Hi, Danny,

I'll take first stab at this. AR and AdC may chime in too.

First, as a moral issue, if you owe the money to your neighbors you should pay it. Didn't you notice that you weren't being charged all those months? I'm hoping you tried to correct the billing error even though it wasn't in your favor. (If tables were turned, and the co-op were charging you twice, I'll bet you'd make some noise -- and you'd want your money back!)

So how is this different from the illegal sublet?

The storage space isn't illegal (right?). You made an agreement to pay for a service, and the co-op wants to you pay for that service. Yes, the bill was delayed, and I hope they'll give you a few months to cough up the remaining $200. But not charging you is an honest mistake.

(As opposed to the illegal sublet, which was a dishonest deception.)

Oh, and if you're a shareholder in the co-op, you're basically taking the position that you should be able to cheat your neighbors and yourself out of the money. If you don't want to pay for a storage cage, you can always clear out to make way for someone who will.

Sorry for the harsh tone, but your co-op is a business, and you're the owner. You should know better!

yes. true what you say. I am mad at managment and the board though for not charging the $5000 worth of back fees for the illegal sublet. it is far more than my back storage. I dont understand why they cannot charge the back fee for the illegal sublet. that tenants did use tow years of approved time prior to the illegal time.

Hi, Danny,

I don't know why they can't charge back fees for the illegal sublet. My guess is that if it was illegal then you can't charge for it. I mean, if it truly was illegal -- violating the law, not just the house rules -- then they could be sued or something, but that's tremendously expensive and is no guarantee of victory.

If the sublet was just a violation of house rules/proprietary lease, then maybe there was a way to collect money. Thing is, the co-op would have to be able to prove it was a sublet (not a "roommate" who was the shareholder's "brother" or some such dodge) and that the person lived there the entire time (instead of "visiting" or "house-sitting"). There's lots of grey areas out there in subletting because shareholders would rather take advantage of their neighbors (and fellow business owners) than agree to follow the terms of the lease they signed.

Let's hope your board will watch more closely for improper sublets in the future. It's not easy to run a building as a volunteer!

Read your Mang contract, more than likely your Mang company is required to keep these records, and collect fees.

If they have not, they are in breach of contract, and you should lobby to have them fired. We just discovered that our Mang company has lost substancial fees, because they have not kept the records and for years have not collected fees... Again, you have Email Power, and if you send your complaints to everyone you know, (the Mang comapny hates the Email Trail) you will get answers.

I say "AMEN" to the Board treasurer's response. Pay up sir/madam. The rest of us will not pay for you.

While I am not an expert on the subject I believe that all concerned parties knew that these were no freebies here. Simply if it was rented someone has to pay for it. In my property if a subtenant uses storage space the owner is liable (what agreement/fee) if any is between owner and sublet once the Coop gets paid its annual rental fee for storage. Finally if someone is trying to find a loophole it appears one does not care too much about the running/upkeep of the property as the money could be used for improvements etc.

Hope I was of some help.

FN

We just discovered that our Mang company does not have a sublet list, nor have they collected any fees --for years. This is a substancial loss of income for the coop.

You do have to pay the fees, but, you should read your Mang contract, and like us discover that they are in Breach of contract -- and start an Emil trail and work to have them replaced.

Doesn't your mgmt. company provide the board with a monthly report showing all incoming and outgoing monies? The board should always go through this report with a fine-tooth comb to make sure that nothing has slipped through the cracks. I sympathize that your mgmt. company has neglected to collect sublet fees for years, but your board needs to share the blame for this -- you are the mgmt. company's boss, after all!