I suggest that you get a copy of the your Rules & Regulations to see if they can in put charges such as repairs caused by a unit or any legal fees in regards to for example overdue accounts, by-law violations requiring legal advice or assistance etc. We have a clause which states that we can. They may as well.

what do we do?

Fortunately, in most cases this is illegal.
If you have a clauses allowing unfounded charges to be imposed. in your prop lease then that leaves things open to abuse by board members. Bad idea.
Our board habitually abuses it then wastes money in legal fees with shareholders who actually know their rights.

I never said that the clause allowed for "unfounded charges". What the clause allows for is costs that are incurred in the collection of arrears or any (common area) repairs that are caused by damage by either the shareholder or anyone occupying their suite.

If it's a repair to the building that the co-op at large has to pay for and if the co-op does not have sufficient funds in reserve to pay for those repairs, then those costs are past onto the share-holders. Furthermore, if those repairs are in excess of $20,000, the shareholders must vote on that repair.

In the prior talk message from Ned in Toronto; I'm curious, in which governing document does it state, "If repairs to a coop building area is in excess of $20,000, the shareholders must vote on the repair"?

Hello Deborah,
It's in our buildings Rules & Regulations under a section specific to board operations. "Limits of Authority". We recently amended it to allow for the board to make immediate decisions for expenses over $20K if it was an emergency situation that had an immediate or impending risk to health, life, property, infrastructure, safety or the environment. We then defined what an emergency situation constitutes and for example, no heat in multiple units, multiple frozen pipes etc. Shareholders must be informed of the emergency expenditure (>$20K) within 4 business days of the occurrence.
Ned

Ned,

That $20K number is news to me. I've never heard of such a thing. Maybe it depends upon where you live.

Here in NYC, our Board has never had any restrictions like the ones you describe. If something needed repairing, we went ahead and fixed it without limitations. After all, that's the job we were elected to do.

I wonder if that's a Toronto vs. NYC difference?

A. “It is impossible to determine the validity of the fee without knowing the content of the letter and the terms of the co-op’s proprietary lease,” said attorney Michael T. Manzi of the New York law firm of Balber Pickard Maldonado & Van Der Tuin, PC. “Many proprietary leases include a provision that permits the co-op to charge a tenant/shareholder for the co-op’s legal fees if the tenant/shareholder is in default and the co-op brings an action or proceeding for the default. If the co-op’s proprietary lease includes such provision and no other provision pertaining to attorneys’ or other fees, then the co-op may not charge a fee for the letter unless the letter constitutes a notice of a default under the proprietary lease and the co-op brings an action or proceeding against the tenant/shareholder. Some proprietary leases include broader provisions, however, that would permit the board to charge such a fee.


“Even if the fee is valid, it is poor practice to impose the fee on some shareholders but not others and in some cases such practice would remove the board’s action from the purview of the business judgment rule. However, there may be something different in this situation that caused the board to impose the fee. Regardless, the tenant/shareholder should write to the managing agent and request a justification under the terms of the proprietary lease for charging the fee and inquiring as to why the board imposed the fee against her but not others.”

There is a difference between "illegal" and "unfair". Have you checked with an attorney to determine if the charges are really of the illegal variety? If they are, the same attorney should be able to advise you about what courses of action are open to you.

If the existing board has a history of adding unfair charges, the best remedy is to vote to replace the board at the next annual meeting. You eliminate all future charges and can decide to make restitution for previous charges that were not fair or discriminatory.

I am a shareholder whom purchase shares in a cooperative building. When I purchased my shares I wasn't married. I am now facing a divorce, and my ex husband wants to stay living in my apt. Or demands have of the property worth. The shares were never transfer to the married name. Does he have any rights to receive monies if I sell?

I am a shareholder whom purchase shares in a cooperative building. When I purchased my shares I wasn't married. I am now facing a divorce, and my ex husband wants to stay living in my apt. Or demands have of the property worth. The shares were never transfer to the married name. Does he have any rights to receive monies if I sell?

Hello Evangelina,
I agree with Steve; you need to see a lawyer. In the state of New York assets acquired before marriage regardless of how acquired (inheritance, gift etc.) should be immune from distribution. In order to establish an asset as separate property, it must remain under the control of the spouse claiming it. This includes if you sell it and any appreciation. Based on your short description, he is not entitled to it. However, there are "if and or buts" which may apply and why you need to seek legal advice. Here is an informative document (highlight, copy + paste into your search bar) http://www.herjustice.org/assets/pdfs/TheBasicsSeries_English/Getting-a-Divorce_ENGLISH.pdf
All the best to you, Ned

I am a shareholder whom purchase shares in a cooperative building. When I purchased my shares I wasn't married. I am now facing a divorce, and my ex husband wants to stay living in my apt. Or demands have of the property worth. The shares were never transfer to the married name. Does he have any rights to receive monies if I sell?

I am a shareholder whom purchase shares in a cooperative building. When I purchased my shares I wasn't married. I am now facing a divorce, and my ex husband wants to stay living in my apt. Or demands have of the property worth. The shares were never transfer to the married name. Does he have any rights to receive monies if I sell?

I am a shareholder whom purchase shares in a cooperative building. When I purchased my shares I wasn't married. I am now facing a divorce, and my ex husband wants to stay living in my apt. Or demands have of the property worth. The shares were never transfer to the married name. Does he have any rights to receive monies if I sell?

Hi Evangelina - I sincerely hope you've hired (or will hire) an attorney to handle your divorce, and not try to do it by yourself or use some divorce-in-a-box or online means. If you don't have an attorney, you face far more potentially damaging consequences than those that come up in connection with your co-op.

If you don't have an attorney, get one. If you do have an attorney, the questions you are asking here should be directed to your attorney. If you don't have faith in your attorney's ability to answer, hire a new attorney.

I'm sorry if this is sounding very cold and unfeeling. I went through a divorce, with an attorney, and it was still a messy, aggravating affair. I shudder to think where I'd be now if I didn't have an attorney representing me.

Please remember that whenever you ask for legal advice in a public forum like this, the advice you receive will be worth what you pay for it.

My best to you,
--- Steve

What were you threatened for? What was the repair? Where was the repair?

I ask because as a shareholder, you can generally find your rights and responsibilities written out in the proprietary lease. The lease entitles you to live and enjoy the apartment with conditions regarding repairs, upkeep of the apartment, renovations, etc. The lease will explicitly say what you, as the "lessee" are expected to maintain and fix in your own apartment. In some cases, the co-op may fix an item in your apartment, such as a window, and will bill you back for it because in the proprietary lease it is stated as your responsibility. To be sure, I do not know what the repair was or if the window is your responsibility, I am only using this as an example.

As a general rule, you can be held responsible for damages to other shareholder's apartments and to the building. For instance, if your air conditioner is leaking and creating water damage to the brickwork and the walls of the apartment below, you can be charged for those damages. Similarly, if you are responsible for the bathroom toilet and it has a persistent leak, causing damage below, you can be charged for those repairs.

Regarding the "legal fees". Are you sure they are legal fees and not "late charges"? The management company should state clearly that it is a charge for paying late or tell you if it is a legal charge. Also note, if you were placed into legal collection for arrears, you can still be required to pay legal fees even if you do not reach court, for instance, if you work out a payment plan.

Because they are original building components and technically an extension of the rail/wall below them.

For the best price, get 4-5 quotes from contractors that are independent of your managing agent.

From what I've read from the BCL, the board of directors are able to do many things, even if the shareholder's do not agree, but they must be doing it in "Good faith" and in the "Best interest" for the coop.

I am a property manager and i helped my condo board get a loan but it was to fund a capital plan. Condos operate differently from Coops, therefore, my best advice to you is to read the condo bylaws which should outline the board's authority to make such purchase, check whether there are any purchasing limitations and what kind of unit owner approval you may need. Condo by laws may provide the option for the condo board to finance or borrow funds for this purchase. (the word you are looking for is borrow or finance instead of mortgage. Coops have mortgage, condos dont). Then the board should definitely consult with counsel for further interpretation and direction. Hope this helps.

Look at NY RPL 339-jj (Borrowing by Board of Managers) and you Condo's By-Laws.

Hi Angela.
This is a tough scenario. You want to help out a well-meaning family and a capable young man. However, the issue is conflict of interest. Anytime a shareholder or family member of the shareholder is directly hired by the building, you risk COI or the appearance of such. Also, any infractions against him would now be subjected to additional questioning and scrutiny, both by the family and other shareholders (for different reasons). Finally, now there is the potential for this family to have access to "inside information" which they may not use nefariously but shareholders will always wonder about.

My advice is to not even consider the headache. Talk to your lawyer as well because there may also be a legal argument. Something similar came up for us and our lawyer was strongly opposed so we never even considered it.

Finally, I have a friend who lives in a small building where a family has pretty much taken controlling stake of the coop. It is so corrupt and most of it stems from COI since one family got too much power. They own about 1/4-1/3 of the units and the building staff are family members. No one else has power. This is the worst case scenario but small steps can open this up.

Sky is the best

I was at a building yesterday, never heard of Sky Laundry, but the President swore by them. I have no skin in this game, just reporting that until yesterday I had never heard of them and now they have come up twice in a day. They're at 718-639-7070 (as per the sticker on the washers).

We're approaching the end of a second contract with HiRise. Our payments are received monthly, the new machines have been pretty reliable and repaired promptly when necessary. Biggest complaint is that the dryers (energy efficient) take a little longer to dry clothes. Be very wary of some of the biggies, some are known to do excellent jobs in presenting refurbished machines as new. You should include a contract clause requiring machine replacement if a machine breaks down more than x times in a given period, and keep track of the service calls - when you called, what was wrong, which machine, how long it took to fix. Specify maximum response time to repair machines. Also, no automatic contract renewal clause, dryer duct cleaning should be done periodically by the vendor. Habitat has had several articles in the past regarding laundry rooms. Overall, we've been happy with HiRise and will likely renew the contract.

Thanks for all of the helpful tips. JG, FYI, we have an airtight contract with the terms you noted but this large (awful) laundry company seems intent to break every rule until they are caught. Also, our current manager does not keep up with things as much as s/he should so it is hard to enforce contract terms (though we have reiterated time and time again the importance of enforcement). Thanks again and we will update you once we make a change.

Hi, so you have a few issues here. The first is that since this leak originated from the ice-maker, this would fall to the shareholder above for responsibility, most likely, according to the Proprietary Lease.

The second issue that you potentially have is that there may be a cover-up on the issue or the leak source. What I would recommend that you do is place your position in writing to the Board of Directors and include as much proof as you can, including pictures and your account of the leak. Once the Board receives that they should investigate the issue and report back their findings.

Different buildings have different policies with regards to working in apartments by the building staff. This is not a plumbing job that would normally require a master plumber, so it's very likely that your building will allow it. If they don't allow work in the apartment, this could be an issue with the board and if the superintendent doesn't carry the proper insurance, it's possible that there can be liability issues when there are damages as a result.

These are all tricky topics, but you really need to dial in to the Board and see what their thought process is on the super's work, subsequent damages that you sustained and the lack of transparency on the cause. The last item that you should speak with them about is proof of a proper repair so it doesn't happen again.

They are comfy. The Super kisses up to them. They turn a blind eye. They are quick to call shareholders who speak the truth trouble makers. No matter how clear the writing on the wall is.
The situation is very difficult They have no idea about the many illegal and unsafe "side jobs" that occur.

Check your agreement with Time Warner first. Did you give them an exclusive right to market internet/TV services within your building? If not, you can ADD Verizon Fios rather than replacing Time Warner. We have both in our building. Verizon will take a week or two to prewire the hallways and install connection boxes in the basement and each hallway. They will also install equipment in the basement and run fiber into the building. They will need to run a piece of fiber cable into each subscribers apartment, install a battery backup and a server (ENT unit?). They will usually try to use the existing coax from Time Warner to feed the tv's and internet router, as well as use existing phone wiring to connect phones, if you opt for phone service. If you opt for higher speed internet (100+mbps) you will probably need to have them install network cabling (cat5/5e), if it doesn't already exist.
Both companies have discounts for package deals and a mix of tv channel options and premium (mostly movie or sports) channels. Most discounts are for 1 or 2 years.
I switched to FiOS a few years ago and noticed my internet connections were consistently faster in the evenings while Time Warner's connection regularly had slowed considerably in the evenings and weekends. I don't know if they have improved that recently or not. If you also use Verizon for cell service, they now double your cell phone data at no charge.
FiOS is not available in all areas, they need to run cables in the streets or on poles to the property, and they are still doing that build-out.

We did not ditch one for another, we offered FIOS in addition to TWC in our building. Some residents stayed with TWC while others made the switch. FIOS installed all new cables, and they did that in a very non-invasive way, without significant dirt or noise. The wait time from when the building signed the contract and Verizon actually installed was long, but that could just be that they installed several buildings on the same block at the same time. We always recommend buildings to install additional amenities, including FIOS, as it increases property values.

We have both in my building, some stayed with TWC as I did, some switched. Never had a problem with TWC so I stayed and they have gotten much better.

Is the toilet that leaked an original fixture that was in place at the time the building became a co-op? Or, did a shareholder replace the original toilet with their own at some point?

The toilet is not original to the unit, the fixture was installed during a remodel by the current shareholder.
I will need to check with the super to confirm if the leak was coming from the toilet itself or plumbing attached to it.
thank you everyone for your thoughts

You need to check the proprietary lease. Generally, the unit owner is responsible for the fixtures - toilets, sinks, faucets, radiators and valves, bathtubs. So, the repair/replacement of the toilet and damages below would be on the unit owner, not the corporation.

This might depend on the exact source of the leak. Is it the toilet bend? Then that is entirely coop responsibility and they should plaster and prime the damaged area below.
What else could it be? - an eternal pipe that attaches to the toilet? An external leak would probably have been evident and there may be a component of neglect here. If it is an original building component then, again, it is likely the coops's responsibly to plater and prime below area (not the final coats of paint.)
If the owner of the apt with the leaking toilet neglected to repair or request repair - for an obvious leak , this it would be his/her responsibility to remedy damages (including a finish coat of paint.)
Really this all depends on the exact source of leak and the circumstance. In any case, no need to notify insurance as the costs are low in such repairs. Plastering and painting a smallish area does not cost that much and it is not worth putting in a claim.
It is most likely the coop should be obligate to restore the area as suggested above.

Hello,
We are currently booking a 1 ½ hour, midtown focus group for co-op board members from Queens, paying $200 cash on Thursday 8/4 @ 5:30 pm. Please respond if you qualify and are interested in participating as we have several spots left to fill. Kindly feel free to forward this email to anyone you think may be interested in participating.
Thank you,
Elisa Della Femina
Della Femina, Corbi & Associates
(212) 404-6233
To register for future focus groups go to:
http://www.money4yourthoughts.com/

Is it the buildings toilet or the shareholders toilet and was the leak caused by the toilet or from the buildings plumbing to the unit?

Hi,
We had a situation where a toilet overflowed and damaged the 4th floor through to the basement in 3 apartments (condo units). It cost over $40,000 worth of damage. Our condo insurance paid for all but the deduction (I think it was $5,000) . We were able to get the deduction paid for by the unit owner's insurance whose toilet overflowed. They also were able to repair their unit with their insurance. We had just finished repairing our buildings from Sandy (hurricane) so we were aware of the dangers of mold and insisted on removing wet debris and drying the basement (worst damage) with fans even before the insurance adjuster assessed the damage. We had to engage in quite a bit of "discussion" with the insurer to make sure they covered all these costs as well. Because this all had an essentially happy ending, we now require all unit owners to have condo insurance. We did end up charging the unit owner for a plumber to repair the toilet so this wouldn't happen again (hopefully).
--Janie (Board President)

Hello,
We are currently booking a 1 ½ hour, midtown focus group for co-op board members from Queens paying $200 cash on Thursday 8/4 @ 5;30 pm. Please respond if you qualify and are interested in participating as we have several spots left to fill. Kindly feel free to forward this email to anyone you think may be interested in participating.
Thank you,
Elisa Della Femina
Della Femina, Corbi & Associates
(212) 404-6233
To register for future focus groups go to:
http://www.money4yourthoughts.com/

what is this crap?

There is a roommate law and the primary resident must be in the apartment with the roommate, as for renting a room for money, people do it though it should not be done, but many people claim it's a guest, friend, relative when in reality it's a way for them to make money. It should not be allowed. The roommate law really should be looked into, it is clearly not used correctly. Also, after 30 days the person can claim they live there and it would be difficult to get them out, but most people play with that rule also.

Your posting does not contain correct facts.

Please explain the misinformation? I don't think so.

Of course the roommate law should be allowed. There are very good reasons for it. Please do not respond further . Thank you. You are ill - informed.

DM - Suggest that you re-read the post from Curious. They are saying that the roommate law in context to the subject matter, "Air BNB" should not be allowed and should be modified. Other than disagreeing (and being rude - "it's an idiotic posting") your responses provide no value to any of us readers. Suggest you read the following article on a recent bill that was passed so that YOU are better informed. https://skift.com/2016/07/18/measuring-the-impact-of-new-yorks-new-short-term-rental-law-on-airbnb/

What are the correct facts

Hello,
We are currently booking a 1 ½ hour, midtown focus group for co-op board members from Queens paying $200 cash on Thursday 8/4 @ 5:30 pm. Please respond if you qualify and are interested in participating as we have several spots left to fill. Kindly feel free to forward this email to anyone you think may be interested in participating.
Thank you,
Elisa Della Femina
Della Femina, Corbi & Associates
(212) 404-6233
To register for future focus groups go to:
http://www.money4yourthoughts.com/