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I do hear your pain. But, as a board president that has had to deal with this issue, I have to say that the delay could be a result of several challenges that do take time to mull over and resolve. It could very likely be a financial issue and a question as to whether to fix one roof versus an entire complex's roof; it could be that you are not the only one with the same issue and the board is figuring out whether, as above, to do this unit-by-unit or as a group project (several units at a time)...and whether this sort of issue fits within a larger capital project.
I think getting a lawyer involved makes things harder to deal with. Have you also asked about the possibility of laying out the funds for repair and then being reimbursed via some sort of payment plan, perhaps through credits to your common charges?
I say all of this because we have had to deal with these issues at our complex, and to the individual owner, it seems like we are dragging our feet. But from a board perspective, we are thinking about efficiency, finances, and all that comes with these ugly problems (especially when a result of poor construction.)
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Five years is still five years, with little or no communication, resolution, plan or remedial action. As a Board President I can tell you that it doesn't take anywhere near that long - (assuming the worst scenario - a very complex and expensive engineering/architectural issue which would take us (3-4 Board + good management Co.) 3 months for a report and 1-3 months for a final plan of action given reasonable scale of issues. It could be 9 months if larger and 1.5 years if very, very large -maybe; remember that the larger the scale of issue the larger the team you apply in managing and coordinating the engineering, facilities committee proposal review and report, financial solutions (paid out of reserves, refi, line of credit, phased assessment, finite term maintenance surcharge etc.) and communicating it to your shareholders); to solicit, select, and hire a consulting Engineer/Firm to analyze and issue a report, establish choices and plan(s) of action based on the Coop's finances, and put a capital project, funded one way or another into play, or at the very least find a temporary remediation to protect the property while moving forward at a slower pace due to complexity, or financial reasons. One of the things that would concern me is the collateral damage: rot, infrastructural damage, and potential mold issues over five years of nothing. While I agree with Michele that there are possibly many complicating issues potentially involved, the biggest issue by far is the lack of decisive planning and action to protect the property and keep a shareholder(s) informed. This is a failure of leadership, a freeze up due to being out of their depth and not making any decisions, a definite failure on the part of the Management Co. to stay on top of critical issues, or maybe they are moving and have failed utterly in their responsibility to keep affected shareholders informed. How many election cycles have come and gone by with no word, no action, no posted solution? May is coming and that is annual meeting season for many coops. A good time to publicly demand some answers. Why not start doing some committee volunteer work or run for the Board, get involved?
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