Is this a written policy? If not, how do you know there is a minimum resale price? Has a Board member (or management person) explicitly told you that there is a minimum resale price? Are YOU a Board member?

If this is true, why are applications allowed to be submitted if the minimum asking price is not being met? That seems like a waste of everyone's time.

We have often had units up for sale for quite some time. That can often be due to factors other than the price, like inferior applicants being submitted to purchase the apartment, which is the fault of the broker.

I can only speak from my own experience, but all apartments are not created equal. Some have been renovated, some have not. Some are in better condition than others.

It seems unreasonable to apply one standard of a minimum price while ignoring other factors that can affect the asking price.

As far as legal recourse, I can only see this taking place if there is absolute proof that a minimum resale price policy has been expressly stated in words or verbally. If it's verbal, that will be much harder to prove.

If you are not a Board member, have you asked the Board why this policy is in effect?

I can only suggest that if you know of other shareholders who have been "victimized" by this policy, you should request permission for all of you to speak at the next monthly Board meting and ask the Board these questions.

You can also band together and bring this topic up at your next Annual Meeting. Perhaps you and other like minded people should run for the Board and change this policy.

Good luck to you.

Marty - I agree with your response to the original post, but I can think of another, more sinister reason why a board would impose a "minimum sales price", written or otherwise. They have an inflated or unrealistic sense of what a typical unit in their building *should* sell for, because they think anything lower affects all future apartment sale prices base on comparables.

Some boards feel that if an apartment sells for significantly below the average comparable price, the effect is to force subsequent sales to start with a lower asking price. The board may have also heard from a family member, friend, or whatever source what their apartments *should* be worth. Say, over a $1 million, so they arbitrarily set that as the floor in the misguided belief that a lower selling price will adversely affect future sales.

So, as you pointed out, it becomes a question of what a board can legally do to set and enforce a minimum sales price. I feel only an attorney can answer this question. It may be that rejecting purchases based solely on final contract price is an actionable form of discrimination against sellers whose apartment is not appraised to meet the minimum. It may be there is some regulation somewhere preventing rejection bases entirely on price. Or it may be that the Business Judgment Rule gives a board wide latitude in deciding what is "best" for the co-op, and the original poster is plain out of luck.

The wording of the original question makes it sound like there is an official or quasi-official policy in place regarding minimum sales price that is based only on dollar amounts, and does not take into account any of the other factors you mentioned. If the board is dug in on this, an attorney may be the only recourse left.

I totally agree with your suggestion that if a shareholder does not like the way the co-op is being run, they should run for the board.

I love how people say if you don't like how the board represents the cooperative run for the board. How can you get people to run or vote when they don't care enough to attend their annual meetings.They send in their proxies to self serving board members or a ruthless property manager who aids them. Shareholders won't even sign a petition to have a special meeting to have their voices heard. Lately it appears that you live in a community that doesn't care you are damned it you do or damned if you don't. It physically is draining to the few who care who want a change. The board and property management have assisted destroying our cooperative by recommending rent out your unit when deciding to sell. When this happens you have more renters than shareholders residing in place. The absentee shareholders chooses to remain the absent and detached shareholder who only collects their rents. It should become mandatory that one year leases be issued. Renewal fees should be implemented each time a lease is reissued. Shareholders should be advised to sell after two years. This should not be a moneymaker for some when shareholders that care suffer. Renters don't care nor do absentee shareholders when they move out of town. The Cooperative and Condo Ombudsmen bill in NYS is sitting around with no traction. Please advertise it and promote it so disgusted shareholders with self serving board members can get help. Make it mandatory board members get training to run a cooperative affectively as a business. Don't let cooperatives fail because not enough information is given to educate prospective buyers.

Unosay, just so I understand correctly, what definitive, affirmative actions have you personally taken to change the seemingly egregious governance of your co-op? To quote Zorg from the movie The Fifth Element, "If you want something done right, do it yourself."

It's hard to offer any new advice if we don't know what you're already tried.

Thanks!
--- Steve

Served on the board, tried petitioning shareholders to be active, and educating shareholders about what we need to do as a whole to no avail. Love my community centrally located to transportation, highways,mall and hospitals. Shareholders as a whole once they purchased their apartments they are left to dry. Some boards are legit and some are corrupt. There is no place to turn if legal allows infractions to take place and the Attorney General office states they can't help you. Why should we have to hire a attorney to fight for us when we had one to represent our so call business in the first place. Coop Abuses is rampant and a State overseer should be appointed as we are tenant shareholders in a cooperative ( business) with BCL which doesn't help us if they are not followed. Market rate coops need monitoring as they are winging it most of the time. Please advise.

Unosay,

My Board is honest. My experience has been that many shareholders have no interest in what goes on as long as they are paying a reasonable price and the "other things" don't affect them.

My main concern after reading your reply to Steven is when you say that legal allows infractions to take place and the AG says they can't (or won't) help you.

What type of infractions are you talking about?

If OUR attorney was allowing infractions, he would be in violation of his ethical and legal obligations to the co-op. I think you would have no choice other than to get a new attorney to try and clean up the mess.

Like you, I certainly wouldn't want to hire another attorney, but what other recourse do you have if your current attorney is being negligent, unethical, and/or plain lazy?

I know it sucks because you love your community.

For me, you do what you have to do to fix things, even if it means having to get into the gutter to fight. But, your interests (financial and otherwise) in the co-op may leave you no other choice. After all, who better to fight for you than you?

I wish you the best of luck in a difficult situation.

I completely agree with what Marty wrote above, especially about the co-op's attorney. Even though they represent the board and not the shareholders, they have a legal and ethical obligation to provide accurate and honest representation.

Like Marty, I am curious about what sort of issues the A/G's office said they can't help you with. One of our board members is a retired Assistant Attorney General in the Real Estate Finance Bureau. I'd be happy to bring the issues you are having to him and see what he recommends.

This was just posted by the Council of NYC Cooperatives and Condominiums (CNYC). It may shed some additional light on the topic.

https://cooperator.com/article/can-a-board-decline-an-apartment-sale-over-a-low-price/full#cut