do you have any written history of this or was it all verbal?

hopefully you have written history to back all up - request meeting with board via certified letter and bring copies of all history with you. ask them to present your written approval to move forward with the cost of $952.66.

You might want to check your proprietary lease; normally, any water-related repairs of building systems are the responsibility of the coop, not the individual shareholder. You may not have to pay any of this expense. Good luck to you.

In my coop, the unit owner is responsible for visible piping except for a steam riser, but including radiators, radiator shut off valves and radiator air vents. In this case, it's not clear where the cracked pipe is, or what it's attached to, or the cause of the cracked pipe. Of course, leases do vary and should be checked just to be clear.

You might want to check your proprietary lease; normally, any water-related repairs of building systems are the responsibility of the coop, not the individual shareholder. You may not have to pay any of this expense. Good luck to you.

My thoughts on AIR B&B are that they are anti-community, opposed to owner occupied units and may compromise security. Unless AIR B&B charges and pays sales and NYC/NYS Hotel taxes (which I doubt), those tax dollars that would have gone to fund local issues like schools do not exist (it would have if the people using AIR B&B would have gotten a hotel room). Remember owner occupied status and the issues getting mortgages in buildings under the owner occupied threshold? Can an owner with significant AIR B&B usage really claim owner occupied status? Also, one of the reasons people buy into a co-op is improved security. These “guests” are let into the building without Board approval and if something happens, will the Building and the Board be held liability?

I think you need to stamp this out for good. Just make the rules for everyone.

Airbnb is illegal in NYS/NYC. When it comes to your residential building, no-one has vetted the visitor as a Board would do on a sublease or roommate scenario, no one is watching out for the shareholders. The renter is often not in Residence so they cannot oversee their guest's behavior either. You have no idea who or what your neighbors have rented to, for how long etc. They are, if this is in a Coop, in breach of the houseguest, sublease & roommate rules of the Proprietary Lease /Bylaws etc. In the event of a bad choice and a situation, the Coop could be liable for the burglary, assault, rape or death/injury of a shareholder by the illegal renter. With no information to track or chase them down. The background check by Airbnb is minimal. It is bad news, high risk, and has no upside for anyone other than the renter who makes some money, which was not part of the purchase agreement when buying shares in the Coop. For serial Airbnb renter, it is now a non-resident shareholder turning their apartment into an SRO mini-hotel, not the same as a Board controlled sublease at all.

Sue - Please check your proprietary lease. In my lease (standard 1980's co-op conversion document) paragraphs #14 and #15 specifically address occupancy and subletting. Paragraph #15 in particular spells out the conditions for subletting, all of which are violated by an Air B&B type of sublet.

There are two areas of NYC laws that touch upon this. You are 10 units, so the first definitely applies to you: The first is the Housing Maintenance Code, Article 13, and it states that "a building of 9 apartments or more" is subject to the requirements.

The second is the Multiple Dwelling Law Article 3/title 83, which states "a dwelling with thirteen or more tenants."

Both articles state either/or... a 24 hour janitor or housekeeper or a janitor can reside in the building or a janitor can reside within 200 feet of the building (or the agent or owner lives in the building).

If you have a responsible party for the Condo that lives in the building (the Board President, or the like) who can be responsible in an emergency, you can most likely satisfy the requirements of the Fair Housing Maintenance Code, which is quoted at the top. I would put that person on the Multiple Dwelling Registration of the building as well.

Hi, thanks for your answer. I have a more specific question: We had no heat one Sunday; it was less than 60 degrees in my apartment's bedroom. I notified the board and was told that the plumber would come by on Monday to start the boiler. Similarly, when the temperature goes into the 60's on the weekend, our apartments are too hot and there is no one available to adjust the heat (we have no thermostats in our units). Can we use the tenets of the Multiple Dwelling Law to insist that someone (the part time plumber or whoever) address heating problems over the weekend rather than having to wait till Monday? Thanks for any guidance. On a related note, I would like to investigate making a recommendation for another managing agent. We pay a low amount for their assistance and receive very little in the way of guidance from them. (I think you may have responded to the latter question before and I would greatly appreciate contacting you offline.) Thank you!

NYC has specific heat requirements from Oct 1 through May 31.
6am-10pm, if colder than 55, inside => 68
10pm-6am, if colder than 40, inside => 55
How old is this condo? I can't imagine any building today without some sort of heat-timer or boiler control along with thermostats. If you have a separate hot water system, maybe the boiler was shut down for the summer and just needed to be turned on, as the board member stated.

The building was constructed in the early part of the 20th century and converted to a condo in the late 80's. And the boiler was not shut down for the summer. It was November 2nd and it was 46 degrees F outside. The plumber was called because a leak had to be repaired before the boiler could be turned (back) on. I contend that the plumber should have been paid overtime to repair the leak over the weekend and get the boiler going, rather than the residents having to wait, in discomfort, for the plumber to come in on Monday.

When was the leak discovered? Is anyone keeping an eye on the boiler on a daily basis? Does the condo have a board treasurer? Is there a budget? Regarding the hiring of a super, even part time, costs $$. If you were to hire a part time super, say, 20 hours a week @ a low $10 per hour, it would cost at least $10,000 for a year, plus benefits (social security taxes, workers comp, as a bare minimum). Divided by 10 owners. Every decision has it's pros and cons.

What kind of governance structure do you have and how are decisions made? Currently, who is responsible in your condominium for making decisions like authorizing overtime payment for emergency repair work?

When I asked about how decisions are made one board member said they're made by a consensus of the owners. But given that the president didn't set an agenda for the last annual meeting, and copies of the finances were not made available to discuss at the annual meeting, and no one has distributed notes yet on the meeting though it took place over 4 months ago, I think that this board has not completely thought through or decided on formal decision making processes.

Elisa,

Feel free to email me directly at mblevine@ebmg.com or 212-502-7048 x.201 if you want to still talk offline about this issue. Happy to assist.

My CPA firm specializes in the audits of cooperative housing corporations and condominium housing associations. We make sure that we stay up-to-date on all audit and disclosure requirements. The financial statements are the responsibility of management (including the Board). The auditor's role is to issue an opinion on the financial statements. This opinion offers assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatements. Our firm assists management in drafting the financial statements to meet all requirements. Please feel free to learn about my firm and to contact me. My firm is Prisand, Mellina, Unterlack & Co., LLP and our website is www.pmucpa.com.

Hi,

My co-op of 111 units got 15 sponsor units in bankruptcy proceeding. This provides a stream of capital funds to the co-op when we professionally renovate and sell the units when they become vacant (we have a strict re-rent policy). As a result, we are over 95% shareowner owned.

If the co-op corporation could obtain the sponsor units, you could do the same (I am thinking outright purchase of their stake). I am not sure how your governing documents are written but financial pressure might be applied on the sponsor by way of maintenance increases and assessments on all units. Let them sell the five units first so you have more voting leverage.

Good luck!

I think that if the board receives complaints about a unit hoarding, then there is a responsibility for the board to check and determine any potential hazardous or safety conditions. We have a clause in our co-ownership agreement that allows the board access to a unit for any work that is being done on the building (and could impact a unit) or for safety reasons.

My coop had 86 units, 30 still in the sponsor hands. We had a record number of sales last year, about 6, and 3 this year so far. I believe JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo are offering mortgages. I don't recall seeing any other banks recently. The banks often keep files on the buildings, if you can locate the phone contacts for these bank's mortgage departments, you can find out what they have for your building, if anything. A 'co-op questionaire' is usually required to be completed from the property as well as last 2-3 years financials and budgets, prospectus and amendments. Maybe a real estate broker involved with coops can advise you where their clients have been able to obtain mortgages in your area. I've never heard of a do not lend list within the banks. However, Fannie Mae has tightened up a lot since the financial fiasco and the mortgages may not be eligible to be resold to Fannie Mae. So the bank would have to hold the mortgage themselves until satisifed.

I bought into a building in the East Village with a sponsorship rate of 46% last year. Chase wouldn't give me a loan for fear of the high sponsorship rate. The mortgage broker went through a lot of research and eventually got me a mortgage through "Community National Bank" in Great, Neck, NY (Long Island). It seems to be a smallish bank. From what the mortgage broker told me you need to go to smaller banks in order to get a loan for a building like that. Also, it kind of sucks for selling your apartment. But maybe tell them about CNB, they did not seem to mind the sponsor and I got a good rate.

It's poor communication by the board and management co. The bylaws and proprietary lease woulddefine the requirements, if any, following the election. If you are in NY State, the department of state requires that corporate ownership information is kept current. http://www.dos.ny.gov/corps/bus_entity_search.html
allows you to search for the current data. You can contact your management co. as well and ask for the information. They would normally be present at the meeting where the elections were held and should see that the State info is updated as required by law. You can also speak to any of the previous board members and ask them if they know who the news ones are, or ask the super.

i just looked at my coop, it list as ceo someone that resignes about a year ago, only the ceo is listed per the site.

i would like to find out who gets star in this building, board and managing company won't give me info on anything, coops are all fraud and the biggest real estate scam , soon to be outed

A couple of questions:
* Was essentially the same board re-elected or is this an entirely new board? If new it could simply be stupidity (naivete). If the same board, I would be concerned.
* If this is a re-elected board, did they exhibit the same behavior before they were re-elected? If the same behavior, then sadly you knew what you were re-electing. If it is a radical change, I would be concerned.

The suggestion about contacting the managing agent is a good one. Keep in mind, though, that the managing agent company is hired by the Board and answers to the Board. They may defer to the Board when answering your questions.

Were the votes counted at the meeting or afterwards? Were any of the positions contested? Are there any big money projects going on or scheduled to start soon? If this is an experienced board whose way of doing things has suddenly changed, it bears looking into closely.

In buildings that I manage I like to take the opposite approach and give as much information as I can, in order to avoid issues such as these. We'll often post the Board / Officer list in the open area of the building and will send out a Shareholder / Unit Owner mass e-mail notification with this information as well.

our board meets monthly, we have an email address that shareholders can use to contact us and the names of the board members are posted each year a day after the annual meeting. can a group of shareholders get together and request that the board start doing what they should be doing?

I'm with Mark - communicate, communicate, communicate. We implemented a Suggestion Box (2) buildings and everything posted monthly (non names). In the list we report "Kudo's", "Questions" and "Concerns". And we even include criticisms about the Board. This way all residents can see the Suggestions and boards responses. We also post a Board Meeting Highlights Bulletin after each meeting and just started a bi-monthly newsletter to fill in any communication gaps.

It depends on your board operations By-Laws or Rules & Regulations. In ours the co-owners can request a Board meeting and there is nothing preventing them from issuing a petition against something. If your board is not "doing what they should be doing" who else other than your shareholders are going to tell you?

This is utter nonsense. 400 pedestrians were killed by cars in the past 12 months, 1 pedestrian was killed by a cyclist. Which do you *really* believe pedestrians are afraid of?

Motorists fees go to Albany, not City Hall. Just look at who issues the license and registration.

Cyclists must pay the same gasoline tax as motorists. The only difference is that cyclists don't use gasoline.

Cyclists pay City and State income and in many cases Real Estate taxes, just like motorists. *That* is what funds the DOT to pave and maintain the streets.

Motorists on the other hand create infinitely more wear and tear on our infrastructure than cyclists, and they get to pollute the air as a bonus. Their cars require 20 times more space to park than bicycles. As for insurance, just compare how many millions of dollars in injury and property damage cars are responsible for versus the miniscule amount caused by cyclists. You're an insurance broker. How many claims and for how much have you handled in the past year against cyclists versus the same for motorists?

"Yet bicyclists are more feared by pedestrians than cars..." Quite a sweeping generalization for something that has absolutely no basis in fact. There are thousands of pedestrians who regularly stroll in the middle of the Central Park loop and coexist with hundreds of cyclists. How many pedestrians can you find strolling in the middle of Queens Blvd coexisting with cars?

Thoughts? What does an anti-cyclist rant have to do with good Co-op and Condo governance?

Statistics aside, I think the fear comes from the fact that while you can see and hear cars coming, and while cars all go the same proscribed direction on streets, bikes often move silently and pedestrians never know from where a bike will come -- behind them, in front of them. Bicyclists ride both in streets (both with and against traffic) and on sidewalks. As well, some bicyclists stop at lights and intersections, and some don't.

It's that complete unpredictability that makes bicycles scarier than cars.

both comments are on. I am a advid bicyclist, and direct action bcycle advocate.
Last night in central park twice iwas almost hit by the 2% of psychotic idiots. Once on the path next to the drive. On the plus side a bicyclist on the drive was yelling at the bicyclist to get out of the path.
However this has nothing to do with coops

Spot on. The client "Liz R" refers to is Albert Volpe. Mr Volpe is a well-known anti-bicycle agitator in the Queens CB2. He's written a number of similar screeds to various publications. I suspect it is Mr Volpe hiding behind "Liz R" who uploaded the original post in this thread.

More likely Liz R insurance Broker just wants to sell insurance.

Sorry, csuarex, but I simply don't buy that. As I questioned in my original response and reiterated by coopapartm Tumbler, what does an anti-bicycling diatribe have to do with good co-op/condo governance and what kind of insurance relating to cycling could Liz R. be trying to sell to the members of this forum?

Chill out Steven 424. Peace. I already read your original response and agree. It has no place here. I've seen other so called questions on ths site that were obviously made by people trying to sell something. To answer your question some homeowners insurance does cover a biker's liability, but that is neither her or there, this is a fear mongering question and fear mongers usually are trying to sell you something. Why do you think someone would put an anti-bicycling statement on this website? :)

Hi csuarez -- I'm chilled. :-) I actually don't think anyone was trying to make a sale here. My perception is that the original post was an attempt by a very hostile person to spread his brand of bias by hiding it behind a "re-post." But you are right. We have parsed and dissected this enough. Over and out.