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As a board member elected 5 years ago by shareholders to affect a change of management of our coop, I have come to a conclusion that there is a dearth of professionalism and true responsibility that resides within this industry.
Have some of the more long time board members within this forum found the same, and how is this challenge taken on?
at our annual meeting a shareholder asked the board about a response she received to a complaint letter. It concerned her seeing a approx 6 year old child riding his bike in the indoor garage, which has had a no bikes policy since it was built, or at least 31 years that another shareholder has been here. The garage is very cramped and tight , with poor sight lines, plus grease , antifreeze and other slippery substances. Lots of cars have sharp corners and trim that could easily take an eye out. The shareholder had complained about damage to her car that could have been caused by a bicycle. She saw the child with father learning to ride his bike in the garage and wrote a letter of complaint, as she should. The response she received stated that they were allowing this, and there was no house rule violation, as the board had changed the house rules t to allow the board members son to ride in the garage. The board never notified the shareholders of any change, so this was a secret self dealing change.
I couldn't believe the board and president actually arguing back at the meeting stating they were not going to change it, and keep allowing it. The president thinks he is king of the building now. It has gone from very bad to insane.
I, of course went ballistic hearing the board arguing back, and knowing the liability risk they had put the building under. Including loss of insurance, which = loss of mortgage
To top it off the treasure said that we could keep this change among ourselves and not tell the insurance company, which i would call insurance fraud.
To add even more to it, i had a go-pro camera on a chest strap mount, due to the presidents conduct towards me in previous meetings. He told his non shareholder son, who should not have been there, to stand in front of me and interfere with the meeting. I asked him if he was a shareholder and since he replied in the negative, i told him that he could not interfere with the meeting and shouldn't be at the meeting. The managing agent said he could be there,
it got more interesting, with the police and all, but this is enough. I did stand my ground with the police too, i refused to leave when they told me to Stating this was my building, my annual meeting, and i was a shareholder,this was my shared property. plus there were stickers all over the lobby stating you would be videotaped. , they backed off. This was a set up by the pres, when he told me i could tape and i said i would. Go-pro with the open sides pick up great audio, even whispered.
i still have to make sure that they have returned the rules to normal, or make the board and managing company solely responsible, without the coops insurance. i guess i have to write the AG, not that they ever do anything, but this is serious, and the pres with his controlling personality, would keep the secret change in effect for spite and to show power.
I call it a breach of fiduciary duty to the shareholders
I purchased a 1 bedroom in a coop 6 years ago.My lawyer did not inform me of the fact that the original owner took off with the money in the 80's and the coop went chapter 11. We have approx 350 apartments in 4 buildings of which there are ONLY 80 owner occupied apartments,the rest are owned mainly by the sponsor and others for investment. There are 2 MEMBERS on the board from the MANAGEMENT company,they have promised to sell up to at least 10 apartments a year,of which doesn't happen. When someone moves out they rent. Case in point an older women renter passed away a couple of years ago who lived above me,there have already rented the apt. twice and not sold. We have one of the most expensive real-estate lawyers in Manhattan and without a good reserve fund.
Whenever I have gone to board meetings and suggest ways of getting money into the coop i.e. a flip tax,or charging investors to pay a monthly fee for renting he always shoots me down saying we will never get everyone to vote. I Also have a board who makes decisions,never sending out any information to the owners of what their intentions are. I came home last weekend only to find a letter from the management company that we are being accessed for 1year to convert our heating system from oil to gas,which will cost $345,000 with no explanation of how they came to that price,but that I now have to pay approx.
$100 a month for the next year in addition to my maintenance.
I tried as well to refinance last year and was turned down not because of my 823 credit score,but because we don't have enough owner occupied apartments.
I am new to all of this and want to know if this is unusual or a normal occurrence in coops. Is the lawyer and management on the board working for me or each other ,why do we retain such an expensive lawyer,why do they not put anything on the market? Any answers would be helpful.
The Board is faced with a Shareholder who has been posting notes in the lobby about the Board and what he calls mis-management of the Managing Agent. Although the Board Members do no get paid for the time and services they provide, he is incenuating there is some underhanedness going on . This is a HDFC where no one gets paid other than the managing agent for his services. He is spreading vicious lies and there are a number of new Shareholders who don't really know us or the number of things done through out the years. He was on the Board however voted off because of his bad attitude and racial remarks. What can we do?
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We have unused basement space - under lock and key. it used to be an apartment many years ago.
We would like to convert it to a playroom. The sponsor claims ownership is may be selling it. The offering plans says the sponsor only has claim to one apt in the basement. He has already done that that by leasing a second basement apt to the coop for a bike room. CAN THE COOP LAY CLAIM TO THE LOCKED APT?
The offering plan states, " the sponsor is expressely reserving to itself or designee, the right to alter or rehab said basement apartment as well as the right to create one or more basement apts..." and, " the sponsor may alter such wtihtout permission from the coop plus , once done, he may be present a letter from a brokerage firm stating how many shares are to be issued for said apt. " The offering plan then goes on to say there are unissued shares of the corp. which will then be issued to this space.
A 2004 article in the HabitatMag archives called "Workman's Comp: Slip Sliding Away" says "Sole proprietors and businesses with no employees, however, are not required to have workers' comp. If a shareholder is hiring an independent contractor, that contractor does not need to show that he is covered by workers' comp, but he still needs to have liability insurance?
Is a super who is doing work for a shareholder on his own time still covered by the building's liability insurance or, since it's his own time, would the super be considered an independent contractor who needs his own liability insurance?
We need guidance. How do other buildings handle this? Looking for best practices.
Has anyone considered filing a lawsuit against Verizon Fios for not completing the installation of Fios throughout NYC? I think one could make an argument on two points: discrimination; and property values.
> Join the conversation Comments (3)In our co-op building we have a shareholder on an upper floor whose large window air conditioner unit is dripping onto the patio of a ground floor shareholder, causing them to be unable to use part of their patio. Who is responsible for mitigating the situation to prevent the air conditioner from dripping onto the patio? Is it the upper floor shareholder or the co-op's responsibility?
> Join the conversation Comments (2)
Remember to pay your real estate taxes in full by July 1st for the 1% tax discount !
Our coops basement where the laundry room is toxic and smells like a sewer thru a drain pipe. Does anyone have any suggestions how to handle this? I"m going to call DEP but my super, managing agent and board are not responsive to the situation. I volunteered to take on this issue.
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I've been on the board in my builiding for over 15 years. We're on our 4th mgmt co, not counting a merger. After about 20 agents, 3 or 4 were worth the money. The rest had trouble writing a decent letter, doing a weekly walk through of the building, staying on top of the required inspections, filings, etc. We're going through a second bout of late elevator inspections with hefty fines. Typical follow up of issues presented during a board meeting occurs 2 or 3 days before the next meeting, resulting in a continued list of unresolved items. I spend several hours a week myself talking to contractors, reviewing tasks with building staff, checking for new finance dept charges, violations, water meter charges, etc. to try to avoid late fees, etc. when the bills get lost.
Insurance proposals came in 4 days before current policy expired. All you can do is keep a checklist of things that they need to do and follow up to make sure that they are done timely. Know who the back office staff is that handles your building, deal with them directly if you can, copy in your manager on emails, scan/copy/date everything you send to them.
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