the landlord of unsold shares has to pay - no?

here is some coops do - they hire a qualified PCO company ( Plus ou have to check all adjascent apartments on all sides above , below, etc with dogs) an then they send the bill to the building sponsor for his or her apartments - for that portion of the bill. they state to the sponsor that his tenants brought the bugs into the building just to cover themselves. this sgenerally saves a coop thousands of dollars

I am surprised there is not actual article covering this specific subject (money).

in short - a coop needs to act as fast as possible to contain any reported cases: if they do this, they will not have large costs due to the fact the bugs can so easily spread and may be also able to bill the resident for remediation. However, a wise coop will encourage people to report a case asap and not threaten to bill them UNLESS it spreads and they have not reported it in which case they could get a huge bill - get my drift.

2) residents need to report any signs of bugs asap and demand the coo. send in reputable experts - then they will be off the hook and the coop is liable if it spreads to any neighboring apartments.

Q: What is a Cooperative’s Responsibility for Eradication of Bedbug Infestation?

A: After practically disappearing since the early 1900’s, bedbugs are staging a comeback in apartments, hotels and homes throughout the United States. However, since 2004, there have only been a few reported cases in New York directly ruling on the issue of bedbugs and none of these cases deal directly with cooperatives.
Responsibility for eradication of bedbug infestation in a cooperative should generally be determined by the provisions of the proprietary lease. The proprietary lease makes a shareholder responsible to keep the interior of the apartment in good repair while the coop is responsible for keeping the building in good repair. Therefore, a shareholder should be responsible for remediating bedbug infestation within his own apartment. There is one exception, namely, the warranty of habitability which is a warranty read into every residential lease, including coop proprietary leases. The warranty of habitability requires that an apartment be fit for human habitation and free of dangerous conditions and may obligate a coop to remediate infestation unless the shareholder’s personal property is demonstrably the source of the infestation. If the infestation is limited to one apartment, chances are that the shareholder brought the bedbugs into the apartment and the warranty of habitability would be inapplicable because the law provides that if the condition at issue is caused by the tenant, the warranty is not breached. However, where multiple apartments are infested and it is difficult to identify the source of the infestation, remediation may become a Board responsibility.
By Albert F. Pennisi of the law firm of Pennisi, Daniels & Norelli, LLP, a law firm that represents Cooperatives and Condominiums located in Rego Park, Queens, New York

CAN SOME OTHER PEOPLE PLEASE RESPONSD!

Unless your proprietary lease is different from most in NYC, you must treat your sponsor the same way you would treat any other shareholder. In the case of pests, the corporation arranges and pays for the cleaning/exterminating, just as it would for any other neighbor.

Why would you decide otherwise?

bedbug treatment is over and above the average monthly extermination a coop might otherwise pay for. it is like mold remediation - something a coop should not pay for. at some point he sponsor must assume reponsibily for the internal mntnce of his own apartments - no?

Yes, perhaps bedbug treatment may be over and above normal extermination services; however the interests of the corporation and ALL the shareholders must be the board's top priority. Do not let finger-pointing get in the way of problem remediation - fix the problem first, then worry about who is going to pay, otherwise you will have a much bigger problem to resolve.

In my previous post I did not mean to suggest that the other writers in Board Talk are not dealing with the problem correctly. I just wanted to stress the importance of not letting the discussion of financial responsibility get in the way of treating the problem. If it is unclear in the governing documents, this may be a situation that would be best handled at a building level because its prompt resolution is in everyone's best interest.

hear, hear!

As a Board Member, your first responsibility is to the health, safety and well-being of the building, property, and residents. Take action first, sort out accountability later.

What are coops doing about bed bug when there is NO SPONSER?

Do they bill the shareholder? Or does the Coop pay?

I've been through this issue this week with one of my buildings (a coop) where bed bugs have seemed to pop up in a few apartments. Dealing with our attorney and with the Board on the decisions going forward, here is the advice that I received based on present law from the attorneys:

Unless you can prove that a bed bug infestation is confined to a singular apartment and that it didn't travel from someone else's apartment the Cooperative is responsible for the treatment and abatement of such an infestation. This is because the Cooperative is held in a landlord/tenant situation with the Shareholders as is provided by the Real Property Law. The only instance that a Cooperative can pass on the cost to the individual Shareholder is if they can prove that that particular Shareholder brought in the bugs and did not obtain it from another apartment.

If the Cooperative waits too long for treatment and it spreads to other apartments, the Board can be opening itself up to litigation as they may be impeding on the warrantee of habitability for the tenants in the building. Personal claims as well as financial rewards may be offered if taken to court.

The bottom line of this is that the Cooperative should take care of the situation first and then figure out which apartments should be responsible for the payment, if any. The fiduciary responsibility of the Cooperative is to protect the Shareholders and all of the apartments as a whole, and by delaying the remedy, they may be causing an explosion in the infestation as well as harm to the Shareholders.

I have asked around and here is how a coop needs to handle this. They send the sponsor a letter claiming the sponsor's tenant brought the bugs into the building themselves and they include the bill for extermination. done. sponsor must pay unless they can prove their tenant did not bring the bugs in.

it is important to remember the any given coop board holds the interests of the COOP and not the sponsor at hand.

RE: "unless they can prove their tenant did not bring the bugs in."

It's impossible to prove a negative. That's, like, first-year law. Asking anyone to prove their tenant did not do something or other is an impossible, and thus, unfair burden that could not hold up in court. If the sponsor wants to fight this, all he or she has to do is demand that the board prove that the tenant brought the bugs in.

dear any-moose,

good point. however it is worth sending the sponsor the bill because most of them are cheap bastards who have raped the coop for years.

Anonymous, you say it's worth billing the sponsor for bedbug extermination since most sponsors are "cheap bastards who have raped the coop for years." If I was ever convicted of a crime, I wouldn't want you on my jury.

Sponsors may not be everyone's favorite people, but you can't take out your dislike of what some of them do by judging one of them guilty of something you can't prove.

If you're just being vindictive, you're not black marking the sponsor by doing what you propose. You're black marking yourself as a board/board member that can't be trusted to be fair, honest and responsible.

Thank you, BP. That needed to be said.

Or perhaps a Board emeber that is not strong enough to stand up to the sponsor in the name of the true best interests of a coop ? If so, Feeling sad for the shareholders in your building..... come on , dont be silly, most of us know the sponsors are cheap looks , for one they sublet at market rate paying no fee to benefit the coop. that is not at all fair, is it?

AND I AM UPSET YOU ACCUSE ME OF BILKING ANYONE? I am merely pointing out they may, in fact. have a legal obligation to pay exterminator costs if their tenants have bedbugs.

funny what sentivitity is brought up by this subject - sponsor talk seems ot be taboo....

The angry tone, rushed misspellings, overuse of capital letters and the McCarthyesque phrase "sponsor symphathizer" is all a bit disturbing.

The law is clear on certain things, and knowingly going contrary to it out of some generalized dislike of all sponsors is not responsible board behavior. This isn't to say many a CEO hasn't many decisions out of such generalizations or personal pique, but such executives are hardly role models, and that sort of thing eventually leads to disgruntled shareholders.

I'm not sure what you mean by a "taboo" subject. Seems we're discussing the subject in detail.

I'm not a sponsor sympathizer. I sympathize with any entity that isn't treated fairly. If a coop claims that a sponsor's tenant is responsible for bugs in the bldg, some proof should be given to back it up - an admission by the tenant, an exterminator's report that a nest of bugs or unsanitary conditions was found in the tenant's apt, etc. How bedbugs got into a bldg is hard prove, but you can't blame a sponsor just because he's a sponsor.

Also, someone posted that sponsors are cheap and sublet apts at market rate with no fee paid to the coop. A sponsor as a holder of unsold shares can charge market rate for rent-stablized apts and must comply with NYC rent stablization guidelines, but he doesn't have to comply with certain coop dictates, at least not per my coop's by-laws. That may not seem fair, but that's the law.

All I was saying is that a coop should be fair in its dealings with sponsors, SHs, vendors or whoever, not because any rule or law says so but because it's the right way to do business, and countering unfairness with unfairness doesn't get anyone anywhere.

thanks BP - very nicely said on your last posting. sorry we crossed wires.

I think if the sponsor just pays the invoice and accepts the reason that his/her tenant brought them into the building by you telling him/her that the sponsor would be a bigger loser then you for proposing this!

I had a similar situation in my coop (different bug). The sponsor paid for continuous exterminating until the problem was resolved. It took months because the tenants did not change their habits and the sponsor eventually had to exterminate the entire building. His tenant, his responsibility. The end.