This is somewhat extreme, but I have heard of similar situations. How many people on your board? When are their terms up? Obviously they are not hearing your suggestions. The only way change will happen is if you and others unseat them. Of the 80 shareholder-occupied apartments I bet you can find a few people to run with you as a slate. If you campaign aggressively (and depending on the # of sponsor board seats) you may then gain a majority on the board. It will be be tricky given the # of 'investor' apartments; you will need to obtain contact information for these absentee shareholders and campaign aggressively for their votes as well.

If you win, even harder work awaits you. Depending on your proprietary lease you can impose strict sublet rules, possibly giving those shareholders who sublet a time frame to end their leases (just don't put this in the campaign literature going out to investor shareholders!). There are several articles in the Habitat archive which can provide guidance, just use the search term 'sublet.'

As a board you can also hire a new management company and a better and less expensive attorney (who can also help with the sponsor issues).

Good luck!

You have a lot of issues here. The chapter 11 info should have been in the building financial statements, board minutes and the annual amendments to the offering plan/prospectus. Ditto for the % of ownership and the investor information.
The board is supposed to be elected by the shareholders at an annual meeting. Is there an annual meeting held each year?
The lack of sales is a frequent issue, we have 64% ownership in my building. The prospectus generally suggests that all units will be sold, but there is usually no timeframe and the NYS attorney general and our corrupt state legislature have continually failed to take any action to apply a reasonable time limit to full coop conversion to individual ownership. Landlords have clout and use their influence. Enough said.
The boiler conversion issue may be the result of a new law regarding pollution. #6 and #4 oils are polluters, and buildings still using them need to switch to gas or #2 oil. Whether the conversion price is good or not, I can't say. Hopefully, the board did due diligence and got a few competing bids, or else the board is not doing their job. Sponsor and investors also have to pay assessments.
Small banks will not do refi's or mortgages since the FannieMae fiasco 5 or 6 years ago. FannieMae will not purchase mortgages where ownership is under 75%. Some of the larger banks are doing mortgages, Chase, Wells Fargo, to name a few.
Rentals benefit the investors/sponsor since the rents generally exceed the maintenance by a good margin. Since the investors/sponsor don't live in the buildings, they don't care who your neighbors are, they are making money on their investment.
Owners have access to the board meeting minutes by law. Request them in writing via certified mail from the management company. If they won't provide you with printed copies, ask if you can read them in their office.
If you are not receiving annual financial statements or annual amendments to the prospectus, if there is no annual meeting, if they won't provide you access to the minutes, report the coop board to the NYS Attorney General.
Get your fellow owners interested in the goings on. The more people looking over the board's shoulders, the more chance of some change.
Run for the board.

If the postings contain facts that are correct or well-founded concerns (not all buildings are managed well ),then it shoud be OK.
Also if you feel you are doing a wonderufl job then what are you afraid of? Why not just post correct facts in the lobby board to correct his facts?

People will often believe what they read, even in anonymous notes, and especially if your nuisance shareholder is pushing people's buttons concerning their money. You should definitely go with Steve Rosenstein's very good advice, with a few additions. Part and parcel of coop life is a certain number of oppositional folks who seem to enjoy the power that comes with manipulating opinion. Board members' work will therefore always involve responding to misinformation and continually communicating with shareholders, with clear factual information, so that they know what is going on. My additional advice addresses the dynamic discussed by Frank Lovece in his recent article on the Habitat website. Namely, people with more time on their hands will often win board elections--in spite of a lack of competence--because they use their time for one-on-one interactions with shareholders. Busy professionals - who often have more of the budgetary and managerial skill needed to run a building - are therefore at a disadvantage. You and other board members need to be strategic about including informal discussions with shareholders. People appreciate the give and take of conversations, in which their questions and concerns can be answered, moreso than the one-way communication of written memos. If you split up the work - and track the people you and other Board members interact with - the board can (re)gain shareholder trust and you will have an easier time managing the building.

Very good points on the importance of establishing bonds with shareholders. Personal communication is much better than memos. Maybe a bit off topic, but I think one mistake those from ‘professional’ backgrounds make is thinking that all it takes is memos to gain shareholder trust. Also, please do not over-emphasize your professional jobs, that will alienate you from those who do not have similar status. In my last building we had a blue collar guy who was treasurer, he was conscientious, good w/ numbers, and he did a very good job. And, I am curious as to whether Pat got anything out of our various comments. Hope that at least some of this helped.

If you can't disprove what he is saying - just keep calling him a racist - that is the stock answer and might stop him.

If you can't disprove what he is saying - just keep calling him a racist - that is the stock answer and might stop him.

I don't think responding to the nuisance shareholder by calling him a racist will solve anything because it usually has the opposite effect and causes escalation (he's getting the reaction he wants).

Instead, try publishing a one or two page newsletter every month or every quarter with the actual reasons why the "mismanaged" decisions were made or the actions were taken. Do not make any reference to the shareholder's accusations, but simply describe the truth in general, informational terms. Toot your own horns! Slip a copy under each apartment door, or send via coop-wide email if you have that set up. You are under no obligation to provide "equal time" for any responses.

Do this enough, and I bet the annoyances will decrease because they won't gain any traction, and nuisance shareholder will start to look like an idiot.

What does Racist have to do with it? If what this person is stating has any truth to it or there is a perception by others that feel the same way, then there is a reason for concern. Validity is important and who can one trust, the MA, the Board? That is the question. Posting a newsletter is just someone else's point of view. There may be truth on both sides. We know board members don't get paid, but there certainly are favors for some, that's a known fact. Disclosure is very important.

Does your coop have some issues? Are any of his concerns valid?

turn the tables on the shareholder and create a taskforce/committee and have the person run. HDFC is not known for efficiency so this could help the cause and get the nay sayer doing some productive work.

I just noticed that the offering plan does not say the sponsor may sell these apartments.
It says he can rehab and alter them. Anyone out there delt wiht this and can you send details?

That sounds like the craziest offering plan. I do Nyo see how it was approved. I have reacd a lot of articles here land Cooperator that state once a plan is approved it ,the # of shares per apartment cannot be changed.
The apartment the shareholders are using for a rec room sounds like shared space, like a hallway or terrace, there are no shares for that.
I thought when the plan is approved 100% of the shares had to be accounted for,there is no changing of shares after the plan is in effect,especially like your saying. I am surprised the sponsor is allowed to lease common space ,used for bicycles.
I am not a pro inanyvfields. However I can smell a scam,fake paperwork,,or the AG office is robo stamping the plans approvals.
"

at the time of converison so the coop can incorporate them in the future. For example, if the coop sells hallway space and has to assign shares. In the case mentioned above, the coop is not yet using the basement space - it is just sitting there. wasted. The sponsor also does not charge to lease the bike room space - there is a monthly storage fee which goes into general funds.

Sounds you you need to speak to an attorney who is familiar with co-op laws and regulations.

The coop (and the board, mang agent, etc) open themselves up to full liability when allowing staff to do "side Jobs." For one, if he/she is not independently insured - with all papers signed as with outside contractors - and he/she damages anyone's property or slices off his hand - the coop is liable. Period. He is an employee. Allowing "side jobs" has the makings of a very big and costly mess. It also opens up the employees to working on building time and using bldg supplies. Which they do all the time without telling you. Side jobs = bad idea.

Does anyone know if this is currently true? It is from the web. Thanks

"... all building owners and managers with employees are required under New York State law to carry workers compensation coverage, which covers on-the-job injuries and occupational illnesses. Many boards may not be aware that participating in programs such as work safety groups—independent groups put together by insurance companies in pooled coverage—could result in a 30 percent or higher dividend and lower premiums on their workers compensation coverage. The savings is based on claims experience of the individual properties of safety group members. According to Kaminoff, at the end of the year, a board could receive a check worth 30 percent of what they paid into workers' compensation for them to deposit right back into their reserve account.

As an example, Carlson cites the FNYHC's program specifically for building owners and managers. By purchasing through the Federation's Safety Group, members were able to save approximately 60 percent on their workers compensation insurance premiums. Their coverage is through the Durnan Workers' Compensation Safety Group, which handles more than 5,000 New York properties.

I understand your frustrations, but you probably would not prevail (remember that I am not a lawyer). As I am sure you realize, Verizon must work closely with the DOT and a myriad of other City agencies for permits, scheduling, environmental, right-of-way easements, and all the other documentation and paperwork that goes into any project that touches on public works. Any one of those agencies could be the bottleneck. Higher priority projects like recovering existing service after a storm like Sandy would also hamper build-out. Finally, I am sure Verizon has market and business justification data up the wazoo as to how they prioritize and execute their build-outs.

Verizon knows it cannot derive income from locations where it has no presence. I'd bet they want to lay fiber in your area as much as you want them to, and there are just mitigating circumstances.

You would have to check your Verizon contract, but I would wager that there is no timeline as to when the install would be completed. Verizon is still working in lower Manhattan where the entire copper wired network was wiped out from Sandy. We had signed up 18 months ago, they just came in 3 weeks ago to begin pulling fiber in from the street and running the piping for the main risers in the building.

Thank you both for your comments. I am not sure what I am planning. I am tired of the "wow is Verizon" stories. I work in lower Manhattan and I see firsthand the damage Sandy wrought. However, when planning for risk, don’t utilities take storm damage into consideration? I know that banks and financial institutions do.

The question comes down to why should my shareholders suffer for the delays? Shouldn’t Verizon’s shareholders suffer for them?

Verizon’s agreement with the City of New York is that they are to be fully installed by 6/30/2014 (found here http://www.nyc.gov/html/doitt/downloads/pdf/verizon_nyc_franchise_agreement_approved_by_fcrc.pdf).

There is no way that they are going to meet that deadline leaving “two cities” syndrome: with Verizon Broadband and without.

CNYC and HabitatMag – where are you? ;)

Steve - In the sense of trying to convince a judge and jury, what suffering are your shareholders enduring? I assume they have basic POTS telephone service (an essential service), high speed internet either via DSL over the phone lines or TWC's Roadrunner (an almost-essential service), and digital TV via TimeWarner Cable (a discretionary service). How are your shareholders "not whole", especially since they've never had FiOS to begin with?

There is a necessary trade-off between levels and speed of service restoration after a disaster, and the cost of meeting those commitments. Verizon probably operates under Public Service Commission and other requirements to be able to return to a certain level of service after different levels of outage severity. The destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy by all accounts exceeded even the most extreme predictions. Sure Verizon could have reinforced and waterproofed every switch and cable in every equipment vault to withstand the levels of water which covered lower Manhattan, but I doubt you or your company would want to pay the monthly phone bill tariff that covered the cost of providing this level of immediate recoverability.

I hope you get your FiOS sooner than later, but sometimes unforeseen or unavoidable situations come up which cause plans and schedules to change.

Managing agent should address this to the shareholder of dripping ac. I would write the board and managing agent with a photo addressing the situation. Of course, knocking on the door of the neighbor and nicely addressing this would be a good idea.

attach a thick string to the point where the water is dripping form so that the water drips onto it and down it. - water will flow along the cord. You should have a long cord that goes beyond the edge of the patio thus controlling the flow of the drip.

I am all with the cord/wick approach. also make sure all the debris is cleared from the channel /gutter the water flows to the grain hole. Bugs and yellow jackets like to make their nest in the outreach.
A word of caution, if you remove an AC from your window . If you leave it by the door to return it the next day,you may find 25 to 100 yellow jackets on your. Window with the most sun.

My opinion would be that the responsibility for fixing the problem lies with the owner of the A/C and not the co-op, because the problem originates with something that resides "inside" the shareholder's unit. If an amicable resolution cannot be found, the board should have the authority to compel the A/C owner to fix the problem or the board can make the fix and bill it back to the owner (check your proprietary lease for exact terms). A quick search on Google shows a lot of tubes, pans, and suggestions for ways to easily and inexpensively fix this.

My 111 unit co-op is in upper Manhattan. We save up over 12 months and pay off the Real Estate Taxes all at one time in July. 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 as on-time™ and not eligible for the discount); and we have created a working capital reserve in case of emergency. We estimate that we either save or earn about $4,100 per year.

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.”

Hi,

A lot of drains have the "S" trap that when water evaporates, allows vapors to seep up. An old restraint trick is to pour a gallon or more of water down the drain to re-fill the “S” trap with water. Add a little bleach with that to help disinfect the drain (like a ½ cup to a gallon).

Give this a try and see if it works.

Also suggested by an engineer is white vinegar. I'll spend the $2 bucks on a gallon for the building.

We would like to do the same by renovating previous space in the courtyard however we don't have the funds to do so. Did you get any special assistance with funding?

I'd afraid I didn't run across anything like, for example, NYSERDA energy-efficiency rebates/grants. The cost of installing a playground appears to start at about $25K at bare minimum. But they last 20 years or more so the cost is spread out, and as one board president told me, amenities like this raise the value of all apartments, not just those with children.

The piece has been written, and is set to appear in the July/August issue of Habitat!

Most people like weekends off. If your super and/or maintenance staff are covered by a union contract, first review that document to see if there are any restrictions or conditions regarding days worked amd time (days) off.
We have a porter and a super, for many years one of them worked Tues - Sat and the other worked Sun - Thurs.
Whether the super should be off all weekends depends on the abilities of your maintenance staff. Are they cleaning/trash-handling staff only, or are they capable of making repairs and snaking drains? It's hard to do repairs Mon - Fri 8-5 when most people are out working, unless you have access/keys to their apartments.

JG - thank you for responding. We are a non-union bldg in NJ. And you make some great points. I wanted to take a survey to see what others were doing. This is very helpful.