SAVE MONEY CO-OP CONDO VIOLATION TRACKING SOFTWARE

"New York is issuing thousands of violations a day to building owners," claims Jack Jaffa, president of the real-estate consultancy Jack Jaffa & Associates, which owns Alert Service. It costs co-op apartment buildings and condo associations "thousands upon thousands of dollars, because many don't take care of them."

"It's getting so convoluted with so many different things that I don't think it's possible for one person to actually be on top of it all," says Carl Borenstein, president of Veritas Property Management. "If you don't catch a judgment in time, you might lose the ability to fight it. And the city's looking to make more money, so they're writing more violations."

Another Fine Mess

Indeed, the city is actively enforcing a collection of ever-growing regulations for lead-paint abatement, Local Law 11 repairs and, among other things, elevator, water tank and boiler inspections. This has created a market for such violation-tracking companies as Empower NY, SiteCompli, the aforementioned Alert Service and DOB Alerts, which have all devised software systems that not only track violations but keep co-op and condo boards  informed of the confusing collection of deadlines they have to must meet for inspections, certifications and regulations.

Some say it has all become too much for the management industry, already understaffed and underpaid. As a result, says Jack Wurtzel, CEO of Empower NY (no relation to the New York State energy-saving program EmPower New York), "many managers have been more reactive, not proactive, in keeping their properties in compliance. We decided to take the initiative and help them build a system that would make them catch the bull by the horns."

"The city lets you look up information online," says Ross Goldenberg, a partner at SiteCompli, "but its websites — if the agency in question even has one — are difficult to use, take forever to find what you're looking for, don't inform you of important due dates and are only as good as the last time you looked at them. As soon as you are done retrieving information, it's already out of date."

Automatic Systematic

The various systems out there all do essentially the same thing: keep track of a portfolio of properties, eliminating the need to wade through pages of government websites each time someone needs data. Most of them continuously compile the latest compliance information in one place, including violations, inspections and complaints. Board members, property managers and others can be alerted by e-mail or text message when critical issues occur, such as stop-work orders and work-without-a-permit notices.

Such systems seem to be ideal for overworked building managers. As Jason Griffith, another partner at SiteCompli, puts it: "With our help, the managing agents can focus on fixing problems, not finding them."

Indeed, most of the programs can track data for the agent, spotting larger trends that give the property manager information he or she could use for preventive maintenance.

So, all the managers are jumping on this software, right?

The city agencies' websites are

difficult to use and don't inform

you of important due dates.

Not exactly. Some did get right on the bandwagon. Peter Lehr, director of management at Kaled, for instance, says he was convinced five minutes after SiteCompli's presentation began that this was the system for his firm. "I was very impressed by the whole thing," he says. Maryann Caro-Caputo, president of Tribor Management, was quick to sign up with Empower NY, saying, "It is a tremendous alert system. We get immediate notification of complaints being filed, so we're able to react before the city even sends out a notice."

Adds Ben Kirshenbaum, general counsel at Cooper Square Realty, who was involved in signing the firm up with SiteCompli: "It seemed to give us what we wanted, at a price we negotiated that was reasonable. Technologically, they seemed to be very up to date and provided us with information that we could integrate into our [old, manually administered] system. The initial appeal is that you don't have to rely on the mail — notifications from the city often go to the wrong addresses. We don't have to rely on the vagaries of the post office."

While most of the management executives sing the praises of these systems, observing how efficient the software has made them, some have either opted out (for now) or have limited their involvement. The reason? It's a question of cash. As in, who's going to pay for this new toy?

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