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My wife and I own a coop in Brooklyn. Seven months ago we began having bed bugs. All units near ours were checked, but for months our neighbor across the hall would not let the inspector/exterminator in. After months, the building got entry only to discover "the worst" bed-bug scene the exterminator had ever seen. The apartment was so cluttered, it could be exterminated. After months of negotiation, one extermination has finally happened (now that bed bugs have spread to multiple units and remain in ours), but, the exterminator says, the apartment is so filthy, little progress can be made. The man whose unit this is is the treasurer of the building! The exterminator says all possessions must be thrown out, the unit cleaned and painted, the whole building treated. Everyday we wait, the infestation gets worse. The owner of the unit REFUSES to cooperate. My wife and I believe it is time for a Pullman vote to cancel his shares. However, the board refuses to move forward with this vote. We are now thinking of retaining our own lawyer. We have lived with our belongings in bags for months. We feel constantly anxious at home. We still see bugs in our place, despite 6 treatments. My wife is on the board as well. We feel the board is violating its fiduciary duty by refusing to act quickly. We feel not only our unit, but the building is at risk because of this infestation. What can we do?
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Others may have different opinions, but my advice is to retain your own lawyer asap. The situation you describe, a board officer who is uncooperative and a hoarder, a board that refuses to acknowledge or address the situation, multiple ineffective exterminations, apparent gross violations of the warranty of habitability... this will not have a good ending. Your own lawyer will, at least, help you prepare for what is sure to become a litigious situation.
There are probably less expensive intermediate steps you can take such as lodging complaints with 311, the Board of Health, Dept of Buildings, etc, but something like this needs a coordinated, focused approach that an attorney will provide.
If you can't afford to retain an attorney, try searching Google for suggestions. Keep in mind that at some point you and the board will most likely be adversaries. If this happens, having an attorney who is familiar with your situation will save you a lot more financially and emotionally than the up front costs.
Good luck to you.
I don't understand why the board nor the managing agent won't act on this nor your wife who's on the board can't get anything done. If this was me I'd get in touch with the health dept. I'd call 311 and go to see Brad Lander
City government office in New York City, New York
Address: 456 5th Ave & 3rd Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Phone: (718) 499-1090. Explain your dilemma. They can also advise you.
Document everything and if you can take pictures with dates and show proof. With all this in hand consult a lawyer who can advise you of what to do, also calling 311 and explaining what's going on. Best of Luck
Dear All,
Thank you so much for the comments. We plan to hire our own lawyer this week. We have documented everything--with notes, photos, emails and so on. If anyone has a real estate attorney they would recommend, please comment here. We really appreciate it!
Once they're in a building, it's nearly impossible to get rid of them. They end up in the walls. Everywhere. Good luck.
I had a wonderful real estate attorney who closed on my coop seven years ago. I don't know if he also does this kind of litigation or not: Arnold Spiegel, (212) 687-5225
Email SPIEGELRELAW@GMAIL.COM
You should also check with the NYS AG office.
Leah - I did some research and came across this article:
https://www.habitatmag.com/Publication-Content/Legal-Financial/2014/2014-February/Co-op-Board-Bedbug-Responsibilities.
The article was written by an attorney with familiarity in these matters, so you might want to contact him if you don't already have an attorney you use. I still recommend you hire your own attorney to protect *your* rights and interests as a shareholder, and not because you are a board member.
If push comes to shove (and it sounds like it will) do you think you can gather enough shareholder votes to demand a special meeting of the shareholders to discuss and take action on this issue? The rules for special meetings should be in your bylaws. If you can get the votes, then you can override the board's inactions, get the co-op's attorney involved (he may feel he has a conflict of interest because another board member is involved), and you can contact the co-op's insurance company to see if any of the extermination expenses are covered by your policy.
your board is breaching their fiduciary responsibility by not taking action. we just had a similar (far less major) situation. a shareholder had a roach infestation several years ago. apartment was filthy. building paid for special extermination, told them they had to clean, and that if it happened again, they would have to cover all costs. just happened again and they refused the special extermination. within 4 hours of their refusal, we had an attorney communication sent to them. there's no good reason at all for the way your board is acting. contact an attorney and force their hand.
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Very sorry to hear about this. There's no scarier word in a co-op than bedbug.
I agree with you in that my first thought is that this is a health and safety issue, so the treasurer's apartment and every other apartment needs to be examined and treated if necessary. This needs to be done immediately - regardless of who the shareholders are.
Besides your wife's opinion, why does the rest of the not want to move forward? THAT is very troubling to hear about your Board. Not a good sign.
I wouldn't worry about pulling his shares - that's the least of your problems.
I'm not an attorney, but I would notify the rest of the Board that you will be immediately contacting your co-op's attorney, and tell him/her to do whatever is necessary to get into the apartment ASAP. Ask your attorney if the NYC Board of Health needs to be notified, too. Keep your building manager in this loop. Time is of the essence and you cannot wait a moment longer. Everyone must work together to fix this problem.
This is way past what the treasurer wants or doesn't want. You MUST get into the apartment to do what needs to be done. The Board legally owes that to the other shareholders.
How many other shareholders and apartments are there?
Since the treasurer won't cooperate, I'm guessing that you'll likely need legal justification (attorney) and/or health/safety justification (NYC Board of Health) to make things happen quickly.
I agree that the Board is violating their fiduciary duty, which opens up a whole different can of worms.
When we learned of an infestation about 5-6 years ago, we were fortunate that the shareholder was very cooperative, so he made it easy for us on the Board to quickly nip the problem in the bud.
I wish you a safe and quick resolution to your problem and keep us posted.
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