prewar building. windowless bathroom with air vent shaft that runs up a few floors until it ends where the apt layouts change. used to be a big metal duct running to a window on the upper-most apt but they removed it (secretly) when renovation work was done a few years ago. we now have no actual air ventiation to the roof. the question is: how can we get the resident sof the apt that did the renovation to replace the vent that is supposed to be there. the coop board will turn a blind eye. should we get a bldgs inspector?
We are a new board of a 90 unit building with not much experience and are facing a situation where a commercial tenants lease will expire in two years.
Some of the board would like to find a new tenant as the current one is not ideal while some of the board might be inclined to renew the lease.
How does this process work? And who are the participants? Would our management company be involved?
Any advice here is helpful.
I hope i can make a messy situation clear. I'm on the board of a building has 5 former sponsor units (rent controlled with tenants) that the owners defaulted on back in the early 90's. The sponsor representitive had 3 buyers lined up over the past year to purchase them. When the board took them off the table, because 1 of the owners passed away, It was revealed that management never did a proper foreclosure of the units, and ALL of the previous owners suddenly resurfaced, and laid claims (through lawyers) on all of the apartments. they all want to pay arrears and get them back after 15+ years. Our lawyers says that we have no real options. Any thoughts appreciated?
I had my kitchen countertop and sink replaced at existing location. Did these things required board approval? Some of the board members are "up in arms" that I did not seek board approval. I live in a coop. I thought anything done behind the walls require board approval and anything visible do not (for example: changing a rusted out drain pipe (no approval req'd) vs rerouting pipe elsewhere in my unit (approval req'd). They want to fine me, but fines are nowhere stated in the proprietary lease nor amendments. Plus, wouldn't implementation required shareholder votes? Thanks.
One of our SHs bought his apt from the sponsor a year ago, so we never saw his sale pkg or financial info. He wants to re-fi his mortgage + get a LOC. All we got is a letter verifying his annual income. We got a credit report and he owes A LOT (I mean, A LOT) on another mortgage, loans etc. It looks like he keeps getting loans to pay down loans and is overextending himself. He's self-employed for 2 yrs. '06 Income was good, almost double of '05, but self-employed people know income can vary widely from yr to yr. The board decided to not approve his re-fi/LOC request.
Three BMs want to tell him why we didn't approve him bec he's "already a SH and entitled to know." The others don't want to give him reasons, as you don't for rejecting a sale or sublet. They say BM's statements will conflict, the SH will misinterpret things, we'll get pulled into disclosing details and too much discussion, etc.
Anyone denied a re-fi for a SH? Should we tell him the reasons for denial or not?
How does a co-op rid itself of a shareholder exhibiting what many many shareholders feel is objectionable conduct and presents a safety amd security issue as well as quality of life issue for its residents?
Do any of you stick to a percentage limit (e.g., 80%) of an apt's market value for which a SH mortgage refinancing amount cannot go above? Is it the same percentage for newer and longer-term SHs?
If so, it is just a standing decision your board made or do you have a formal policy with regard to this percentage?
Lastly, we want to establish a set of formal guidelines for SH refinancing. What are things we should include?
Thanks
wodnering - we are an upper west side cop. can anyone with a cell tower please tell us how much they pay for lease of their roof space? thanks URGENT
My friend Nancy is VP on a coop board on Long Island. She called tonight for advice. I didn't know what to tell her.
Her coop has 40 apts. The sponsor still owns 10. His father and 2 male cousins own apts and were elected to the board last yr. The coop has 5-yr board terms, God only knows why. These 3 sponsor relatives constitute a board majority. They hired a super soon after they were elected: no experience, lazy, bad attitude, won't help residents, does zip in the bldg. They don't do anything about the super and won't OK any upgrades or work beyond emergency repairs for the bldg. Nancy says she thinks they didn't just find him. She thinks they knew him and he's a "plant".
Nancy said the sponsor doesn't let the same people sublet for more than 1 year and they're all very undesirable and irresponsible - almost seems like he gets them on purpose. She also said the 5th BM (Frank) who really cares about the bldg as she does told her the sponsor's father (a BM, and 82!) let it slip to Frank last week that the sponsor wants to run his ownership share into the ground and default on everything bec he has BIG trouble with the IRS and wants to wangle into a position where he can declare bankruptcy.
Nancy said no one likes the sponsor and could care less about him, but he owns 25% of the apts and what he's doing and what his relatives are doing (or rather, not doing) as BMs is affecting the entire coop. It isn't high-end, but it is very nice (40 yrs old) with large apts, community room for meetings, garage, and big, landscaped backyard that's used for parties, BBQs, etc. in a good neighborhood.
OK - any ideas on what Nancy and the other BM Frank can do to prevent the sponsor from turning their coop into the black hole of Calcutta? Nancy and I know each other since grade school muh-muh-muh yrs ago and she's not the type to exaggerate or overreact, so I tend to think she's giving me a pretty fair picture of the situation.
I've dealt with a lot of coop issues in my time, but this is a new one on me.
3 of our BMs say reg trash bins can be any color but the recycling bins must be "recycle blue". 2 BMs say they only need labels showing what to recycle. We called the city 2x. Both times they just said recycling is the law and you must display recycling info. (I hate dealing with city offices.)
Our new svc area colors are tan/dark green/burgundy. Rows of bold blue bins will be an ugly contrast. The 3 BMs will concede if someone tells us we won't break the law by not having blue. Our prop mgr did but they think he's wrong.
This should be the biggest problem a coop has, right? Will someone pls confirm that we won't get 5 to 10 up the river if we don't have blue recycling bins so I can enlighten the 3 BMs? (all newbies, in their first year).
Ugh, thanks.
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A review of the building code is required to find out if the building is today in violation of the code. For bathrooms and kitchens without windows, an exhaust system with mechanical ventilation is usually in order.
The existence of a prior air exhaust system, i.e., metal duct ending up in a window opening, is probably a sign that a code existed then when the buidling went up in the 20s.
Therefore, prior alterations of the apartments show that there was no regard for the code and that the building is in violation.
Obviously, it's up to the board to address the issue with an engineering company and those residents who bought or live in apartments with reconfigured facilities without exhaust.
AdC
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