The only candidate speaking of an issue near and dear to coop owners hearts and wallets is Joe Lhota, who has stated that the way in which coop apartment building values are assessed is unfair.
FINALLY! This issue needs more attention.
We coop owners have been hosed over the last 10 years.
What do you think?
New Rule Affects Home Businesses
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Q. Our co-op has a new house rule barring shareholders who have home-based businesses from having clients or customers come to their apartments. This is in direct conflict with the lease, which states that we may have any home occupation permissible under local zoning laws. How can we persuade the co-op board to rescind this rule? And if we can’t, what can the board do if we violate it?
A. If a new rule materially alters a shareholder’s rights and obligations, it may not be enforceable, because, it can be argued, it is an impermissible change to the terms of the contract between the co-op and the resident, according to Matthew J. Zangwill, a Manhattan real estate lawyer.
A co-op’s proprietary lease is the principal document that sets forth the dos and don’ts of daily living in a co-op, and the house rules are usually part of the proprietary lease. The lease, which is a contract between the co-op and the tenant/shareholder, usually gives the board of directors the power to adopt new house rules without the consent of the shareholders, Mr. Zangwill said. But a new rule would not be enforceable if it changed the terms of the contract.
One of our staff members physically attacked a resident. There was no provocation or justifiable reason for it. He pushed the person and grabbed them He has a very aggressive streak having yelled at and blocked residents in the past. Should he be fired? He is not in the union.
> Join the conversation Comments (3)Your article about what employers must due by Oct 1 should have listed this information - "Most small employers, those with 50 or fewer full time employees, are not required to offer health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Even businesses with more than 50 full time employees have gotten a 1 year reprieve from penalties if they don’t offer insurance. But all companies, regardless of size, are required to notify their employees about the Affordable Care Act marketplaces."
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Our coop needs to raise 500,000 dollars over the next year for capital needs, and is considering doing it through an assessment, which would equate to approximately $400 per month for the average shareholder. Pros and cons?
It is bad enough the the woman above flooded me three times. This time my storage area in the basement was flooded from a toilet malfunction in the apt above. Although the management is not responsible for damage to property contained in the storage area, shouldn't the person who flooded it be responsible.
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I own an apt in a co-op in queens. I have a tenant who sublets it from me. she recently got bed bugs. she contacted mgt, and mgt said it is her responsibility. she paid for exterminating. after a few weeks, she felt they had returned. She called 311, they contacted the management.
I didn't know much about this but looked it up online and discovered the landlord is responsible to address this. I also gather that the landlord in this case is not me, but them, the co-op corporation. I then asked management to reimburse my tenant and I offered to reimburse her too after I discovered what I think is the law on this.
at first, mgt said it is not on them, but on my tenant. they blamed her.
now the management is inspecting surrounding apts., doing what I think they should have done immediately. I think they may have researched this and are aware that they are at fault, especially after 311 and HPD contacted them. that's a telltale sign of culpability to me; 311 and HPD contacted them and not me.
my questions are:
who is responsible to address her bed bug problem and pay for it; is it me, or the co-op?
and since we paid, are we entitled to get that money back?
Would really appreciate feedback on this financial planning in a co-op (the below is from a 111 unit in upper Manhattan):
"We save up over 12 months and pay off the Real Estate Taxes all at one time in July. So in August, we start savings up for the following July’s annual real estate taxes. We got our bank to drop the escrow requirement for the mortgage (NCB) and they allow us to do this internally. There are three benefits: the co-op receives interest each month as we save up; we get the discount on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarters of early paid tax (the 1st quarter is considered paid ‘on-time’ and not eligible for the discount); and we have created a working capital reserve in case of emergency.
There is an additional benefit. This assists in creating a Board culture of saving up ahead of time for expenses and projects (fiscal discipline). For example, we are completing a $500k roof replacement project without assessment or loan as we already had funds on hand.
Finally, we also self-escrow the annual insurance charges. This allows us to pay off the annual worker’s compensation and building insurance policies fully when due to avoid paying the insurance premium finance fees. We used to self-escrow for the annual water/sewer bill (frontage) but since we switched to quarterly billing (meter), we save up for the quarterly bill.
Any status on a story regarding this developer? He seems to also just secured the future development of the Lower East Side on Essex Street. How he got the contract and what exactly was the bidding process would be interesting? More importantly how about those current homeowners who have been left with construction defects due to NO oversight by HPD or this developer. Would like to hear an update. Thanks
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I'm writing a Habitat feature on the right way and the wrong way to fire a co-op / condo super.
I've been speaking with attorneys, managing agents and a union rep. I need now to speak with one or more board members to get "real world" experiences that will let other board members benefit from your first-hand knowledge.
We won't identify any super by name. If necessary, we won't identify your building. Your experiences and knowledge can help other board members tremendously.
Please contact me in the next day or two at flovece@habitatmag.com and I'd be happy to arrange time for a 10- or 15-minute phone call.
With thanks,
Frank Lovece
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It is an issue that needs to be addressed. We have seen our real estate taxes increase significantly year after year.
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