My first piece of advice is to speak with your board's attorney. If you take any action on your own you could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

That being said, what I think will happen is that your attorney will write a letter to the developer giving him 30 days to either produce a contract or remove the washers and dryers. If he does neither then the letter will probably say your HOA will remove them at his expense so you can replace them with units owned by the HOA. The letter alone should be enough to get him off his behind. Remember the longer you wait the more he collects and the more you pay for water and electricity.

Most laundry companies post their name somewhere in the laundry room, so users can call for refunds, report non-operating equipment, etc. They usually have contracts that include providing, installation and maintenance of the equipment, collecting the money and paying the commission, and periods can run from a couple of years to 8 or 10 years.
It is probably not cost effective to retrofit the old machines for cards.
New machines are generally high efficiency front loaded washers and dryers that use less electricity, gas, water and soap. They also may take longer to wash and dry, and can be set up to run with card payments. Gas, water and electricity are usually provided and paid for by the building. Various card options are available. The simplest uses $5, $10 or $20 bills in a machine to add value to a laundry card, which is then used in the laundry machines. Other systems accept credit cards directly into the laundry machines, or into the machine used to add value to laundry cards. These options will require at minimum, an internet connection. A number of the laundry companies in the NY area have merged over the last several years, and there is some competition in securing a new contract. You can get some upgrades to the laundry room - painting, new floor, chairs, tv?, some offer internet updates as the washer or dryer load is finished, etc. In my building, we installed water meters on the hot and cold lines to see how much water we're using. I want do the same for the gas and electric, to see what we are spending to have the equipment and how the commission offsets the costs. Do a web search and check out the companies, you should be able to find articles on the HabitatMag.com web site as well - search on 'laundry'. Many companies are represented at the annual Coop Expo sponsored by Habitat in the Spring.

whatever you do ,do not let them put in a credit/debit card only payment for the laundry cards. we had cash payment for the cards, but it was changed to credit/debit only. this opens the residents up to all kinds of ID and credit card theft.
I had to get a prepaid debit card to avoid opening myself up to credit card theft.

Both these comments are very helpful. Thank you!

Both these comments are very helpful. Thank you!

Both these comments are very helpful. Thank you!

https://www.google.com/

<a href="https://www.w3schools.com/">Visit W3Schools.com!</a>

Apropos to Tumbler's comments about ID theft from a credit/debit card-only system, you're at least protected against loss if you use a credit card. Debit cards are sketchy under any circumstances.

The upside to a card-only system is there's no temptation for anyone to jack open the box for all those tempting $10's and $20's.

I've seen new systems that allow the user to refill their laundry card from a smartphone app. I'm not sure how it works, but it eliminates the filling station entirely. Hercules is one of the companies I saw recently offering it.

We are a 12-unit co-op and our laundry facilities have been provided by Automatic Industries (https://www.automaticindustries.com) for almost 40 years at a very reasonable rate. Last year, we got new machines from them and converted to smart cards and are very happy with how the system works. They are a family-run operation and are very quick to deal with any problems that arise.

do you have any written history of this or was it all verbal?

hopefully you have written history to back all up - request meeting with board via certified letter and bring copies of all history with you. ask them to present your written approval to move forward with the cost of $952.66.

You might want to check your proprietary lease; normally, any water-related repairs of building systems are the responsibility of the coop, not the individual shareholder. You may not have to pay any of this expense. Good luck to you.

In my coop, the unit owner is responsible for visible piping except for a steam riser, but including radiators, radiator shut off valves and radiator air vents. In this case, it's not clear where the cracked pipe is, or what it's attached to, or the cause of the cracked pipe. Of course, leases do vary and should be checked just to be clear.

You might want to check your proprietary lease; normally, any water-related repairs of building systems are the responsibility of the coop, not the individual shareholder. You may not have to pay any of this expense. Good luck to you.

My thoughts on AIR B&B are that they are anti-community, opposed to owner occupied units and may compromise security. Unless AIR B&B charges and pays sales and NYC/NYS Hotel taxes (which I doubt), those tax dollars that would have gone to fund local issues like schools do not exist (it would have if the people using AIR B&B would have gotten a hotel room). Remember owner occupied status and the issues getting mortgages in buildings under the owner occupied threshold? Can an owner with significant AIR B&B usage really claim owner occupied status? Also, one of the reasons people buy into a co-op is improved security. These “guests” are let into the building without Board approval and if something happens, will the Building and the Board be held liability?

I think you need to stamp this out for good. Just make the rules for everyone.

Airbnb is illegal in NYS/NYC. When it comes to your residential building, no-one has vetted the visitor as a Board would do on a sublease or roommate scenario, no one is watching out for the shareholders. The renter is often not in Residence so they cannot oversee their guest's behavior either. You have no idea who or what your neighbors have rented to, for how long etc. They are, if this is in a Coop, in breach of the houseguest, sublease & roommate rules of the Proprietary Lease /Bylaws etc. In the event of a bad choice and a situation, the Coop could be liable for the burglary, assault, rape or death/injury of a shareholder by the illegal renter. With no information to track or chase them down. The background check by Airbnb is minimal. It is bad news, high risk, and has no upside for anyone other than the renter who makes some money, which was not part of the purchase agreement when buying shares in the Coop. For serial Airbnb renter, it is now a non-resident shareholder turning their apartment into an SRO mini-hotel, not the same as a Board controlled sublease at all.

Sue - Please check your proprietary lease. In my lease (standard 1980's co-op conversion document) paragraphs #14 and #15 specifically address occupancy and subletting. Paragraph #15 in particular spells out the conditions for subletting, all of which are violated by an Air B&B type of sublet.

There are two areas of NYC laws that touch upon this. You are 10 units, so the first definitely applies to you: The first is the Housing Maintenance Code, Article 13, and it states that "a building of 9 apartments or more" is subject to the requirements.

The second is the Multiple Dwelling Law Article 3/title 83, which states "a dwelling with thirteen or more tenants."

Both articles state either/or... a 24 hour janitor or housekeeper or a janitor can reside in the building or a janitor can reside within 200 feet of the building (or the agent or owner lives in the building).

If you have a responsible party for the Condo that lives in the building (the Board President, or the like) who can be responsible in an emergency, you can most likely satisfy the requirements of the Fair Housing Maintenance Code, which is quoted at the top. I would put that person on the Multiple Dwelling Registration of the building as well.

Hi, thanks for your answer. I have a more specific question: We had no heat one Sunday; it was less than 60 degrees in my apartment's bedroom. I notified the board and was told that the plumber would come by on Monday to start the boiler. Similarly, when the temperature goes into the 60's on the weekend, our apartments are too hot and there is no one available to adjust the heat (we have no thermostats in our units). Can we use the tenets of the Multiple Dwelling Law to insist that someone (the part time plumber or whoever) address heating problems over the weekend rather than having to wait till Monday? Thanks for any guidance. On a related note, I would like to investigate making a recommendation for another managing agent. We pay a low amount for their assistance and receive very little in the way of guidance from them. (I think you may have responded to the latter question before and I would greatly appreciate contacting you offline.) Thank you!

NYC has specific heat requirements from Oct 1 through May 31.
6am-10pm, if colder than 55, inside => 68
10pm-6am, if colder than 40, inside => 55
How old is this condo? I can't imagine any building today without some sort of heat-timer or boiler control along with thermostats. If you have a separate hot water system, maybe the boiler was shut down for the summer and just needed to be turned on, as the board member stated.

The building was constructed in the early part of the 20th century and converted to a condo in the late 80's. And the boiler was not shut down for the summer. It was November 2nd and it was 46 degrees F outside. The plumber was called because a leak had to be repaired before the boiler could be turned (back) on. I contend that the plumber should have been paid overtime to repair the leak over the weekend and get the boiler going, rather than the residents having to wait, in discomfort, for the plumber to come in on Monday.

When was the leak discovered? Is anyone keeping an eye on the boiler on a daily basis? Does the condo have a board treasurer? Is there a budget? Regarding the hiring of a super, even part time, costs $$. If you were to hire a part time super, say, 20 hours a week @ a low $10 per hour, it would cost at least $10,000 for a year, plus benefits (social security taxes, workers comp, as a bare minimum). Divided by 10 owners. Every decision has it's pros and cons.

What kind of governance structure do you have and how are decisions made? Currently, who is responsible in your condominium for making decisions like authorizing overtime payment for emergency repair work?

When I asked about how decisions are made one board member said they're made by a consensus of the owners. But given that the president didn't set an agenda for the last annual meeting, and copies of the finances were not made available to discuss at the annual meeting, and no one has distributed notes yet on the meeting though it took place over 4 months ago, I think that this board has not completely thought through or decided on formal decision making processes.

Elisa,

Feel free to email me directly at mblevine@ebmg.com or 212-502-7048 x.201 if you want to still talk offline about this issue. Happy to assist.

My CPA firm specializes in the audits of cooperative housing corporations and condominium housing associations. We make sure that we stay up-to-date on all audit and disclosure requirements. The financial statements are the responsibility of management (including the Board). The auditor's role is to issue an opinion on the financial statements. This opinion offers assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatements. Our firm assists management in drafting the financial statements to meet all requirements. Please feel free to learn about my firm and to contact me. My firm is Prisand, Mellina, Unterlack & Co., LLP and our website is www.pmucpa.com.

Hi,

My co-op of 111 units got 15 sponsor units in bankruptcy proceeding. This provides a stream of capital funds to the co-op when we professionally renovate and sell the units when they become vacant (we have a strict re-rent policy). As a result, we are over 95% shareowner owned.

If the co-op corporation could obtain the sponsor units, you could do the same (I am thinking outright purchase of their stake). I am not sure how your governing documents are written but financial pressure might be applied on the sponsor by way of maintenance increases and assessments on all units. Let them sell the five units first so you have more voting leverage.

Good luck!

I think that if the board receives complaints about a unit hoarding, then there is a responsibility for the board to check and determine any potential hazardous or safety conditions. We have a clause in our co-ownership agreement that allows the board access to a unit for any work that is being done on the building (and could impact a unit) or for safety reasons.

My coop had 86 units, 30 still in the sponsor hands. We had a record number of sales last year, about 6, and 3 this year so far. I believe JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo are offering mortgages. I don't recall seeing any other banks recently. The banks often keep files on the buildings, if you can locate the phone contacts for these bank's mortgage departments, you can find out what they have for your building, if anything. A 'co-op questionaire' is usually required to be completed from the property as well as last 2-3 years financials and budgets, prospectus and amendments. Maybe a real estate broker involved with coops can advise you where their clients have been able to obtain mortgages in your area. I've never heard of a do not lend list within the banks. However, Fannie Mae has tightened up a lot since the financial fiasco and the mortgages may not be eligible to be resold to Fannie Mae. So the bank would have to hold the mortgage themselves until satisifed.

I bought into a building in the East Village with a sponsorship rate of 46% last year. Chase wouldn't give me a loan for fear of the high sponsorship rate. The mortgage broker went through a lot of research and eventually got me a mortgage through "Community National Bank" in Great, Neck, NY (Long Island). It seems to be a smallish bank. From what the mortgage broker told me you need to go to smaller banks in order to get a loan for a building like that. Also, it kind of sucks for selling your apartment. But maybe tell them about CNB, they did not seem to mind the sponsor and I got a good rate.