The co-op's attorney works FOR THE BOARD, not individual Board Members.

So.... any costs associated with this advice go directly to the individual.
And the attorney should be (at minimum) censured for agreeing to participate in the discussion.

If it were our Board, I think we'd do more than that.

This is not conflict of interest, but a potential ethical issue:

a. The board member should be charged, as stated before, for any time incurred in consulting the co-op counsel.

b. The board member has inside information regarding the apartment that he/she wishes to swap and wishes to trade it. Obviously, the board member is giving up his/her apartment for the more desirable apartment. There may be some money being paid for the difference in the cost. So, from that point of view, the only issue here is an ethical one of inside knowledge and advantage over other residents.

c. Do other shareholders know about the availability of this apartment and would other shareholders had the same opportunity to do the same consultations as the board member and come up with the same swapping scheme if they would have known the apartment was vacant?

d. Usually, you have shareholder who get interested in a larger or smaller unit and they sell their in order to buy the second unit. Wouldn't this be the case of your board member?


AdC

thanks for your response...the apt for sale was advertised to all shareholders and the apt is on the open market for sale. No one shareholder has expressed interest in the apt and we dont have any current offers. The apt is actually the same size, but on a higher one flight up. The shareholder would have to pay off her mortgage and sell her apt in order to gain the other apt.

thanks for you response. i learned that the board can create an internal resale policy to cover these types of situations which we will discuss. And we have been advised to write the board member a notice that she is not to contact the coop attorney for personal matters. I am checking to see if we need to do anything else. She lied to the attorney and misrepresented herself and the deal to get his assistance.

Rene - Just my opinion, but if your BM lied to your coop attorney to get his help, I'd consider that reason (misrepresentation) to reject any application by him/her to buy another apt in your coop. If this is serious enough, I'd personally also ask that BM to resign, or you and your other BMs should vote to remove him/her from the board.

I'd also put the cost of legal services for time that your BM spent talking to your coop attorney about this on his/her account. If any other shareholder did this, you'd charge him/her for it, wouldn't you?

This is just the kind of petty-tyrant overreaction I've come to expect from co-op boards. We're talking about somebody's home, about the place where they live and raise a family, and you want to reject an otherwise viable applicant because he/she made a fairly minor error in judgment or even -- have you thought of this? -- didn't realize that he/she talking to the board's atty was wrong? Either way, big freaking deal. Has anyone TALKED to the board member before getting all hissy-fitting?

Anonymous: My telling Rene her BM's lying to the coop atty may be reason to not let him buy another apt, voting him off the board, or billing him for the atty's time was my opinion. I don't see it as "overreaction." Please allow for the possibility that you overreacted. Here was your reply to me:

>>>This is just the kind of petty-tyrant overreaction I've come to expect from co-op boards. We're talking about somebody's home, about the place where they live and raise a family, and you want to reject an otherwise viable applicant because he/she made a fairly minor error in judgment or even -- have you thought of this? -- didn't realize that he/she talking to the board's atty was wrong? Either way, big freaking deal. Has anyone TALKED to the board member before getting all hissy-fitting?<<<

Anonymous, you don't know any more than anyone here if the BM has a family, is a viable applicant, made a "fairly minor error in judgment" or didn't know talking to the atty was wrong. That's your opinion, which you also have a right to. We don't have all the facts here of course but the fact that the atty gave the BM help may be a big deal. As others said here, he represents the coop, not individual SHs.If the BM didn't know it, the atty should have told him so.

Coop boards are not all petty-tyrants. Many of us do our best, treat all SHs fairly and equally, and act accordingly if a SH (BM or not) takes advantage of a situation. If that hasn't been true in your experience, that's unfortunate. It's unfair to give all boards a black mark when so many deserve credit for the good they do. I only ask that you keep that in mind. Thanks.

BP chastises Anonymous for suggesting giving the SH the benefit of the doubt, though Anonymous "doesn't have all the facts." Yet BP is ready to deny the SH application though BP him/herself doesn't have all the facts.

BP, you're the pot calling the kettle black. Perhaps you should have tempered your original posting.

JG, I did not intend to chastise Anonymous. I simply asked that s/he consider that all coop boards are not petty-tyrants as s/he seemed to indicate. Also, I am not "ready" to deny a SH's application to buy without my having all the facts. I began my posting to Rene by saying "Just my opinion". I offered suggestions in an effort to help Rene weigh the facts she has to determine how she might resolve or ameliorate her issue with a BM.

One benefit of Board Talk is being able to offer options, opinions and outcomes based on experience so that someone who asks for advice here can consider them in determining a course of action in a specific situation.

We are all here to learn from each other. It's impossible for any of us to know all the facts about another poster's issue. All we can do is offer advice or opinions that may be of help. If Anonymous or anyone was offended or felt that I was chastising, I do apologize. That was not my intention. We have enough conflict in our coops and in our own lives. We don't need more of it here.

Happy holidays, everyone ~