Hi everybody, I have no idea where to turn, so any help or suggestions you can provide would be appreciated.
I am a new board member, but longtime owner of a coop in the Bronx. We have been a co-op since 1986, and the sponsor still owns 55% of the shares and has not sold and apartment in 4 years. Furthermore, they confirmed their apartments are all rented and none are available for sale. The sponsor is also the managing agent, and not a very good one at that.
The old board passed a maintenance increase of 7% - the first maintenance increase in 4 years to cover rising fuel, real-estate and water expenses. The sponsor promptly called a special meeting and removes those residential purchasing shareholders from the board and replaced them with people sympathetic to their concerns – the maintenance increase was rolled back, I was the lone dissenting vote (it was 4:1). When asked how the co-op will cover the deficit, sponsor acknowledged they will reduce costs and services, and use the reserve fund as necessary…

I am not sure what options are available. I was thinking of selling my apartment but learned that several banks (TD, HSBC, and Wells Fargo) will no longer finance in our building to ownership concerns. Several real-estate reps have also advised that the building will never obtain good value with hallways that have ripped wallpaper and a lobby with tiles missing and of course with the sponsor holding 55% of the shares. Of course the management agent/sponsor is not addressing these concerns because they have no intention of selling. It’s been a bad experience, we had a strong board that accomplished some amazing things despite the sponsor (such as new elevators, security cameras, and new water pumps) now the BOD that implemented those improvements have been removed. I’m not sure what to do. Is there anyone to turn to or are we stuck in a situation which will only get worse…

Any feedback is helpful.