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They keep assessing, raising our maintenance,& now decided to charge us all a flip tax when we sell. Our maintenance is high to begin with. The board has now removed landscapers from our premises and is using super as landscaper. the property is too big for super to do. place looks like a pig sty. tired of paying all this maintenance and all board does is scale down. What are they doing with our monies; they are not returning monies for services not being rendered. We spoke to Dave Mejias & he suggested that we contact government upstate to have laws changed. what are we to do in meantime? help.
"...a house in the idillic mountains of PR where I can raise chickens, potatoes and plaintains and perhaps a cow to milk.." sounds tempting!
Anyway, oil price this morning is at $2.7983 per gallon for #2 oil. Last year during the heating peak, we were paying $2.29. I anticipate a price of above $3.20 PG in the peak of season. As AdC pointed out, someone has to pay for this.
Boards do not like to raise maintenance every time there is a price increase that was not anticipated, but times are changing and I believe larger and more time structures increases are to, and should be anticipated. Temporary fuel assessments and higher inflationary increases are becoming the norm. These reluctant boards are trying to make up for not raising the maintenance as much as they should by cutting corners elsewhere. Depending on the individual personality of your building, this may or may not be a good idea.
TIP:
Have an assessment done of your boiler, heat timer (and settings), riser & return lines, building envelope, insulation, etc. and remedy all areas needed. Through this I have been able to yield a 15 to even a 38% savings in one other building.
~AR
also have nyserda do an energy audit of your building. it is subsidized and they will halep you save $. also write to the board and ask them to have the water bil checked. we just got 20k by doing this.
Who is a good heat consultant to check for the distribution system?
AdC
Interesting finding in our bldg. Our lobby is 30'x40" and not heated. It is of course warmer than outside in the winter, but people comment how cool it gets if they stop to chat with our doorman or linger for any reason. A door off the lobby goes to the back where our trash areas, laundry and bldg system rooms are. We recently emptied all the back rooms and had our exterminator locate and seal all holes, then the whole area was painted. There were a lot of holes and a few major fissures in boiler and oil tank room walls.
The purpose was pest control and long overdue maintenance but we're noticing how much warmer the lobby is. The walls and floors are marble so the lobby is cool even before temps really start dropping but the difference is already very noticeable.
Proof that sealing holes, etc. is a worthwhile effort. Our lobby is pleasantly warmer. As I said, it isn't heated but if it were, I'm sure the work we did would be saving us money on heating it.
What I usually do, is have the oil distributor (Castle, Metro, etc..) perform an energy assessment (Free of charge), then I do the rest. I sometimes use Lane engineering for the physical envelope assessment. I perform the distribution, return and system analysis myself. so there is no company I can recommend (maybe I/we should start one!?)
I realize that does not help many people here, so I will explain a few (10) things that you can do yourself to help. Of course there are many more...
1. Ensure all heat risers and returns are insulated as adequately as possible including exposed risers in apartments that are not being used for heat.
2. Ensure all domestic hot water lines are adequately insulated.
3. Have the super turn OFF the automatic water feeder in the boiler. Place a piece of tape at the current fill line and wait 24 hours. Then see how much water was lost. In this weather, anything more than 1/2 inch is too much and may suggest a problem such as water leaks in the boiler (Leaks outside the system can be ascertained by checking the condensation on the pipes at this time), or your return lines. If you have a heat timer with a return line sensor on this line, your boiler is running extra cycles for nothing.
4. Remedy any deficiencies from #3.
5. Sometimes heat distribution is uneven throughout the building. Some will complain about too much heat, some too little. This can be a different cause in different buildings. Two of the most common are: missing radiators on a riser (usually due to previous construction): there will be uneven amounts of heat in each riser - the remedy - tap valves. Another reason is that the air vent valves on the radiator is the wrong size for the location of the radiator. many supers have a hard time figuring which valve to put where and as a result, use the same one everywhere. I found in 100% of the buildings i looked at, I had to replace and reset all the valves. This is a topic that I can almost write a book on!
6. Always make sure that from spring-fall your boiler is set to "low fire" and readjusted in heating season. Otherwise you are burning 2X the needed fuel during those times.
7. Have the tubes and system cleaned regularly (important)
8. Have the heads of the burner cleaned (the super should do this every month)
9. OK, I cannot legally say to do this, or that I do it... on a marginal weather day, your burner waste sometimes double the fuel than a day with solid cold. It will continue the heat cycles all day to establish a temperature that may only be 1-6 degrees above the out door temperature. "many supers I know will turn the boiler on Summer during these days" I do not even get complaints.
10. Shop your oil, don't be afraid just because you have a long term relationship.. that may just be why your over paying.
~AR
Hi, Fred,
I've done a study of maintenance fees in Manhattan co-ops. If you're in Manhattan, respond here with your neighborhood and your monthly maintenance and the square feet of your apt (very important!), and I'll tell you if your maintenance is higher or lower than your neighbors'.
After all, everyone feels that their maintenance is too high. But as other posters have pointed out, taxes are way up, fuel oil is way up, utilities are up, insurance is up, and inflation is up.
The only thing that isn't up is the cost to ride the Staten Island Ferry. But those boats aren't comfortable for sleeping. Me, I'd go for the farm in Puerto Rico.
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Unfortunately, boards do not do a good job of communicating with shareholders the expenses they have to face. Your example sounds like the people next door to me. My next door co-op neighbor was assessed $2 million dollars more in property value last year. I don't know if they tried to contest it, but they are stuck with an invoice to pay, any reductions from contesting the bill will come later on.
If you heard the recent news: those who use heating oil to warm a building, are expected to pay 20% over last year's prices. In our specific case, This will mean approx. $16K more in an $80K oil budget. Only 6 years back, we were paying from $38 to $45K BIG DIFFERENCE!!!
Shall I keep going?...
At our last annual shareholders' meeting, I sort of provided some VERY revealing numbers for shareholders (people love statistics, as you know) Our site manager and independent auditor thought I was very smart in bringing the numbers along -- as you know you have to know your line!:
From 2001 to 2007 our taxes went up 150%. Unfortunately, I don't have the numbers handy to give you an idea of the magnitude of our increase in just 7 years. The tax invoice is not like the bridge over the Westside communicating Riverdale and Manhattan that you can go some other route and not pay. I used to pay $0.10 in 1972 and now it is over $3.00 (I guess E-Z pass made me forget!).
Where is the money coming from? Obviously, if you don't expect skimping, then you are expected to pay. No two ways about it! As long as it is landscaping that you building is skimping you are fine. What about other essential services such as expensive equipment maintenance?
Finally and my very sincere recommendation: join the board to find what some of your fellow shareholders must put up by way of making ends meet at the larger house.
Alternatively, if my recommendation is not part of your plan and if you cannot afford it anymore, then it is time to think of your personal choices. I have already worked my exit plan, i.e., a camping tent, a winnebago, a house in the idillic mountains of PR where I can raise chickens, potatoes and plaintains and perhaps a cow to milk! No, I'm not being sarcastic; it's the dilemma that we all need to come to grips.
Unfortunately, co-ops do not have subsidies and you and I are the only sole supporters of the system.
Good luck!
AdC
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