.

We have a building manager, an office administrator and an accountant / bookkeeper. These folks do not live on premises. Our two superintendents live on premises.

We have three senior maintenance staff and a number of porters. Maintenance personnel are on site 7 AM to 6 PM. Porters are on site 7 AM to about 9 PM. Our maintenance and porter staff personnel are all employees. We have 24x7 doormen (multiple on some shifts) on our staff and they are all employees.

Our maintenance staff performs small repairs (not requiring a license) in a resident’s apartment, e.g.: drain trap beneath a sink, sink washer replacement, shower washer replacement, door bell repairs, flushing mechanism repair, fans in the AC/heating units, window mechanism repair, etc. Of note is that the first thirty minutes of maintenance support, exclusive of parts, is free. And the staff cleans the under window AC/heating units and replaces filters each year.

The maintenance staff cleans our sidewalks and grounds, power cleans (riding machine) our garage decks, shampoos hallway carpets on each floor each month, cleans laundry rooms, picks up recyclables on each floor several times a day (no way to install a chute, among other things.

Residents will sometimes have maintenance person come to their apartment to change a light bulb.

= = = = = = = = =

On site, we have a valet cleaners, a bicycle storage room, a health club, a community room, an indoor children's playground, an outdoor pool, outdoor tennis courts (with lighting), basketball court (with lighting), an outdoor children's playground. During the summer, the pool staff fills, lights and then cleans charcoal grills, located within the pool area, for the residents.

= = = = = = = = =
All below are contracted:

Our security (contracted firm), 24x7, staff is in our upper garage (we don’t have access control), and our lower garage (again no access control) as the lower garage is also employed for visitors. Even if we had access control, we would have a security staff presence.

We have a rear lobby and the security staff watches our CCTV system and assists with food and truck deliveries and contractor access control, e.g.: no out of hours deliveries, no contractors except those pre-registered with the office (e.g.: insurance and credentials). Contractors, except cable TV and telephone are restricted to Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM; and the rule is enforced as every contractor has a badge issued by our security staff. Truck deliveries have the same restrictions except deliveries are permitted Saturday, 9 AM to 1 PM. The security staff does a late evening sweep of the floors to check for hazards, trash, etc. Security also walks the garage areas looking for autos with lights on, flats, oil leaks, fuel leaks, etc. Oh, contractors are not permitted access the day before certain religious holidays, e.g.: Christmas, Rosh Shoshanna, etc. And yes, the restrictions are enforced.

We have a house counsel (retainer) for most legal affairs, e.g.: closings, letters, town notices, notice to vendors/contractors, etc. We have an outside counsel for major items, e.g.: any litigation (rare, but necessary), and we hire “specialist” counsels as needed, e.g.: tax law, labor, etc.

We have an engineering firm that handles our every other year capital improvement / replacement AICPA redquired schedule for our annual report. The firm also assists with RFP’s and performs the quality assurance when we have major work in progress, e.g.: parking deck repairs, roof replacement, window replacement, recreation deck overhaul, etc.

We have a contracted elevator consulting firm that checks the safety and maintenance quality of our elevator system. This firm monitors our elevator repair service firm’s work. The consulting firm wrote the RFP for our major overhaul several years ago and assisted in the entire process.

= = = = = = = = =
We have renewable contracts with:
• a quality (and large) public accounting firm,
• an HVAC / boiler / mechanical engineering firm,
• an outside landscaping firm and an inside landscaping firm, e.g.; lobby, and holiday decorations, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas,
• a snow removal firm, if we need assistance, e.g.: heavy snow,
• a fire and safety system firm,
• a pool service and staffing firm,
• a boiler water treatment firm,
• a generator service firm and a generator fuel delivery firm,
• a laundry room firm (21 floors, with a laundry room on each: two washers, three dryers),
• an AC firm for the standalone AC units that we have,
• an elevator maintenance firm,
• a LAN and PC support firm.

We hire and contract, as needed, with a plumbing firm, a painting firm, a carpentry firm, an outside electrical firm, a paving firm for spot repairs and striping, a tennis court maintenance and striping firm, an environmental firm (filing with the state), a marble maintenance firm, a brass maintenance firm, a pest control firm (free to any resident, but no real problems), a compactor maintenance firm, a secure paper and files shredding and disposal firm, etc.

= = = = = = = =

Without fear of contradiction, we are the lowest cost coop in the area and perhaps NJ region, considering all costs (maintenance with taxes, parking, assessment), and we are considered an upscale “luxury” residence. Our annual cost for a large two bedroom with terrace is about $13,700 or about $1,142 a month. As all residents have gas stoves/ovens, the cooking gas is “baked” into the monthly maintenance because we do not have gas sub-metering.

Oh, did I mention that the HVAC and the heating system are a central plant and the costs are included (electrical or gas, as appropriate by season) in the monthly maintenance displayed above (no PTAC units). Thus the resident only need pay to operate the electric fans in the under window units. As with other coops, share count is employed to allocate all costs, taxes, assessment, etc. So on top of the monthly maintenance, a typical resident personally pays another $50 a month for in-unit electrical service for lighting and for AC/heating fan operation– depending on season.

= = = = = = = =

But why self managed? The board, a number of years ago, deduced that coop or condos seek to acquire the least expensive management contracts. With the low cost contracts there is typically a novice building manager. Please accept my apology if this offends anyone, but many management firms provide what the coop/condo wishes to pay. In addition, with the high turnover in board members in many coops, the life of a management firm is typically short lived as each new board appears to have a penchant to replace the management firm as the first agenda item in identifying any ills.

By being self managed, we control our destiny; we set standards; we have continuity; we reward for performance.

And, our staff, management office (three), superintendents (two), doormen, maintenance, porters, etc, have been with us for a considerable period of time.

Our management office is open from 9 AM to Noon and 2 PM to 5 PM. The exceptions are certain half days before major holidays. Residents may only conduct business during the posted hours.

Likewise, our contracted firms have been with us for a long time.

And, we have many safety checks. For instance, the president is not authorized to sign checks and the president does not sign contracts – the secretary signs contracts. Two board members must sign every check. The management staff is not permitted to sign any checks.

We avoid all credit cards use for bills, with only minor exceptions, e.g.: stationery supply firm. Our staff is not permitted to partake of restaurant meals, sporting events, etc. sponsored by any vendor or firm with which we do business or may do business. Some firms will sometimes provide pastries, coffee rolls, etc. for the office staff. As a matter of fact, one vendor bakes his own pies and brings to the staff once or twice a year.

We pay all bills twice a month. The “big” run is at the beginning of the month for all bills received by the 25th of the preceding month. Then, we do a late month run (minor) for some stragglers or must pay transactions.

We have a seven figure line of credit which we may employ in advance of assessment revenue collections, but always repay by year end. Most often we have $500,000 to $1,000,000 in capital reserves.

= = = = = = = =

Of the 500 units (studio, one, two and three bedroom), only about a dozen are still owned by the sponsor (protected seniors) as we negotiated with the sponsor to divest all non-protected units.

= = = = = = = =

Every Friday our building manager sends all board members and our counsel a recap of the week’s activities and events. Included are all letters from residents and all letters to residents. The monthly trial balance and income and expense statements are included as available; likewise the list of arrears is provided. Results of inspections are noted. Board members may also provide items for fellow board members.

Of note is that the board members do not charge dinners to the coop corporation. Yes, we meet, four board meetings a year and about four to eight workshops for board members. But, if we go out to the dinner, it is either share the bill or one board member picks up the tab, not the coop.

Yes, there are occasional working lunches and well have sandwiches brought to the board room. Similarly, for a workshop, we may have sandwiches provided.

= = = = = = = = = =

Across the years we have made many large scale capital improvements, but we have also made improvements not too evident to the residents. We do not wish to store our compacted trash outside and invite vermin. So we have chilled our compactor room and our trash storage room to reduce the heat of the trash and thereby reduce the generation of odors.

We replaced our aircraft warning lights (we are a high rise) with LED devices so that we need not send someone to the roof every few weeks to check on the bulbs and then have someone replace the bulbs. The LEDs last ten years – yes more expensive but there’s a cost benefit.

Our larger generator now supports emergency lighting in our emergency stairwells ands in our parking garage, as well as some lights in every hallway.

We replaced our original fresh water pumps that raise water to our roof top storage tanks with high quality vertical pumps from Norway or Sweden. We went with the best ands slightly oversized them to avoid future maintenance and replacement woes.

We added lighting to some dimly lit areas outside the perimeter of the building.

When we rebuilt our mailroom, we added parcel lockers for the convenience of the residents. I tried to have the postal service do home delivery, and I was even going to buy the postman an electric cart to deliver to each door, but I was turned down by the postal service.

We have had our roof infra red scanned, which is why we know we need to replace the roof next year.

For many years, we already used fluorescent bulbs (as replacements for incandescent bulbs) throughout the building. Now we have equipped many areas, save hallways, with motion detectors.

= = = = = =

As I think of more, I’ll add to the narrative.

Also see:

500 unit coop in NJ and committees +

At Halloween, the office provides orange 8-1/2” x 11” sheets of paper imprinted with a pumpkin. As only children of residents may go door-to-door, a resident who wishes to participate pastes the pumpkin on the door.

Following a funeral for a Jewish family, the doormen provide table with water and towels for purification.

We only permit the volunteer fire department to go door to door for their annual appeal. A letter is posted in all elevator lobbies notifying residents. No other in house solicitation is permitted, not even by a resident.

Annually, we do permit the voter registration folks to sit at a table we provide in our lobby to remind residents to register.

The postal service is permitted to collect food in its annual drive in our mailroom.

The local police do an annual Christmas toy drive and the residents leave gifts beneath our lobby trees for collection by the police department.

We have 500 units and about 600 indoor parking spaces, and another 100 outside parking spaces.

But, in this day and age of multiple vehicles per family, there is never enough spaces. So we have waiting lists for upper garage, lower garage and outside parking. Folks, can stay on the lists, even though they have other spots. Thus, someone with an outside spot can stay on the list for the upper or lower garage. Someone, with a lower garage spot can still stay on the upper garage list.

Of importance is that the board members never (correct, never) permitted access to the lists and thus cannot influence the order of the list. As a matter of fact, board members are reminded they are not to attempt to influence the lists. The rules have been established and the building manager has total responsibility.

We have 225 storage cages (e.g.: dog kennel size) and the waiting list is similarly anonymous to board members and managed by the building manager.

A review of the building code is required to find out if the building is today in violation of the code. For bathrooms and kitchens without windows, an exhaust system with mechanical ventilation is usually in order.

The existence of a prior air exhaust system, i.e., metal duct ending up in a window opening, is probably a sign that a code existed then when the buidling went up in the 20s.

Therefore, prior alterations of the apartments show that there was no regard for the code and that the building is in violation.

Obviously, it's up to the board to address the issue with an engineering company and those residents who bought or live in apartments with reconfigured facilities without exhaust.

AdC

i believe the apt above removed the ducts inside the apt. how can e get them to replace them even if it was the owner before them? will draign be at teh buidings dept?

This is where board should know when to put its foot down in a major renovation, when to demand the review of an engineer, when to demand a building permit, etc. to ensure that there are no violations of any nature and all units comply with the "warranty of habitability".

In your specific case, the board as the representative of the corporation who owns the property and is considered by government as "the ultimate landlord" may have to deal with the best way to cure the problem caused by the lack of fiduciary duty of another board or owner.

Thus, as bitter and difficult the situation is, the current board needs to address the issue.

In a case like this, I will involve the attorney of the corporation from day #1 to ensure taht all parties understand the issues. I would also involve an engineer study other alternatives that you may not be able to know,i.e., building an outside shaft, etc.

Your duty is now to attend to the violation if there is any according to the engineer base on the existing building code as the interior of the building has been modified.

AdC

very tricky with boRD. I am almost sure the work was done illegaly wihtout board approval. there was a staff member who may have been involved. anyhow i put up a tissue ot the vent and it is getting positive air flow which should nto be happening. am thinking of simply calling 311 and letteing the buildings dept take it from there.

If you are a board member or even a shareholder, then you should not turn your own building into the building department. You should discuss the issue with the board and take it as an opportunity to demonstrate your problem solving capabilities.

If you are only a shareholder, your position is to write a letter to the board state the facts and make them understand that it is for the good of the building and shareholders.

AdC

they are genreally either in denial or illinformed by such parties as the MA. and, judging from previous experience, will not act on this effectively. especailly if it is not backed up from a more offical and knowing source like a city engineer. i believe it is a code violation. also it is problematic as the shareholders with the area of prior venitng will have to construct something in their apt to restore the previos ventiation. who pays for that?

We had this problem in our building. Board members allowing illegal renovations:

Calling 311 will get thier attention, and unfortunately is often the only way to deal with boards who dont follow the rules. When you call you dont have to give your name, and you can track the action being taken on the Internet.

Make sure that you put everything in writing and save ALL Emails. Email EVERYONE, (other SH, MM, and board) everytime. The Email trail is a bad M.Agents and untrustworthy boards worst nightmare.