It is common practice for his employer (the building) to pay for all licenses pertaining to maintaining your building systems (sprinkler/standpipe, boiler, central ac, etc). If you do not have a licensed person (certificate holder) on site you risk getting fined. In addition many building pay for additional licenses/courses as it makes the super a more valuable asset to the property.

Bob.

Vivi, Bob is correct. However, we get concern because abuse is a very common thing in coops. That is why we are united to have a voice. We are meeting with politicians to pass legislation. Coop home owner have no protection in housing court neither in bankruptcy court for the abusive fines and legal fees from board and management. Check out COOPABUSE.COM and register to get updated info. Or email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM

Just to clarify, this isn't Habitat writer Frank Lovece asking.

No

i have read either here or in the other coop paper that non shareholders are not allowed to speak at, or interfere in any way at the annual meeting.
if a shareholder gave them a proxy to drop off, they can only do that, they cannot read a statement by the shareholder
i would like to find an attorney that only worked for shareholders, as i don't trust a lot of things i hear board attorneys state is the in the bcl.

Corruption is a plague in coops. The whole formation of coops was a fraud. The only way we win this fight is fighting together. We are organized and making politicians aware that this is a crime that is destroying us finantially and emotionally; we could end up homeless. Please take at look at COOPABUSE.COM and register to receive info. Also email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM and I will keep you inform of our activities. We win if you fight the corruption together.

Hi Frank,

I understand your concerns.

Since there is nothing preventing an owner to tell a non-owner what occurred at the annual meeting, my co-op does not limit who attends. You may even have management and legal counsel who attend but might be excluded if a strict policy “shareholder only” is adopted.

I view transparency as trust building. There will always be the disgruntled few who seek remedy for real and imagined slights. However, if they are hearing what everyone else is hearing, and this is consistent with what they see is occurring throughout the year; those together should build trust and lessen the possibility of what occurred to you.

Good luck!

Steve-I cannot agree with you more. Aside from the fact that the annual meeting in our building is the only sanctioned opportunity for our small 12-unit "community "to get together with the board, it is not a time in which anything Board- only is handled- and transparency & trust are fostered here. I am sorry that Frank had a bad experience but being gun-shy is no reason to become cloistered. Indeed it just builds walls instead of bridges. It should not be an adversarial relationship. Aside from the fact that non-shareholders who become spouses may then become shareholders as well. It benefits all to be open, as long as proprietary boundaries are respected.

Haven't been on boardtalk for awhile, just saw this. While others' sentiments are reflective of most buildings, I would say the answer depends on your building. Are there other reasons besides confidentiality for not wanting the non-shareholders present? Are they disruptive or abusive? Kind of sounds like it, if one went to the trouble of filing a case that had no merit. I would say go w/ your gut, but be prepared for lots of pushback from the spouses of the non-shareholders.

Hi Daniel,

I am the President of a 111 unit co-op in northern Manhattan. We are not a rich building by any means. A lot of our owners are school teachers.

We pay our Super $19.305 an hour (our union contract rate). Our co-op has a special contract with the Union whereby we pay an additional $0.50 per hour in exchange for a slight relaxation of the Union work rules. We limit his overtime to approximately 7.5% of his pay.

Included in his earnings, we also pay an annual bonus of 7-10 days of pay. He also gets housing and unused sick day payout.

Adding all of this together except the housing, I imagine he makes $52k gross wages including the annual bonus (taxes come out of that, of course). If his basement unit had a rent value of $1,500 a month; this may be an additional $18k of earnings after tax (our maintenance charge on a similar unit is about $875 a month in comparison).

He is in his late 40's or early 50’s and I cannot imagine raising a family on his pay.

Along with open Board meetings, The Board discusses the budget for the upcoming year each December including payroll. This amount also includes a bonus assumption of 10 days per employee. Shareholders are free to attend the annual budget meeting but in truth, few do. We do not announce the bonus amounts when ultimately decided. We encourage the owners to holiday tip the staff as they feel appropriate.

The result of all of this is that we have good employee relations and as the staff treats the owners well, we have fewer owner complaints. As we plan for the bonus when we set the maintenance, the funds are available to pay it out.

To put everything in context, the co-op also has a self amortizing mortgage and our maintenance load is approximately $1.10 per square foot. I am anticipating a small maintenance this year of approximately 3-4%. Complaints on the level of maintenance are very few (one or two owners complain a year).

My view is that owners elect board members to make decisions for them. If they want to know every detail, they would run for election. While transparency is fantastic, one risks losing people’s attention if too much detail is released.

If the building had a policy of not announcing the bonus, and now it does, one unintended consequence is that someone could think there is an effort to “hurt” the financial wellbeing of the staff – i.e. a vendetta. If you want to release this level of fiscal detail, I suggest that you not just do it on the “bonus” budget lines but on all budget lines. That way one does not appear heavy handed or spiteful.

Good luck!

sharehlders have a right to know how there money is spent.
in this coopo the managing agent gets a yearlyt bonus ,and isnt worth his pay.
when i was on the board and found out, as i got a memo stating the amount he expected, , the memo was from him.
i did everthing possible to have the bonus rejected, as i was a union empyoee myself, anf we would getr fired if we took a tip of a vaue more than a bottle of soda or piece of fruit.
managers were in no way on the tipping scale.
A super who exceeds his/hers union duties and saves he bldg money by doing small painting jobs and such, i am ok with tipping via the board.
management agents=no way
i think every shareholder should have access to the monthly and yearly finances of their coop, this would stop a lot of fraud.
And there is a lot of fraud!

Dear Escape: I agree with everything you say. You seem to be very knowledgeable on coop management, services, and basic shareholders' rights. You are also very valiant to fight for shareholders rights against the Board, the Managing Agent, and other agents of oppression and financial exploitation, such as super and other coop employees. We would like to put you in our mailing list. Please write to us, g5grosof@msn.com - CONCERNED CITIZENS for COOP REFORM - P. O. Box 568 - Bronx 10463

Please contact your City Council President - he is very aware of the ongoing corruption with coops in Yonkers.

Yonkers suggested contacting our City Council President. Who might that be? Our City Council Speaker is out, and a new one has not yet been chosen. Who are you referring to? I would like to know who you feel is aware of the ongoing corruption and seems to take an interest. Thanks in advance.

Please contact chuck Lesnick. He is very aware of the corruption of some coops in Yonkers. He might be term limited but this could be his last hurrah.

I think 20% is an excessive amount. You should look to make sure the 20% is not a payment to keep the super silence. Super know a lot about what is going on with the finance. Just make sure is not somethng bigger.

We are working to change laws to protect the shareholder's home. At this time we have no protection in housing neither in bankrutcy courts. Take a look at COOPABUSE.COM and feel free to email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM

That is way too high of a bonus. Especially if he is not making a huge effort to earn it. And , by the way, if the Super quits that could be to your advantage as there are many many well -qualified potential Supers looking for such an apartment and they wont demand a bonus.
Who is your managing agency? and also do current board members get special treatment form this Super? If he quits - I think count yourself lucky.

Corruption is a plague in coops. The whole formation of coops was a fraud. The only way we win this fight is fighting together. We are organized and making politicians aware that this is a crime that is destroying us finantially and emotionally; we could end up homeless. Please take at look at COOPABUSE.COM and register to receive info. Also email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM and I will keep you inform of our activities. We win if you fight the corruption together.

a 20% bonus seems ridiculous. we adore our super and he is getting a $1500 bonus.

as for those who think 20% is a good number because of the salary, also note that at the holidays, a good super will see $150-$200 per apartment in a holiday gift. that money is not taxable and in a building with 100 apartments means an extra $20,000 a year in earnings.

We installed cameras for 5 attached cooperative buildings in Forest Hills. We used a company called Blue Blast Media to do it. We hadn't heard of them before and cam recommended from a Board member. The scope of their project along with their specs provided pre-install was great. jpf@blueblastmedia.com was our contact there (JP)

We've worked with Gil from Tech X Solutions in the past, and had a very good experience, he is very professional and responsive. gil@techxsolutions.com

We've worked with Gil from Tech X Solutions in the past, and had a very good experience, he is very professional and responsive. gil@techxsolutions.com

Hi,

I am not a lawyer but I think you need a lawyer to advise you on this. That being said, the raceway withdraw may be criminal theft and you should run it by the police. The only person who can stop this is you and how you respond. Say nothing and it will continue. Say something and it will stop. Somehow I suspect that you may uncover more misdeeds.

There is very little reason why a Treasurer these days needs to have cash on hand. Take the debit card away too.

Good luck!

we even went to the Bronx Attorney Office in the Bronx and they said their was nothing they could do we have all bank statements and she has the nerve to be elected as a Treasurer, The people that voted for her are also on the Board and dont have the clue what it is to run a building we only have 10 units 5 shareholders me and the other shareholder we dont have money for lawyer ,Treasurer never paid her rent in the past and she hired her son who was just released from Jail to be a super

Did you go to the Attorney General, Mr. Schneiderman? Call up the State of New York Attroney General office, and ask to report white collar crime in the Investor's Protection Bureau, and ask for a complaint form. You can also get it from the Internet.

You might consider withholding your monthly maintenance until the situation is rectified. You could make them take you to court for your maintenance, then you can explain the situation to a judge. Try to get as many shareholders as possible to go on strike and refuse to pay until you get answers and results.

This is, indeed, a very good idea, and perhaps the only one that will work. Our money that we pay the coop every month is our only leverage. I tried it in the past, and it worked. BUT...just make sure that you deposit your maintenance in a specially dedicated bank account - generally called Landlord-Dispute Account, so that you can show it to the judge if they sue, and demonstrate that you are not "in violation" of your obligation, but merely demanding that the outragous robbery ceased. And petition the judge for sanctions against the thieving board member, the dissolution of the board and new elections, under the supervision of the court. Be courageous and sincere. "Audaces Fortuna juvat" (Fortune loves the audacious)

Corruption is a plague in coops. The whole formation of coops was a fraud. The only way we win this fight is fighting together. We are organized and making politicians aware that this is a crime that is destroying us finantially and emotionally; we could end up homeless. Please take at look at COOPABUSE.COM and register to receive info. Also email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM and I will keep you inform of our activities. We win if you fight the corruption together.

Coop Abuse.com (Cooperative Community Organization) claims to be a contingent of 600,000 Russians living in 60 coops in Brooklyn, mostly in the Brighton Beach area (10,000 per coop?) They claim to be a monolithic organization that could deliver these 600,000 votes to politicians of their choice, inducing them to pass legislation who favor the coop owners. Their candidate in this recent mayoral election, a Black Hispanic reverend head of a church in Washington Heights, only fetched 1800 votes. Where are the rest of them, some 598,200? Maybe they are illegal immigrants who don't vote (?) Maybe there is a lot of fantasy here... So I don't trust this group, or its leadership. Nobody can get to know who their leaders really are, because they don't reveal their addresses, and they speak only Russian in their open meetings, or their radio programs, or their communications (in the the ones translated, the English is atrocious, almost incoherent). Nor can we know what their hidden agenda is, which seems to be purely political. The victims of coop abuse in this group (the one I heard of) seem to belong to coops owned by the Russian mafia. If you decide to interact with this group, be cautious, and do not reveal your personal data to them. .

I don't know what black hispanic reverend you are talking about. We met with Gale Brewer and Helen Rosenthal in Manhattan. At the meeting we spoke english. As a matter of fact most of the attendees did not speak russian; I don't speak russian. We created the coopabuse.com to collect info so we can tell politians what is going. You don't have to write about your problem but you can see what we are doing. By the way both Helen and Gabe were elected. We hope to elect more people who are willing to work with us. We can only win if we stand together. You email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM

The Black Hispanic reverend I am talking about is the Reverend Eric Salgado, from Washington Heights, who ran for mayor, sponsored by the Cooperative Community Organization of Brooklyn, and got only some 1800 votes. Another reverend of the same area is his friend , Reverend Bauza, who run for City Council, and got almost no votes.Both are against abortion and contraceptio, especially for teenagers, and call the "day after pill", an abortion pill killing hunreds of thousands babies, and they both vowed to stop these "mass killings" if elected.
Gale Brewer was elected, by not by the Alex Litvak's Russian contingent of Brooklyn, she was not even sponsored or recommented by him. I was present in that meeting with Gale Brewer in a private apartment in Manhattan, after Gale Brewer was already elected. Alex was there, acting as the owner of the meeting, he took the floor and lectured Ms. Brewer for almost an hour, handed several papers to her, and refused to yield the floor to me or my wife. The only other persons there, aside from us (from Kingsbridge, Bronx) was Rosa Nazar & Shelly Keeling, from Riverdale, Bronx. Nobody from the 600,000 Russians from Brooklyn (Alex's followers) showed up, and we were made to pass as if we were members of Alex's organization. A blatant shameless manipulation, plus the fact that we were not introduced nor permited to speak to Ms. Brewer.
Alex's has decided now that he wants to be the only leader of the Coop Reform Movement in all boroughs of the City, and towns of the entire State of the New York, and have recruited Rosa Nazar, a Dominican woman from Riverdale, Bronx, who has become an ardent propagandist and recruiter for Alex's Brooklyn organization. Imagine Alex Litvak, a Russian Emperor of the 5 boroughs, and King of the State of New York, and Rosa, his faithful disciple and prophet.
(by the way, Gale Brewer commented to me, wispering, as she was leaving the meeting, that she finds it very difficult to deal with the Russians because of their totalitarian mentality, and their lack of understanding of our American democracy and our political system. Indeed, Alex treated Ms. Brewer, practically the Vice-Mayor elect of New York, as if she was his subordinate, or his servant. I was ashamed of his behavior, and didn't know how to apologise to Ms. Brewer). Jerry Grosof, Concerned Citizens for Coop Reform.

You need to get your fact straights. Any body who google Eric Salgado would know that he is white hispanic not from Washington Heights but from Brooklyn. Cooperative Community Organization never met neither sponsor rev. Delgado, The meeting was scheduled by Alex in a apt belong to his friends. Alex never invited you, neither I. If you did not get your info correct, blame it on yourself. I don't believe Gale Brewers said anything like that. She is a politicians and they are careful what they said. I am concern about you seen things where nothing exists.

I stand by everything I said. Rev. Salgado is certainly a Black Hispanic, and his friend Rev. Bauza describes him as Black, and himself as "white", he calls this "cafe con leche, la buena mezcla". (Coffee with milk, the good mixture). He's originally from Brooklyn, but presently operates out of Washington Heights, after branching out into six churches of his creation.
Regarding the meeting with Gale Brewer, Alex did send a notification-invitation, but I was not planning to attend. But Naomi Semeniuk, who had obtained the meeting in the first place, she being a Manhattanite, invited us personallly, insisting that we should go and present the Coop problems to Ms. Brewer. We went for her sake, but we considered it a monumental waste or our time, and an embarrassment and loss of prestige vis-a-vis Ms. Brewer. Had we known that Alex was the owner of the meeting, we would have never gone.
And yes, Gale Brewer did speak, wispering, her reservations (or difficulty understanding the Russian character), and Naomi was there with me - we both accompanied her to the door, and Gale spoke to both of us. Alex himself noticed Gale was somewhat annoyed, and and said to her, as she was leaving, that he might be considered "a little annoying" with his insistence, and she might have to put up with it.
Rosa Nazar shouldn't be "concern" about what I said, whether she believes it or not. Her opinions and beliefs are of no "concern" to me. Carmen Bejarano & Jerry Grosof - Concerned Citizens for Coop Reform- P. O. Box 568 - Bronx, NY 10463

sorry my spell check didn't highlight the above mess and i cant fix it.

I have been looking for the same type of lawyers, and I am afraid they don't exist. Anyway, I decided to throw in some money for the finding such rarities, by placing ads in legal publications. Please give me your email, and I will include you in the result of my research. CONCERNED CITIZENS FOR COOP REFORM - g5grosof@outlook.com -

Hi Gerard,

I tried writing to you at your email address to receive the results of your research, but the email bounced back with this error message:

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.

Delivery to the following recipients failed.

g5grosof@outlook.com

Final-Recipient: rfc822;g5grosof@outlook.com
Action: failed
Status: 5.5.0
Diagnostic-Code: smtp;550 Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable (2038705067:3902:-2147467259)
Is there another email address to reach you?
Thanks.

My email is constantly hacked ever since I formed CONCERNED CITIZENS FOR COOP REFORM. Please try g5grosof@msn.com, or carminis@msn.com. I am definitely going to spend some money looking for lawyers who are on our side, not the "industry". I will find them and train them, and form a legal clinic for downtrodden coop owners withtout rights and without recourse under the present judiciary system. This is an abomination.

In addition to lawyers we need to get behind the ombudsman bills that have been languishing in Albany. Sen. Liz Krueger has one. Let us get our voices and clout behind our elected officials to do something to help us when things go wrong. Perhaps we can get enough co op shareholders to become unified in support of this type of bill. Unfortunately it is the board of our communities that claims to speak for us, even when we are almost paralyzed when trying to unseat them. We must unify and fight for this type of bill if we are to ever have control of our own destinies.

You are right and we are doing it. Before politicians ignore us. Now we are meeting with them. We are voting and electing politiians who are wiiling to work with us. We have no right in housing neither in bankrutcy courts. We are treated as second class citizens. EMAIL ME AT ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM and register at COOPABUSE.COM to fight together.

I looked at the website and it is quite interesting and informative. Do you have any participation in Queens? There are a considerable number of co ops in the boro and many are upscale with shareholders who might be interested in pursuing the cause.

Yes we do. I live in the Bronx. Today we, representatives from 4 boroughs, had a meeting with layers from Darryl C. Towns, Commissioner/CEO of the New York State Division of Homes & Community Renewal to discuss the lack of laws to protect the home of coop home owner. It was very interesting how unaware politicians are of what is going on. You can email from coopabuse,com to find out the contact. Or email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM and I will get you send you the email of the person in charge of the organization. We are making progress. Register in COOPABUSE.COM to get info. You only need to give them your email. By the way people from long Island and Westchester are joining our organization. The problem with coops is huge.

although I am new to being a shareholderI feel that all sharholders should try to come together and form a rally to stop these board members and do away with cerin articiles. This is how we can get the news involved My story is long but I have plenty to say..

You are right and we are doing it. Before politicians ignore us. Now we are meeting with them. We are voting and electing politiians who are wiiling to work with us. We have no right in housing neither in bankrutcy courts. We are treated as second class citizens. EMAIL ME AT ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM and register at COOPABUSE.COM to fight together.

My email is constantly hacked ever since I formed CONCERNED CITIZENS FOR COOP REFORM. Please try g5grosof@msn.com, or carminis@msn.com. I am definitely going to spend some money looking for lawyers who are on our side, not the "industry". I will find them and train them, and form a legal clinic for downtrodden coop owners withtout rights and without recourse under the present judiciary system. This is an abomination.

We always suggest that you need to get a quorum and take over the board if you want you building be run for the shareholders. Once you have majority, you can change lawyers and make sure they and the board work "for the shareholders."
If you need suggestions on how to get a quorum and a board slate together, feel free to email me at tina@thecoopblog.com

the mang comp came in 1996,approx, and with a person who they said was the bldg lawyer,stated that the state had changed the law and outlawed cumulative voting and we could no longer combine votes or split them ,like we had for the last 12 plus years.
building is less than 60% owner occupied,and thet sell to people and say it is 90% Owner Occupied
AG , DA westchester were contacted as per ny times Q&A in coops about this, the DA refused to look into this criminal matter.
original plan was fraud buyers too.

Lawyers lie all the time, and shamelessly take advantage of the shareholders' lack of expertise in the law. In our case, in this year annual meeting, we demanded a ballot election (we never had ballot elections before, only "acclamations"), the lawyer told the board to forbid us to post our campaign material, (bio & platform), none of the perennial directors released any biographical material, refused even to disclose where they live or their email addresses. One shareholder asked how many times can they be re-elected (they have been there for 25 years, originally selected by the Sponsor), and Coop lawyer answered that "there is nothing in the Proprietary Lease forbidding their re-elections, therefore, they would be there forever". This lawyer also sent me a letter threatening termination & eviction for "objectionable conduct", for having tried to organize the tenant-shareholders, educate them, sign petitions, etc...(Tina, of the coopblog, lives in a phantasy world if she thnks this can be done with impunity, it has never happened and never will, because the Sponsors dominates the Coop).
In another case that I have personal experience, the Coop lawyer confiscated my apartment without going to court and sold it in public auction...4 TIMES! Everytime we had to go to his office to pay him money to get our apt back. The 5th time he did it, I refused to pay, and he proceeded with eviction. This time I sued him back, the judge ruled in my favor, told him he cannot do extra-judicial terminations, ordered to restore ownership, return all the money I had paid in lawyers fees to the Coop lawyer ($14,000) and to also pay my lawyer's fees.
This perpetrator of extra-judicial confiscations is a prominent lawyer whose , his firm at the time was a well-known 5th ave firm doing 60 of these extra judicial confiscations per year. The lawyer still answer Q&A questions for the NY Times Real Estate section...And perhaps continues with his criminal confiscations to this very day, with hapless shareholders who have no access to lawyers to defend them. Coops are enclaves of lawlessness and criminality, they are like a mafia.
In my experience, all coop lawyers are crooks, and involved in a criminal conspiracy with Coop boards,Sponsors & Managing Agents, to deprive shareholders of all of their rights, and exploit them mercilessly The whole coop system is a vast conspiracy, that has to be prosecuted under the R.I.C.O. act. Or in a class action by shareholders, which is what we are working on now. Join us! Carmen Bejarano. Concerned Citizens for Coop Reform. P.O. Box 568 - Bronx NY 10463

a gopro video camera on a chest mount is a grat way to document the lies/fraud that you board members,managing agent say at annual meeting.
meeting is usually on your property, and if it is common area, you can video taped. last meeting the board called the cops on me, cops came said i had to leave, i told the cops ,no, i will not leave, this is my property, this is a common area and this is my annual meeting, the cops backed down,
still trying to find a lawyer for all the fraud,embezzlement,mortgage fraud, all of which the AG and DA in Westchester will not take on.
lawyers i have talked too were board type lawyers, evn though they advertise as shareholder here.

i saw an article i think in the ny times about 6 years ago concerning people with criminal intent buying a co/op condo. they would then run for the board, the bldg had been checked to be a non owner involved bldg before they bought. they may have had a confederate also buy a couple of months klatter.this person would also get on the board.
They would then have a conspirator do an inspection of the balconies, probably 100 plus per building, and maybe 2 or 3 buildings in the condo/coop.the inspector would point out the rust at the balcony attachment point and dig out some material, so it looked to the non informed owners that th balconies were in danger of collapsing. The criminals on the board now used their power to back up their confederate inspector and would hire a company, that was involved in this fraud for $$$$$ to fix the balconies,that in reality had nothing but visual rust, and were not structural compromised. The coop would pay huge amounts to get the balconies fixed, and the workers would just do a rustoleum and spackle type job, meanwhile billing for whole attachment of balcony.
this would happen in building after building, these people would see and work their con/kickback game on the next carefully selected building.
It fell apart when one of the owners of the condo, was a retired bldg inspector or had performed this work his whole life, and saw that it was a pure scam, He knew that the problems being pointed out as structural were purely cosmetic and unlike NY, the state got involved, maybe feds with rico act too. .
this is has been happening in this coop, the management company is a co-conspirator.

Since this corruption is so prevalent all over the state, kudos to Rosa and others who are trying to make a difference. Why not plan a massive protest at the AG’s office in early Spring?

The only way to win and get laws pass to protect our home is if we stay and fight together. They try to tell us that it is an isolated incident; it is not. Politicians are publicc servants and need to hear and do something for us. The first step is not to let them intimidate you. Register in COOPABUSE.COM or send me and email at ROSA.NAZAR@MAIL.COM and keep talking and writing about the problems. They need to stop telling us it is an isolated incident. Send me an email and I will keep you up on what we are doing. Yes we are planning a demostration and we need help from all of you. This is America we can't let them treat us the coop home owner as second class citizens. YES WE CAN.

Dear Daniel Hardison: We have the same case here, only worse. In addition to supporting his family in the princely way to which they grew accustomed, he extorts money from us for every little repair job (to cure disrepairs that he himself causes). His two sons (grown up men in their 30's, one of them living with his parents in a free apartment) also participate in the grafting, in addition to regularly breaking into my apartment to steal things. His wife comes up to our door at midnight to insult my wife ("fuck you") for having denounced her son. We are subjected to all kinds of humiliations, extortions, harassments, etc, and the president consents to this. The super is a Hungarian who came to this country 20 years ago, and already owns 4 apartments in our building and 2 houses in PA. Success story from Communist countries inmigrants who came to America to live the American dream: to ruthlessly enslave and exploit the American naive idiots...We need a class action lawsuit. Please write to me, I am sponsoring one. g5grosof@msn.com. Concerned Citizens for Coop Reform- 1 347 321 8009

Why not write a story about boards who threaten and harrass "objectional" owners who complain about corruption?

I think you should contact us the abused shareholders. We can tell what the board should not do. A coop is a home to a family and it needs to be protected. But it is actually a club where we buy membership to be abused and destroy financially. Go to COOPABUSE.COM to read horror stories or email me and I will send you info about how I have been dragged in court since 2009. I had to stop by eviction 3 times. The board, in a luxury apartment in the Bronx (Riverdale) published my eviction as a better important notice in their website. But they did not published when the judge told them that I was here since they 1987 and it is impossible that I just became a trouble maker. They just want my apt because the sprinkle check valve in inside (which was hidden behind the wall when I bought it). The fire dept needs access to the valve to conduct a high pressure test. They want to take my apt without paying for it. They keep adding legal fees and other fees. I do not owe a penny to the, For some reason the target shareholders with no mortgage. Believe me we will be in court forever. In your report them them THEY SHOULD NOT STEAL NEITHER HARRASS. Email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM if you more info for your report. Anybody else feel free to email me too and resgister with COOPABUSE.COM to stop the abuse.

I would check the bylaws to see if renters or anyone else rather than shareholders and sponsors are allowed to serve on the board. Also, board service is unpaid, and the board should not be ordering food for anyone, including themselves, paid for by the building.

The previous tenant above me bought a unit and was promptly rewarded with a board seat.

This happens regularly in our Coop: who ever is the latest Coop owner (who bought directly from the Sponsor, the only one still selling units here), gets immediately selected and seated on the Board by "acclamation". It's the standard procedure in Sponsor-dominated boards, so that he, the Sponsor, can continue with the domination forever, running the Coop as an unregulated rental business (for transients). Our sponsor has been in charge (total undisputed and unchallenged control) for more than 25, since the creation of the Coop. This phenomenon is very common here in Riverdale-Kingsbridge area of the Bronx, and is called "The Sponsor in Perpetuity Syndrome": it is the root of all evils in the Coop calamity. It has been outlawed since the Jennifer case ruling, but it continues unabated. These people are outlaws, subverting the American system of home ownership, grabbing enormous ammount of equity, demolishing our basic Constitutional civil and human rights. We need a Class Action. Please write to me. g5grosof@msn.com - 1 347 321 8009

If they are stealing food, they are stealing much more. You should get a forensic auditor and try to make a deal to give them a percentage of anything recovered.

At Towers on the Park, in Manhattan, our board gets free pizza, salad and drinks every meeting, paid for by the condominium. When I was on the board, this practice bothered me, so I reimbursed the condo for anything I ate. I was only board member ethical enough to do so.

We have one board member who has a bike in the bike room, and with her cronies refuses to entertain any effort to raise the annual bike-room fee, which has been the same since the condo opened 25 years ago: $25 ... roughly $2.08 a month! I find this corrupt and self-serving.

At least one and possibly other board-members here also jumped to the head of a nine-year waiting list for storage bins earlier this year.

Hi Frank,
I frequently hear about self-serving board members and am not surprised at members not wanting to increase bike storage fees due to self-interest. I am also not surprised at board-members jumping ahead of storage waiting lists. What I don't understand is why wouldn't you try to do something about it.

We recommend to take over the board and start running the building like a business. We have helped shareholders straighten these types of things out, at the same time as reducing expenses.

My building's board used to meet in restaurants, bars and pubs. When I got elected, it all stopped. On the other hand, I pushed to enlarge our bicycle storage space and charge a minimal fee of $2 month. The basement space is not conducive for other use, and by keeping the bikes out of the elevators, hallways and apartments, the reduction in scratched walls, paint chips, etc. is worth losing a few dollars. The bike room and basement exits directly to the exterior of building.

The coop corruption is a plague which needs to be eradicated. We have no protection for our home under the law. Housing neither Bankruptcy courts protect us. We need to work together to stop the abuse. Check COOPABUSE.COM to see coop horror stories and register by leaving your email. We are meeting with politicians to make them aware of our problems and pass legislation to protect our coop home. You can also email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM

I have see the same happen in a building I managed. How fitting that the landscaper that takes care of the common areas is the same one that takes care of the board Presidents terrace. It goes on and on (management look the other way as they do not want to ruffle any feathers) Unfortunately it happens all too often. These people need to ask themselves why am I on the board to serve the building needs or my own? Best of luck
Bob

They are on the board obviously to serve their own needs since they saw a good money making opportunity. Even before the sponsor left, our board manipulated and strategized getting their group on the board, they slandered anyone who could help and don’t allow anyone, except for the most dense, to run for office.

I have read that the average board meeting is two hours, yet our board meets monthly for five hours. I suspect the time is spent manipulating and strategizing how to reward followers and punish detractors also how to manipulate elections, etc. One example is that the board’s contractor while working on an adjoining unit cracked my patio in half. They have refused to fix it as I am a whistleblower owner. Yet they recently fixed the patio of a renter who, I believe, was responsible for his own damage as he continually left his door open with his air conditioning running and I have seen other air conditioning units damaged by doing this. They never look beyond who they like or dislike, therefore, are not bright enough to establish liability in these situations.

Monthly five hour board meetings are certainly a cause for concern. Do you check the minutes??

It is my understanding that it is cost prohibitive for older buildings and most buildings don't have enough room for individual meters. However, there are several water billing, auditing and monitoring companies that can look at your water bill and building to see if there's anything you can do. We're advising on a building that is going to change all toilets to low flow, and install a devise to reduce the water usage in showers and faucets.

Most water pipes (risers) in older buildings serve more than one apartment, so you couldn't determine the actual usage without installing numerous meters near each unit, not just in the basement. My unit has 2 pipes for hot water and 2 pipes for cold water to feed my kitchen and bath, so 4 meters would be needed, if you could get them installed.
The lease probably provides for inclusion of water and heat in the maintenance charges, so you would have to be able to change the lease terms as well.
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My coop has been filing the appeals with Podell for years, we received one offer for about $15k on a $3 million dollar assessment in the last 4 years. The entire assessment process is a disaster. Old homes in stable neighborhoods are at fmv, while up and coming areas are no where near fmv (or sales price) and will never get there with the current caps on assessment increases. Some private 2 family homes in my neighborhood pay less taxes than 2 bedroom units in my prewar coop. How are coops considered to be commercial property when they are full of low and middle income owners?