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Guests and PrivacyJul 02, 2011


I have frequent guests--friends, family, staying with me in my co-op. An out of control new owner keeps sending me harassing e-mails claiming my guests do things while staying with me that I know are not true. Recently he confronted my guests who were leaving asking them their name, how they know me, where their family leaves, and saying that them staying with me is illegal. Is this an invasion of privacy or illegal? How would you handle this? Thanks.

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Re: Guests and Privacy - VP11104 Jul 02, 2011


This is a case of harassment.
You should contact your board a report this.

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Guests and Privacy - MB Jul 02, 2011


Thanks VP, but he is on the board as am I!

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Re: Guests and Privacy - VP11104 Jul 03, 2011


So it should be easier for you to communicate with him.

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Guests - North Riverdale Jul 03, 2011


I agree that it's an invasion of privacy. Even though you're both drectors, I'd report it in writing to the Board to have it formally a protest that this person is harassing you and your guests. Unfortunately, some people think everything is their business when it isn't, or just get some kind of perverse pleasure out of fluffing up their own feathers and putting others on the defensive. Stick to your rights, and I suggest you tell your guests not to answer this person. Good luck with this!

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Guests and Privacy - MB Jul 03, 2011


Thanks, VP. This director also told my guests that I was doing something "illegal" by them staying with me. Do you think I should have my personal atty send a letter to the board or to this person personally? He also was abusive to my delivery service a couple of weeks prior, telling them to "get out of my way" and demanded to know what was in the box when they were delivering a piece of furniture to me in accordance to house rules.

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Guests & Privacy - My two cents Jul 04, 2011


All must realize, we are all responsible for our guests, as long as the Shareholder is living on the Premises. Please be aware there are guests that do cause problems or might not be of a particular eliment. Who then is responsible? The Shareholder? Just because you have guests they too should be on their best behavior and of course the Shareholder will stick up for them, what does one do then? They should not impose on legal Residents. Living in a co-op is co-operative living which affects all of us and we all want to protect ourselves. Some might call it harassment and some might call it looking out for their interest. Who's right and who's right and who's wrong? Not all guests are perfect and if the Shareholder doesn't control issues that could and might occur. So all of these opinions, which is what they are, do not take into account guests that become problems. What would any of you do in that case?



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Guests and Privacy - MB Jul 04, 2011


I understand your point but there is a line one crosses when overstepping one's bounds and asking personal questions, defaming shareholders to their guests, and the same to the shareholders about their guests, without any misbehavior on guest or shareholder's parts. We have had everything here: shareholders who are bad, bad roommates, an occasional bad guest whose worst sin might be slamming a door. This person is acting without any provocation, while he himself has a stream of dog sitters living in his apartment while he is absent, and other shareholders not only bring in dog sitters, but allow these sitter/friends to bring other dogs into the building. I know they are not supposed to, but they are considerate and well-mannered visitors and make no problems. I am not concerned with that so much as the issue of this newbie, who knows nothing about roommate law, harassment laws, and discrimination that the Board and co-op could be opening themselves up to by one uninformed person targeting me and my guests, some of whom are African-American. No one can predict what can happen or all contingencies; I am asking opinions on how to address this particular situation. Thanks all!

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Guests and Privacy - North Riverdale Jul 04, 2011


To "My 2 Cents" - you're straying from the topic - the shareholder should deal with only the shareholder, not the guests. The same harassing shareholder goes as far as questioning packages being delivered. S/he's out of line. I stand by my first response, to write a letter to the Board & Management to have a paper trail, and let the Board discuss it and hopefully resolve it.

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Guests and Privacy - MB Jul 04, 2011


Thanks North Riverdale - good point and thank you for getting us back on track. I agree with your points and will take that suggested course of action asap. Have a good holiday!

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Guests and Privacy - My two cents Jul 05, 2011


To North Riverdale

You misunderstood, the Shareholder must deal with their guests actions, if not, who should? No one person should question the doorman about packages left, but when it comes to unruly guests and nothing is being done and disturbances are caused what then? What if you have a board and MA that does nothing? What if they are friendly with certain people, how do you go about that? Paper trails are good, if they are not disposed of.

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Guests and Privacy (To MB) - MRM Jul 05, 2011


Plain and simple you are being harrassed. It does not make any difference if it is a board member or the old lady in unit 9J, harrassment is harrassment. I would keep/document all correspondance (you mentioned this person e-mailed you). Be firm, copy all board members and managing agent if necessary. Once your guests are conforming to the house rules you have nothing to fear. If it were me I would have told this so called board president? to go mind is business a long time ago.

MRM

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Guests and Privacy - JB Jul 05, 2011


I'm not sure, from My Two Cents rambling, disjointed syntax and sentence structure, exactly what he or she is saying.

But as another commenter noted, My Two Cents is straying from the topic. We're not talking about unruly guests.

We're talking about an abusive neighbor who is approaching a fellow neighbor's guests and behaving in a completely inappropriate way that appears to constitute harassment.

Complain to the board and to the managing agent in writing. If that doesn't work, get your attorney involved. Quash this petty dictator's harassment immediately; the more that bullies get away with their behavior, the more it escalates.

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Guests and Privacy - MB Jul 05, 2011


Thank you, JB. As I said, my guests are not unruly, they are perfectly lovely, abide by house rules and have been totally upset by this bully interrogating them, as have I. Will let you know how this unfolds.

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Paper trails/Email Power - vp Jul 06, 2011


Emails, sent from Gmail or stored in a file, are are treated the same as a Paper trail....

Once you start sending businesslike Emails, without accusation or emotion ---documenting the problem, the BofD and MangCo will become concerned -- and start to pay attention.

We made major changes in our building, with this method of documentation......

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Correction: Guest/Paper trail - VP Jul 07, 2011


I refered to Gmail because they dont erase your emails... we use it because it keeps the record and emails are easy to locate -- otherwise you need to store your communication in another program... Bottom line is that if you send enough emails (again businesslike) asking questions such as "is this legal and according to the bylaws or prep lease" they will start to pay attention... and want to stop the Email trail...VP

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Guests & Privacy - APayne Jul 06, 2011


What is the owner specifically accusing your guests of doing? (I.e. is he/she accusing them of violating some house rules?) You need to know what their specific allegations are against your guests.

Also, has this person complained to management or the board about your guests or have they simply annointed themselves the 'co-op' police of the building?

As a Board President, there is very little the Board can do unless the other shareholder is formally complaining that you and your guests are violating house/rules and/or the Proprietary Lease. The Board will also probably be reluctant to get involved if it turns out it is just a dispute between shareholders where one is bothered by the fact that you have a lot of company. This is because anything that the board dicusses is typically recorded in your minutes and in this market you don't want a prospective buyer reading that the neighbors can't get along and as a result choose to buy elsewhere.

I would confront the shareholder directly and find out exactly what about your company is bothering them and ask them to refrain from harassing your company and if there is a problem to address it directly with you or you will be forced to file an aggravated harassment complaint against them with your local precinct.

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