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A recent article in HABITAT's June issue said that FANNIE MAE backed lenders won't finance underlying mortgages where sponsors own more than 10% of the units in a building. Our 32 unit co-op in Brooklyn needs to refinance to pay for several capital improvements, including a new boiler, but the sponsor still owns 6 units (only 2 are rent stabilized, 4 others he rents at market rate). Any advice on how we can force sponsor to sell 3 units to get us below 10% and would his listing for sale of 3 apts be in compliance with the FANNIE MAE guidelines
Hi all. If owners are given the appropriate lead time about and owners' meeting, and are asked to attend so they can vote on several issues, are they required to attend the meeting? If they do not RSVP and simply do not show up, is their vote automatically ceded to the President? How does it all work? Thanks.
Our co-op has been in disarray for almost 20 years. I got elected to the Board two years ago and President this year. Since I actually project manage for a living, I used my experience to revamp everything. We now have a website that allows shareholders to submit work orders and easy for the management company and superintendent to track orders so nothing gets lost resulting in increased satisfaction. Our capital improvement projects are moving along well. We renovated our pool and got new furniture and grill at the pool, which has made it a popular social spot in the community. My wife sometimes hates when we go to the pool, because people only want to talk about what a great job I am doing, instead of letting us relax. The older folks call me JFK since I am the youngest President we have ever had at age 31. There is no drama on the board anymore. We fired our old superintendent who once for 11 days did not do work at the co-op and instead did side work off the property with the old president who used the superintendent to make his own contracting company. The new Superintendent by comparison is a dream, who with his talents saves us money since projects we used to contract out he is able to do.
My point is we have so much apathy in the community since things are going great now. We have quarterly open shareholder meetings that used to be packed with 100 people. We now average about 6 per meeting. For our election we did not have a quorum and were short by about 14 units. We don't have to do a re-election, but we plan to on June 21st to do the right thing.
When things are going well, people strangely care less. If things are going well at your place don't be surprised if there is apathy.
This is just a warning to all boards trying to save money. Before I lived in Fishermans Wharf Cooperative of West Babylon, NY the board at the time was having one of our bulkheads on our lake replaced. They saved about $500 at the time writing the contract themselves. The bulkhead collapsed in 2006 6 months after construction. The contractor advised he would pay to fix, but not pay our legal fees. The Board at that time tried to save $500 and write the contract themselves. Well, in NYS the other party in a lawsuit is not responsible for legal fees of the other party unless it is contract and our contract was vague on that point. Its now 5 years later and we are still litigating. The court made a motion on the contract this week and stated they will be responsible for legal fees if we win. Our lawyer thinks they will now settle, but if it was written better, it would have been settled in 2006.
My warning is to always have a lawyer write your contracts for large capital improvement projects.
We recently held our annual meeting to reelect two board members and to vote for an amendment to renew a loan. Most owners didn’t want these board members to be reelected (and were hoping someone else would step up) nor did they want to vote for the amendment (as no first hand bank information was submitted only a memo from management company re bank fees, interest, etc.) so they didn’t show up and the meeting ended without a quorum. Now days after the meeting, management says they were able to persuade some owners to vote and now they have enough votes for the amendment and management also says that since the board members ran unopposed they are automatically reelected. Is this true or should another meeting be held?
I have been trying to get some documents from the Board and managing agent about their attempt to evict me. We went to court and they said they were going to provide me with documents. I have mailed the board and the managing agent certified letters requesting the documents and they have not provided me with the documents. Can I take legal action against the board members?
One of the units for sale in our co-op belongs to a Shareholder/former board member who passed away last year. This individual was on the board for many years (even before I moved in) and used to be such a stickler for everyone following the rules, especially when it came to renovating your apartment. Now that his unit is on the market, we have learned that through the years, he has done a NUMBER of renovations to his apartment -without Board or Management approval - some of which have created functional obsolescence and therefore made it extremely difficult for his daughter to sell.
The unit also violates the stipulation in the Proprietary lease that 80% of the unit must be carpeted. His daughter finally found a buyer whom we have to interview. My question is, in addition to putting down the required carpet, can we require either the buyer or the seller to correct some of the issues with the unit (like modifying the kitchen so that it can once again accomodate a full sized refrigerator; either removing the wall that was erected in the dining room - or requiring them to get a certificate of occupancy from the town?)
And if the buyer decides to walk away from the sale, can this man's daughter bring an action against us for causing her to lose the sale of the apartment?
I read in previous post that a change in C of O is not necessary when combining apartments. I live in a condo-op and I have an interest in either the apartment next to me or below me. Do I need board approval, even after their "right of first refusal"? Also, I vaguely recall reading somewhere that an apartment can only have one kitchen. Is this true?
Can anyone recommend the best (easiest to follow?) book in order to re-write a coop's bylaws? My purchase (2 years ago) turned my bldg.from sponsor- to shareholder-majority. The bylaws are basically non-existent... vague, blank, etc. I'm now the secretary of the Board and am interested in fleshing out the bylaws. Any suggestions? Thank you!
The Super in our cop often has his son work on "private "side jobs. The son is not a full time employees but is on the rolls as an occasional replacement worker when others are sick or on holiday.. What are the liability issues if he is injured while in someone's apartment or a sponsor apartment?
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Hi jbm,
First: try just assessing the full amount. This may intice the sponsor to sell to raise cash if they don't already have it.
Second: try NCB.
Good luck!
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