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i have been in this co-op since pre conversion in the early 1980's.
80/20 has always been the ratio of owners occupiers to non owner occupied, including unsold shares.
i noticed the building was going downhill and there were very few people that wanted to get involved, in anything. i also saw that all the shareholder committees ,such as garden, decorating ,garage, no longer existed
i had to argue with the Managing agent and i refused to take no for an answer, or the "he has 20 years experience and he knows the rules not me, etc. i stood my ground and got the shareholder list.
recently another long term shareholder requested the shareholder list and was giving the same bs no by the same MA, she had spoke to me, and stood her ground and got the list.
i see about 50% owner occupied now, and the board president is trying to get another friend of mine , who is trying to sell , to consider renting rather than selling, since his kid is getting married and need an apartment . in the non owner occupied that aren't classified as subleases or unsold shares, the shareholder is the parent , who never moved into the apartment, their child did.
however per out proprietary lease,par 14 states shareholder "and" , not "or", for those that know this issue and the deciding court case.
The board president and managing company, say this is OK, i have noticed that most of the recent sale of co-ops have been to this arrangement. Investors , which are not good for a co-op
They do not pay sublease fee's, however the shareholders that have permission to sublease, have to pay these sublease fee's.
Any thoughts on how i should deal with this? any legal action i can take? all those sublease fees not being paid, and we have been getting hit with assessments back to back.,
The building has gone downhill drastically in the last 10 years. That is when the new board got into play and allowed all this .
i was injured and became disabled 10 years ago, so i had my hands full, i still have my hands full,
But i don't like living in a building where no one cares., which is what we have now, more like a low level rental building. When the building converted we had all kinds of committees,grounds and garden, garage,even a monthly bulletin, and this was before the Internet.
Now we have zero , due to a board president who i consider shady, refuses any transparency, doesn't like questions concerning financial s, and who is constantly self dealing regarding parking spaces, which are golden in this area. Even the board president and wife no longer live here, nor are their address on the shareholder sheet listed as the the co-ops address. His adult kids occupy the apartment.
thanks for any help
op here, always a problem logging in.thanks for the response.
i requested a copy of the shareholders list, was told by the manging agent i was not authorized, i told him i dam well was, he said he had 20 years experience, yada yada, i had the shareholders list within a week. about a year later, another long term shareholder, called and asked for the shareholder list, the manging agent told her he she was not allowed to have it, she fought with him, since i had prepped her and she got it.
this shows the type of characters i am dealing with , every rock i turn over i find bs, self dealing or manipulation. i am very worried i am going to find a lot worse.
i think this past annual meeting 2009 they wanted to pass a unannounced change through. the managing agent put up flyers all over the building about giving your proxys to a baord member if you were unable to attend.
i know that the correct wording is give your proxys to a shareholder. this was the first time in over twenty years, that "boardmember" was used, all manipulation. The annual financial report for the june 2009 annual meeting arrived 3 days after the meeting. For over 20 years we always had the financial report well before the annual meeting. however the year before we had a big discussion over 27,000 zero drop error, that the board president still refuse to state when it was discovered. i have a good suspicion that he never informed the other board members or the treasurer
so i guess in 2009 he didn't the financials discussed.
To the other poster, read your proprietary lease, ch 14 . if it says the shareholder and son, grandparent, thst means the shareholder still has to live there. If it says "or" then they can live there without the shareholder. Most say "and"
out board president states that the grandparent and children can live ther without the shareholder, he makes up his own rules as he goes along. i have too much on my plate , and the few new resident shareholders , seem to be scared to do anything.
i think one tactic may be to inform the shareholders who are legally subletting and paying sublet fees, to give them the info, maybe they will decide why should they pay if 15 other people are not paying. The unsold share people just want lower prices so they wont care.
i did see a payment that i need to check into in the new mortgage we obtained from the bank that the owner of the management company is on the BOD, and the pres of the coop board is an investor. according to the laws , the president of the co-op board should not have voted. i am sure he did vote.
Yonkers – Your coop has a lot of issues. Are you on the board? If so, talk to the coop attorney. If you had 80% resident SHs who weren’t holders of unsold shares/investors, why do you have so many now who sublet and don’t pay sublet fees, and why do some have “permission” to sublet and pay sublet fees?
This is one issue, but any SH who lives or lived in the coop isn't a holder of unsold shares/investor. If they sublet, they must pay sublet fees or any other fees SHs are subject to, and comply with all policies, rules and procedures SHs are subject to.
You can’t resolve all your issues alone. Try to get a few resident SHs to work with you Non-resident SHs may not too supportive, especially regarding paying sublet fees, etc. Your “team” (you and the SHs you get to help you) should look for people to run for the board. It sounds like your board (the president?) is a major problem. Voting the board (or the president) out, or at least getting a board majority that will insist on seeing financials, vote down questionable things, etc. is probably a needed first step. Talk this up before your next annual meeting/election. You said you have the SH list. Have your team compose a well-written, clear, positive letter to all SHs telling them the coop’s financial stability has been deteriorating and it’s time for change to turn things around.
If you have tangible proof of board misdoings it's to your advantage, but don’t say outright the board or president is “shady” or doing anything illegal if you can’t prove it. Talk up the coop’s problems, but don’t just focus on them. If, as you said, you have repeated assessments, etc., your SHs know the coop has problems. Focus on solutions.
Some SHs don’t get involved in the coop because of careers, family, etc. and don’t have the time and energy for it. That’s true in all buildings. But others think trying to change things won’t do any good (because of the board/whatever). Convince them things can be changed to everyone's benefit.
It isn’t easy to win over apathetic SHs, but it can be done. I admire you for wanting to pull your coop out of the hole it seems to be in. I don’t know if my reply is of help, but go for it, and good luck!
To escape from Yonkers - we have practically the same problem in our coop which is an original - We have many relatives, children, parents occupying the apartments and the Owner left years ago - The problem is that a board member who controls the board keeps stating that rentals are illegal per corporate documents but that is not true, and that relatives are not renters - However rentals are allowed when approved by Board so we have the renters but no fees and worse no documents which would protect all the parties and also we are not allowed proxies - Some board members have challenged her but her people do not understand - however if pressed I wonder what the rent stabilization board would say about what is being charged because I believe some of these rentals are paying all the assessments and increases that the shareholders are charged and they are usually 8%+ to a year when we had 25%+ which would be against rent stabilization law, and the others who just rent, what are the Owners charging and also the NYC Dept of Finance who gives us the credits on our RE taxes for abatements to those apartments when the Owner is not in apartment,(afterall it is the apartment and the Owner who have qualified for those -does anyone have ideas as to whether this approach to the board would make a difference
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Read your Bylaws. Ours states that an apartment cannot be sold as an investment, and the owner cannot sublet for two years after the sale.
Check to see what the Bylaws say about changing bylaws. Also, the MangAgent works for YOU. You may want to remind him of this. Also, as an owner, you are allowed by law, to see the records of ownership. The MangAgent is required to make available to you, and you may check in person the stock-certificts. YOU are an OWNER, and have the right to know who you are in business with.
Most of all, start the Eamil trail. Get as many Emails as possible, and communicate with other shareholders. Keep it business-like and non-peraonal. As oppose to statements ask question? IE. Is it legal to.....?
They wont like to put things in writing, but Email is your most powerful tool. VP
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