despite many of the self-serving posts you see on this site about rampant corruption in co-ops, you should be able to reach out to your management company and your co-op attorney in this type of situation. provide as much proof/back-up as you have.

The board's atty and management agent serve the interest of those who pay them,

This is true. Management and board attorney do not work for shareholders or unit-owners. Neither does the board accountant. God knows we need an ombudsman. The Business Judgment Rule was never intended to shield AMATEUR, UNPAID, NON-PROFESSIONAL boards from doing whatever they like.

With all due respect to everyone here, I think we are trying to make blanket statements that something is all good or all bad. I would venture a guess that the majority of boards are responsible, however, from friends and others, I have certainly heard of situations where there is abuse of power by a board.

There is recourse, the simplest is that if you have a grievance, consult an attorney to determine whether you have a case.

Secondly, the Attorney General's office has a history of stepping in when there is abuse. Check the history of crackdowns by the AG's office on corrupt property managers taking kickbacks. Some property managers ended up in jail.

In terms of professionals around the industry, I know many attorneys who are honest, upfront and professional. We don't always get the answers we want, however, we do get their best legal advice. Unfortunately, the answer is not always what we want it to be. In terms of a blanket accusation of coop accountants, I can tell you that there are definitely cases where accountants have discovered something that looks unusual and, as is their responsibility, they have reported it to the board.

I also know from personal experience that boards don't always make the wisest decisions. Board members are human, but the majority of them are good intentioned, even if they have less experience in the matters that the boards deal with. From personal experience, I know that there are decisions that my board made over the years that I voted for, that with hindsight and learning more about the coop world, I wish I had voted differently. That being said, I can honestly say that, while I have made mistakes, I have no regrets. I have always made the best decision possible and I have always put the buildings interests ahead of my own, sometimes costing me money that I didn't want to spend. There are many board members out there who seek to fulfill their fiduciary duties.

While there are definitely bad apples, don't call the whole coop world evil. It simply isn't.

Lastly, as a shareholder in a coop, you do have recourse. The board is elected by the shareholders to represent their interests. If the shareholders are substantially unhappy, they can vote the board out. If the board or property manager throws a monkey wrench into getting a fair election, that is the time to consult an attorney or contact the AG's office. As long as a majority of shareholders aren't willing to come forward and vote the board out, then they get what they are allowing to happen. Many years ago, my building was unhappy and we threw out 5 of 7 board members at the next election.

I am sure some boards are responsible but the reason we are here is because our board is irresponsible and we are looking for answers. If you are happy great - you don't need this forum. Just live in peace but the rest of us cant/.

Yes we are here because we are not happy and we need change to protect our home. The coop industry without reform is doomed to collapse. It could be recover but only if we get protection for our home under the law. We need coop reforms and accountability for the board and management actions.

So I guess I am a little confused. Can you explain what reasonable reform to the law you would like to see and what it would solve?

And Bruno, I understand you are here for a reason. How exactly is your board irresponsible? Perhaps if we know, someone might be able to offer up a reasonable suggestion for a solution.

daughter of person running for board was appointed election official, parent won, husband runs next, husbands wins, president prev was picked by board, now the husband ran for pres, and his wide still tallying the votes, won. Management compny owner came to qnual meeting with a person they daid was the coopatorney , stated that NYS changed the law on coop voting and the previous 10 plus years of cumulative voting was no longer allowed by law.
There was no such change to coop voting laws,i researched it. Cant vote them out as we might with cumulative voting, or get one person in there to look at the finances, i have written AG, DA for mortgage fraud , they refuse to enforce the laws of the state,including the criminal ones.Zero transparacy , and now more renters than we had at conversion in 1985, but they tell buyers it is 90% owner occupied.I have a list a mile long as i have been studying these sites for over 4 years, however lawyers want $450 plus an hour and their main clients are boards,managing companies. i do not want to deal with a lawyer that works both sides, unless i hear they are good and have satisfied clients, Never met a satisfied shareholder, and their claims were legitimate.
I am going to start a Facebook page, google plus page , tumbler page for coopshareowners that want to trade notes, trading notes is power, we can also check references on all the trade businesses and also prices for like like buildings. There are so many scams out there that you white-collar who think you have a great board and such, , are probably being smoozed over and robbed blind. Unless you have personally gone over the books and checked for all the fraud tricks, you know nothing. the annual audit is a joke.,since nothing is forensically checked, i also hope to crowdsourced this problem of cash cows , plus corruption going back to the fraudulent conversion plan with fake buyers, whick i can prove. I am disabled am need to be moved to an ADA accesiable and comparable rental building, plus have them buy my apartment at the market rate it should be, So we are are talking a large civil suit, i am sure this site has more hits now then it ever had. Check your buildings STAR tax records, theey are public , look for non owneroccupied apartments collecting STAR, turn them in for tax fraud with managing company ,BOD conspiracy, maybe get the FEDS to use the RICO act.

i don't know if the same people write all of these posts or not but -- my building is well run, the board is responsive and responsible and our management company and law firm are honest. same goes for at least 15 other people i know who own co-ops in manhattan. those of you who use these messages for their own self-serving interests without a bit of truth to back up their claims - you are wasting the time of those who really want to get something out of this site. go set up your own site and promote yourselves the honest way rather than wasting our time.

i was one of the lucky shareholders who lived in a co-op with a responsive board, as you are now. but i moved into a building with a naive board easily bamboozled by a corrupt lawyer and managing agent. i am grateful to the people, like rosa, who are activists. i get valuable info from them as well as hope that we all will be able to live with dignity in co-ops.

Because only a few board are good board is why we need laws that protects our family home. ONLY TOGETHER WE CAN DO THIS. In my coop the management company was a company of the sponsor (remember the landlord who converted his building to coop to avoid NYC rent regulations of the 70's). One day, we manage to removed the president for life, and when the new president questioned why some checks were being paid from our coop accounts, the management company cancel our contract immediately (but only for the shareholders, they are still here managing the renting business of the sponsor who still own more than 50% of our coop). We are Americans without home rights. A home is a human right. Yes we need to keep fighting to get our freedom but we can only do it together. NO WE ARE NOT THE SAME PEOPLE. That is what politicians try to tell us "you are an isolated incident". Why don't you take a look of our website COOPABUSE.COM so you can see by yourself. As a matter of fact every time I post something I get a few emails from abused shareholders who join our cause. As a matter of fact we are looking for a lawyer to take our class action case against the estate and maybe attorney general because we are the only American who has no right to protect our home in bankruptcy court, housing court and they failed to act no matter how much we complained. Maybe they will listen to us in court. Any lawyer or anybody who wants to know more about us email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM

Rosa how much $$ do you ask these unsuspecting people for your hate of co ops or condos? You give out your e-mail for what? MONEY. You sound very bitter, I find that sad. I hope one day you find peace. Your really turning good people off who have great advice, who can help. Sad they are leaving this forum. I bet that makes you happy. If you have such a problem with your board, managing agent and lawyer get out, move, leave, sell or how about sublet your apartment. If you want to give some advice make sure it's correct, these people are looking for constructive advice. They want help and understanding. Not something in the 70's.
Instead of calling every person a thief or corrupt without proof Shame on you. Maybe you should run or suggest your board to research and change managing agents and lawyers like fhjd. Also your board hires these people who you as share holders vote for. You Rosa being an Ex Realtor try giving names, or are you afraid of "Slander" Maybe this will help people not to buy into your co op. Please stop calling everyone involved corrupt or a thief if you do have proof go to your attorney general with it. It's free That is the American way. I don't think any Attorney General or lawyer in there right mind will ever take your case. I know I sure wouldn't. Rosa, Did you ever go to the CNYC Conventions? Oh you can't your not a board member. Too bad you may learn something. Peace, Happiness and Joy to All.

Where do you get the impression -- and make an accusation based on it -- that Rosa Nazar is soliciting money? That's quite a loaded accusation. Do you have any evidence, or are you just tarring her?

JB Thanks for your support and NO I do not know who JB neither the other people defending me. I do want to thanks them all. I do not ask for money and the website COOPABUSE.COM does not ask for money either. On the contrary boards need honest people like me who will protect the coop home of a family. I am not the one making people leave; the people attacking me are; it shows their lack of professionalism. They are afraid that people are getting up in arms to defend their coop homes. The solutions is not to attack me but to introduce coop reforms to protect the coop home just like any other home. People are aware of the coops problems and reforming the coop laws would be beneficial for everybody because people would not be afraid to buy a coop as they are today. Unless coop reforms laws are passed the coop business is doomed to collapse.

Aren't you lucky that your board is well run or are you on the board and afraid of being exposed. If your building is so wonderful - you don't need this site - unfortunately this isn't the case for most. Being on a board is a license to steal and it must stop

fhjd, since you seem so happy with those that manage your building, please share the name of the management company that your building uses.

i fear the comments from these serial posters. i do not want to open a good honest company to rogue comments. if you would like to give me your email, i will send you a list.

So you have a list - yet you say "your building" - I suspect you are a management firm looking for business and if people didn't have any truth to back up their claim - why would they bother coming here. In fact the "truth" is that boards and mangement firms make their money from kick backs.

we recently compiled a list of good management companies. our contract is coming up and while we are happy, it's always good to see what pricing looks like in the marketplace. of a list of 25 companies, we came up with 7 strong contenders. we determined who was a contender based upon talking with people who reside in those building plus our experience with a preliminary phone call with them.

you may want to become a bit more open to believing that not everyone is corrupt.

you must be kidding. the co-op attorney and management company are often corrupt and take advantage of a naive, lazy board or equally corrupt board.

I wish I could give you hope to remove him but your situation is not unique. It is happening all over NY. The creation of the coop was a fraud and there is no law to protect us and the little protection is on the hand of the attorney general and he refuse to even listen to us. We need to unite to fight to protect our home. We are looking into class action law suit. We are not second class citezens. Everybody"s home has protection except the coop home. Register in COOPABUSE.COM and email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM. politians had ignore us for too long. It is time we remind them that they are elected to serve the public not the real estate lobbiest. Try reminding them that they have a fugidity duty to the shareholders and said everything in the meeting. Write a letter to every shareholder. Remember we win and can make reforms if we are united.

I support Rosa Nazar's efforts. It is too easy for bad boards to keep on self-dealing by refusing transparency and claiming the Business Judgment Rule protects virtually anything they do. They don't have to show shareholders or unit-owners the minutes, and even if they do, the minutes are white-washed. At my condo, and at many others, no board member names accompany the votes., so we don't know who votes FOR the homeowners and who votes for their own interests. WHAT OTHER ELECTED BODY DOES THAT?

In my coop the management company was a company of the sponsor (remember the landlord who converted his building to coop to avoid NYC rent regulations of the 70's). One day, we manage to removed the president for life, and when the new president questioned why some checks were being paid from our coop accounts, the management company cancel our contract immediately (but only for the shareholders, they are still here managing the renting business of the sponsor who still own more than 50% of our coop). We are Americans without home rights. A home is a human right. Yes we need to keep fighting to get our freedom but we can only do it together. NO WE ARE NOT THE SAME PEOPLE. That is what politicians try to tell us "you are an isolated incident". Why don't you take a look of our website COOPABUSE.COM so you can see by yourself. As a matter of fact every time I post something I get a few emails from abused shareholders who join our cause. As a matter of fact we are looking for a lawyer to take our class action case against the estate and maybe attorney general because we are the only American who has no right to protect our home in bankruptcy court, housing court and they failed to act no matter how much we complained. Maybe they will listen to us in court. Any lawyer or anybody who wants to know more about us email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM

You just rant and rant and offer no useful information. I think we have all had enough. We get yout point. Enough is enough.

No, please go on. Until some political traction gets started on this important issue, I would think an activist has a reponsbility to keep getting the message out in approrpriate forums.

Rosa please don't ever stop - you are needed and those who want to stop you are probably self serving board members - ignore them. Also post any public officials you may find in your corner.

Thanks. Yes we can. Now remember that is up too all of us to bring the needed changes to protect our coop homes. Please register at coopabuse.com or email at rosa.nazar@gmail.com. We need to take a stand and make our politicians understand that we are not second class citizens and we, like any other americans, need protection under the law for our home and against the abusers.

MTD you think people are stupid. In my coop the management company was a company of the sponsor (remember the landlord who converted his building to coop to avoid NYC rent regulations of the 70's). One day, we manage to removed the president for life, and when the new president questioned why some checks were being paid from our coop accounts, the management company cancel our contract immediately (but only for the shareholders, they are still here managing the renting business of the sponsor who still own more than 50% of our coop). We are Americans without home rights. A home is a human right. Yes we need to keep fighting to get our freedom but we can only do it together. NO WE ARE NOT THE SAME PEOPLE. That is what politicians try to tell us "you are an isolated incident". Why don't you take a look of our website COOPABUSE.COM so you can see by yourself. As a matter of fact every time I post something I get a few emails from abused shareholders who join our cause. As a matter of fact we are looking for a lawyer to take our class action case against the estate and maybe attorney general because we are the only American who has no right to protect our home in bankruptcy court, housing court and they failed to act no matter how much we complained. Maybe they will listen to us in court. Any lawyer or anybody who wants to know more about us email me at ROSA.NAZAR@GMAIL.COM