Write the Mayor Office - you will get a response, guaranteed.

I think the property manager should write your city government to complain about the poor communication from them and I do think that residents should complain, individually, to your councilman.

Does your management company have anything to do with the search? Often, we will have other Superintendent's that we have on various staffs that can recommend someone who they have worked with / know. Also, you can contact the Superintendent's Technical Association to see if they have any members who would be interested in interviewing. (http://www.superstechnicalassociation.org/)

Typically Notices of Special Meetings and Annual Meetings, etc. are served upon Shareholders of the Cooperative and not the roommates of those Shareholders. If the Board has an open door policy, that is one thing, but if you would like to get technical, those 3rd parties have no relevancy to the Cooperative and do not need to be involved in any discussion / do not need to be permitted in the meetings.

Thanks

As Mark stated, the non-shareholder spouse would not have any of the shareholder's rights; speaking, voting, or otherwise.

However.... I can think of a situation where the shareholder gives his/her spouse a proxy, power of attorney, or in some other way vests his/her rights in their spouse.

If you anticipate a problem I would suggest you read though your bylaws and consult your board's attorney for what can and cannot be done to maintain control over this situation.

Elisa, in my experience with a lot of the smaller buildings that utilize those smaller (and cheaper) management companies, a lot of the laws, filings and requirements that are changing yearly are often overlooked and the lack of adherence to these will cost the building a significant amount of money and heartache in the future if left unchecked.

As you noted with the Local Law inspections (Every five years for buildings that are over 6 stories) you should have a management company or a consultant to oversee and ensure that the Board is made aware of everything that needs to be completed.

With regards to minutes and other administrative tasks, the Bylaws should be a good starting point; to ensure that the Board is adhering to the guidelines that were set forth when the Condo was established.

If you'd want to talk more about it, privately, you can always reach out (without charge, of course).

Mark Levine - mblevine@ebmg.com

Banks tend to not want to lend towards buildings that are greater than 15% of investor-owned or subleased. This is because they fear that if the tenants don't pay their rent then the unit owner(s) may have an issue paying the common charges as they were relying on that income to pay for their monthly fees.

The sooner you can get your bylaws amended by the 80% that is called for in the document to reflect the change in the sublet policy, the better off you will be. If you wait too long and greater than 20% of your units are rented out, it is more likely that you would never be able to capture the 80% approval vote as you need.

If you'd also like to make it less onerous on the owners, you can institute a sublet cap in years (no more than 3 out of every 5 years) or 3 years total, etc. You can also make it a soft-income revenue builder by charging a sublet fee to all unit owners who do choose to rent.

If your Offering Plan holds a provision for a Right of First Refusal for sales and sublets prior to their implementation, that is one tool that you have to manage the sublets as well.

You can also institute a bylaws change of policy that no rentals or subletting are allowed during the first 3 years (or 5 years) of ownership to make it financially undesirable to purchase for investment vs. domicile/residential ownership

All these are good suggestions, but they seem to be more "co-op" based than condo based. People buying into condos often assume that there are far fewer rules than in a co-op, and that they can rent out their unit for as many years as they want. There is also no "proprietary lease" in condos. How exactly can condos create, implement and enforce these rules on limitations on owner rental? In what document would such rules reside? Also, how enforceable are they? In a co-op, boards can always threaten to revoke the proprietary lease if its strictures are violated; what power do condos have in similar situations?

Hi Elisa

As a condo you do have and must abide by the 1.Rules and Regulations
2.Condo Declaration
3.ByLaws

Would need to review and see the language contained with regard to leasing of ones unit.
By Laws can be ammended usually with a 2/3 or 3/4 vote.
The penalties for not complying with bylaws or any of condo regulations can be also spelled out to the degree on severity desired.
Again a clear and concise discussion and presentation of all the negative ramfications should get enough support to pass.

My Condo in its 1979 offering plan clearly states that owners can sell or rent their unit to whoever they want. The condo does not require right of first refusal.

We don't approve tenants, or owners. Honestly between folks using it as weekend places, pied a tiers, primary homes, second homes, units in LLCs, and renting it out. And some rent it year round vs seasonal leases. We have snow birds who go to Florida and rent for winter. Leases of one month or greater is legal.

I dont know how we would even attempt to regulate this. Also in a 36 old condo with a few original owners hard to imaging enforcing the rules. Sounds good on paper, but 36 years in it is hard.

Besides the issue of renters not paying their rent on time I am seeing an issue with renters having a total disregard for house rules and recycling policies. This puts a burden on the Super, the Property Manager, and the Board.

Besides the issue of renters not paying their rent on time I am seeing an issue with renters having a total disregard for house rules and recycling policies. This puts a burden on the Super, the Property Manager, and the Board.

Although this is a bit off-topic, when the percentage of unpaid rents and occupancy charges is climbing while rules are being ignored the board should be examining its management style and policies. Substantial overdue rent coupled with widespread rule violations are often suggestive of a breakdown in one or more basic elements of operational management.

I think it may be very good that shareholders, board members, managing agents, and attorneys chime in on this serious topic. The attorney general should keep their ears and eyes open and glued to these conversations as well. Let's keep them coming, because they will come in very very handy. If you can make a list of how you feel that your investment, your home, your co op has been harmed because the sponsor(s) refuse to sell, it would be very helpful.

Rhona

While there are a handfull of options for finance for residents in high investor concentration projects... for several reasons most lenders will not approve.

The associated industry term is "unwarrantable" for a building that doesnt meet standards which today are industry wide.

There are quite a few ramifications, including direct impact to value and marketability. Some of the other concerns are not as obvious but just as important to present to the ownership. Definately seek the advice of a source familair with the intricacies associated with your building and the mortgage landscape today on a plan and ongoing review of compliance.

Many buildings have implemented strict requirements and tighter guidelines for investor owned vs owner occupied units. This scrutiny also applies to those who may now decide they want to rent their unit.

Most mortgagee and lender documents include verbiage requiring owner occupancy and in the event of a change they must be notified and the request to rent can be denied.

Making changes that bring and maintain a project to the standards and requirements of the mortgage environment we face today is a non negotiable and long overdue for those yet to make them.

Fancy locks, keys, key fobs, card swipes can be expensive but almost useless security. How often have you or someone else held the door for someone going in or out? Unless you're in a small building and you all know all the residents, it probably happens several times a day. Not to mention delivery people buzzed in or walking out allowing someone else to enter.

At least with fobs and swipes you can control the number of people that have keys, which can be duplicated and given to anyone. JG is right, no matter how many times we send out memos asking people not to let strangers in, they still do. We also had a incident where a UPS guy let in someone. We saw it on our camera system. How about a virtual doorman system, has anyone had experience with those?

I know a Coop that changes their front door keys every 2 years. This is done at their annual meeting which guarantees 100% attendance. The annual meeting is held in the lobby and as you sign in you return your keys and are handed a new key for each key you have. The current cylinder and keys are used again the next time keys are changed. They have about 3 set of cylinders with non duplication keys. No expense, security is in check and a quorum at the annual meeting. How unique is that.

They had contacted our building last year. Everything sounded good - no cost installation and maintenance of panels, they would charge us a fixed flat rate guaranteed to be less or equal to Con Ed rates, and they would profit from excess power being sold back to Con Ed. After they did a site visit, we never heard back from them. Emails, phone calls, no response. No explanation.

I remember seeing a year or two ago an interactive online map based on a survey done by a City department which showed how much sunlight every roof in NYC received and estimating how much electricity solar panels could generate. You might try to find it and use it as a starting point if you're considering installing solar panels.

Does your building have annual meetings? Do you attend? Does the board distribute annual financial statements? Windows can be had for around $300 or so, but it depends on what quality you want, size, vinyl or wood may not be legal so you may need to go with aluminum. Any landmark designation issues? I don't know if your board would be swayed by a petition or not. The board is charged with operating the building and setting maintenance at an appropriate level to do that. Maintenance is often set low by the developer to encourage sales, then it has to rise to cover expenses, or else you have assessments or tap reserve funds to pay operating costs. Without knowing the overall building condition, budget, reserves, and other issues, it's hard to say that the windows are the top priority, although it sounds like it would be a popular project.

Our building is considering new windows, as they are in disrepair. Leakage testing during the LL11 work found that the faulty windows are causing water penetration into the walls. But it is obviously an expensive project. The lease clearly indicates that shareholders are not responsible for such repairs. Your coop should evaluate this consequence of having old windows.