Running the building – that’s a task most people don’t consider while shopping for a new condo apartment. When newly constructed condominiums first open, the property’s sponsor is usually in charge of everything from the financials to operations to repairs. And when unit-owners finally do form a board and take over, the transition can be […]
Wrestling Over What’s Makes a Rule “Reasonable” (NY)
What does it mean when a co-op’s proprietary lease or a condo’s bylaws state that “consent shall not be unreasonably withheld”? Is the Business Judgment Rule standard used? If not, what is the standard? These are the issues addressed by the court in the case of Perrault vs. Village Dunes Apt. Corp. Read the article………………….
Westchester County Makes it Harder on Cooperatives re Sales
Westchester County is about to make it more difficult for cooperative boards and their managers who will have strict deadlines when it comes to sales applications. Assuming the County Executive George Latimer signs the bill into law on December 14th, cooperatives boards and managers have to be ready to comply. Read the article……………….
Maintaining Security in Your Association: Best Practices for Better Results
Whether it be a detached single-family house, or one unit among hundreds in a high-rise condominium, a home should be a safe haven: a place where you can seek refuge from the elements and all the other risks and cautions of the world. Given how precious that sense of security is, and how vital it […]
Preparing Your Community for Emergencies: Readiness Is Everything
Planning for a rainy day is pretty easy. Have an extra umbrella handy or a waterproof coat, and you’re probably fine. Planning for the rainiest day ever, on the other hand, is significantly more daunting. Especially if during that day there’s also a fire, an earthquake, or a tornado. It may sound like exaggeration, but […]
Murder in Apartment 3P (NY)
It was a grim and bloody night at the Sea Cliff Towers co-op on Staten Island. The New York Times carried this terse account: “A fight between two friends who were dating the same woman ended in the death of one of them, the police said yesterday. On Wednesday night, Michael Cafferata, 33, was visiting […]
Get on Board! How to Increase Member Participation at Community Meetings
One of the conundrums of co-op and condo life is how to keep members involved and interested in the governance of their building or association. Many residents are delighted to own, but less than excited to participate. That lack of engagement can ultimately cause problems–not just in the form of a limited pool of volunteers […]
Board Culture: What Traits Make a Board Successful?
A condominium, cooperative or homeowners’ association is only as efficient as the elected board that oversees its day-to-day operations. Considering how difficult it can be to find time for family, leisure, and sleep amid work and assorted other obligations in today’s increasingly hectic world, just finding the requisite number of volunteers to make up the […]
Handling Conflicts: When Should the Board Intervene?
Condo, co-op and HOA communities are made up of people – and people aren’t perfect. Within a community association, squabbles are inevitably going to break out between unit owners. Oftentimes these problems will be resolved relatively easily, and the owners will reach some sort of reasonable consensus with no lasting animosity or tension between them. […]
Effective Committees: Delegating Makes Light Work (NY)
While a board and management take on the lion’s share of responsibility for maintaining a building or community association, it certainly helps to have some extra hands on deck to keep track of smaller details. While by no means mandatory, the forming of standing committees to oversee certain constant aspects of association business (landscaping or […]
Which Rule Rules?
A dustup at the Village Dunes co-op in Montauk highlights the differing standards that may govern the enforceability of decisions made by co-op boards. This dispute began when a shareholder sought the consent of the co-op board to make alterations to his apartment, including raising the ceiling of the apartment, enclosing an unfinished common area […]
Transparency vs. Privacy: A Balancing Act for Boards (NY)
Last week we revealed ways co-op and condo boards can conduct their monthly meetings in a way that will satisfy residents’ rising demands for transparency – while protecting sensitive personal information. Today we look at three other areas where boards must balance demands for transparency against the right to privacy. Read the article………………
Lax Oversight Leads to a Facade Fiasco (NY)
That’s what the co-op board at 60 West Broad Street in Mt. Vernon learned when it tried to fix the building’s leaky facade. They’d long been aware of their water-infiltration problems, so in 2008, they forked over $758,000 for an overhaul of the front of their six-story building, says board member Maria Duarte. They hired […]
In This Artists’ Co-op, Artists Don’t Ride for Free
After paying ever-rising rents in and around New York City for 20 years, I started hearing a voice. “Go north, middle-aged man,” it whispered. The American dream of homeownership was calling. A writer friend had told me about the Peekskill Art Lofts co-op, less than an hour’s ride from Grand Central. When I’m not playing […]
Five Reasons for Joining a Co-op or Condo Board
Co-op and condo board service has its drawbacks. The pay is non-existent. The hours are long. It is almost guaranteed to stoke the ire of someone in the building. And, oh yes, it can get you sued and it rarely generates so much as a word of thanks. Yet sane people continue to volunteer to […]
Working With Your Support Professionals: How (and When) Boards Should Speak Up
Attorneys and community association managers can be a godsend for the board of a co-op, condominium or HOA. Most boards consist of volunteers who usually have quite busy external lives themselves, so having an experienced professional on the team for advice, guidance, and enforcement of policy can be a huge help. Read the article………………
Your Board’s Legal Obligations: Fiduciary Duty, Disclosure, Meetings, and More (NY)
The board of a condominium, cooperative or homeowners’ association has a fiduciary duty to make decisions in the best interest of the community as a whole. But individual board members may have different ideas as to what those decisions might be, and some may even have joined the board more for self-serving reasons than as […]
Hiring a Manager Is Like Getting Married. Choose Wisely. (NY)
Hiring a new management company has been likened to getting married. So co-op and condo boards need to take a long hard look before they leap. A good first step, Brick Underground reports, is asking around the neighborhood and finding buildings that are well run. From this intel, a board can begin to create a […]
Expertise Welcome – Up to a Point
Co-op and condo boards frequently recruit residents with professional expertise who can contribute to the projects they have planned for the next several years. While this expertise can be helpful, it should be exercised carefully. Problems arise when the new board members don’t fully understand their roles and how to deal with the other board […]
Your condo building isn’t new anymore. Is it aging gracefully? (NY)
Prior to the recession of 2008, a batch of new condo developments came on the market. Some were well built while others were seemingly constructed in a hurry. Now that they’ve had a chance to settle into their bones, it’s a good time in their lifespan to see just how well they were constructed. Read […]
Is Brevity the Soul of (Smart) Board Meeting Minutes? (NY)
It’s kind of ironic that in this age of transparency, board meeting minutes should be bare-boned. But they should. So keep them accurate, but sparse. Here’s why. Minutes of board meetings can be surprisingly revealing. Some minutes cover who voted on what, as well as off-topic conversations. You must always remember that minutes are actually […]
What Happens in the Boardroom Should Stay in the Boardroom
Co-op and condo boardrooms have at least one thing in common with Las Vegas: what happens there should stay there. Many new board members run on a platform about transparency, communication, and being a liaison between the board and the shareholders. All commendable reasons to serve, but not without risks. These good intentions can easily […]
Keeping it Private: Homeowners Struggle With Life on NYC’s Private Streets (NY)
Twice a week, 71-year-old Douglaston, Queens, resident Peggy Kalesis packs her trash-filled garbage cans into the back of her SUV and drives half a block from her home. She and her dozen Stuart Lane neighbors drop their trash in front of an understanding Depew Avenue resident’s home because Stuart Lane is one of the nearly […]
Delivery Overload: Coping With an Ever-Increasing Number of Package Deliveries (NY)
The ever-increasing popularity of online commerce has changed peoples’ shopping habits — including the way apartment dwellers receive their deliveries. While concierges, doormen, and building superintendents have traditionally accepted packages on behalf of residents, the management and storage of those packages is evolving. Read the article………………
Loss Runs Are a Big Driver of Insurance Costs
A loss run shows the insurance losses that a building has sustained, and the figure greatly affects what a building pays for insurance. Every year, underwriters look at how the building is performing, its total number of losses, and whether they can be stopped, changed, or mitigated. Read the article………………
Can Members Be Excluded From Board Meetings? (NY)
An air conditioner can keep you cool. It can also cause the temperature to rise among neighbors, which is what happened in a seven-unit Tribeca co-op when a board member installed an air conditioner without permission – then learned that the board had met to discuss the situation without the board member present. The board […]
Boards Need to Figure Out What’s Around the Next Curve (NY)
When tackling major capital projects, co-op and condo boards need to remember that timing is everything. If they don’t have the money in hand, they can’t do the work. How do they avoid getting ambushed by what lies around the next curve? Read the article………………
With D&O Insurance, Do It Once and Do It Right
Your directors and officers (D&O) insurance is the main policy that covers you as a board member. D&O can come in different forms. You can add an endorsement to your main package policy or you can have a separate stand-alone D&O policy. Generally speaking, the majority of D&O coverage that is added to the main […]
Why Co-ops Almost Never Become Condos (NY)
Several times a month I’m approached by co-op boards who want to convert their cooperative corporation into a condominium association. A major reason is that condo apartments are now valued from 15 to 20 percent higher than co-ops. But I have bad news for these co-op boards. The Internal Revenue Code makes it virtually impossible […]
The Importance of Being Treasurer
I attend a lot of annual meetings. When the re-elected or newly elected board of directors has its first meeting, there is a very large expectation gap between what many directors believe their job functions are and what they actually should be. If you look at the bylaws, it’s pretty clear. In many instances, the […]
The Other Two Landmark Cases Every Board Needs to Know (NY)
In a recent post, I discussed the three landmark legal decisions that were most influential in shaping the scope and limitations of co-op and condo boards’ powers. Today I add the final two that comprise the Big Five. Read the article………………
Fight Fraud With Board Oversight and Strict Internal Controls (NY)
As auditors, we’re required by professional standards to make certain inquiries of the boards in connection with our audit. One of the topics we discuss is their internal control procedures. We assess the risk of material misstatements in the financial statements and consider the co-op or condo’s internal controls as we plan our audit. We […]
Two Good Reasons for Promoting Owner Occupancy (NY)
Many professionals – lawyers, property manager, lenders – encourage co-op and condo boards to promote owner-occupancy of apartments as a way to maintain a high quality of life and robust credit-worthiness. An abundance of subletters, the reasoning goes, hampers a sense of community and makes a building less attractive to lenders. Read the article………………
Responsibility for Repairs Whose Insurance Pays? (NY)
There’s an old adage that ‘insurance is for pessimists’ – but that’s very much not the case. In the world of home ownership, and especially in shared communities, proper insurance is a critical factor in protecting not only your most important asset – your home – but also your pocketbook and your neighbors’ pocketbooks. It’s […]
Greening the city from the top down (NY)
When storm clouds gather, 62 square miles of roofs keep us dry in New York City. Unfortunately, most of the dozens of inches of rain that hit New York each year cascades into our gutters, swelling sewers and often causing raw sewage to pour into our waterways. The city is failing to take advantage of […]
A Fairy Tale About a Co-op Full of Happy People (NY)
It sounds like a fairy tale, except it didn’t happen once upon a time; it’s happening right now. And it’s not happening in a galaxy far, far away, but right here in New York City, in a Lenox Hill co-op at 401 East 65th Street. In this 137-unit, 16-story building, the shareholders routinely applaud the […]
The Unstoppable Rise of the Emotional Support Animal (NY)
A shareholder at a pet-free Manhattan co-op assumed that the dozen dogs in the building were service animals, vetted by the management company’s lawyers – but was shocked to learn they’re emotional-support pets. Why is the co-op obligated to accept animals that are not licensed service dogs despite its no-pets policy? Read the article………………
Put That Budget Surplus to Work (NY)
Having too much money is a problem most co-op and condo boards would love to have. But it’s important to deal with a windfall wisely. In the past, if a co-op showed a profit in a given year, it would be able to offset that with depreciation. But we’re reaching the point in 2018 where […]
A Deck Up on the Roof Can Get Complicated
Life is more complicated than it used to be. Back in the day, when you wanted to put a roof deck on your building, you just hired a contractor and he came and put a surface on top of your roof so that people could walk on it. It might be wood, it might be […]
One Lapsed Homeowner’s Policy Can Swamp a Building (NY)
If you live in a condo or a co-op, at some point you’ll probably be required to buy a homeowner’s insurance policy, also known as an HO6 policy. What you may not know is that there are many people who don’t have active homeowner’s insurance policies. How can that happen? Read the article………………
Oops! Who’s on the Hook for Eight Years of Unbilled Fees? (NY)
Most co-op and condo boards rely on the vital income from various fees – for parking, sublets, and the storage of bikes and other belongings. But at a tight-knit, 15-unit co-op in Manhattan, the board recently discovered that one shareholder has never been charged for his storage space, which costs $40 a month. His eight […]
A Reserve Study Takes the Long (30-Year) View
A reserve study is a budgeting tool that helps boards plan for the replacement of all of the common-area components when they reach the end of their useful lives. These include mechanical systems, roofing, facades, and parking decks, all of which will ultimately need to be replaced over the course of a 30-year period. When […]
Every Board Needs a Fidelity Bond. Here’s Why (NY)
A board treasurer’s heart will always sink when he notices a pattern of odd expenditures in the monthly run of checks. With a little digging, the treasurer might learn that the managing agent paid a small amount each month to a phony vendor, a limited liability company set up by the agent. Read the article……………..
Pinpointing Leaks With an Infrared Camera (NY)
Every building is vulnerable to moisture getting in, whether it’s from the roof or the facade. Once a leak is discovered, there’s a wide range of ways to attack it. But first you have to find the source. Our specialty is the restoration of buildings, and we use equipment that can show us the condition […]
This Park Avenue Co-op Board Knows How to Listen (NY)
John Feeney understands that a building is a living thing, an organism. And like all living things, a building must adapt – to changes in the ages and tastes and needs of its residents, to changing governmental rules, to changing times. Feeney’s building, at 1095 Park Avenue, was designed by the legendary firm of Schwartz […]
Pollution Insurance Is a Small Price for Big Peace of Mind (NY)
Some property managers advise co-op and condo boards that there’s no such thing as too much insurance coverage. Given the times we live in, many boards are now considering – and buying – policies to protect themselves against dangers that were unimaginable even a few years ago, such as cyber-theft or sexual harassment claims. And […]
Co-op and Condo Boards Need an Institutional Memory (NY)
Co-op and condo boards who don’t keep good records are likely to repeat past mistakes. That’s why it’s important for new and veteran board members to know the history of their building. Knowing that history will help them understand which problems need to be addressed in the future. Read the article………………
Don’t Get Blindsided By Capital Projects (NY)
What is blindsiding? It’s a phenomenon I come across a lot when I have to give boards bad news. An example would be when we do a facade inspection. Local Law 11 mandates it every five years, and the board asks us to tell them what’s wrong with the building and what they need to […]
When there’s water damage in a co-op or condo, who pays for the repairs?
If you’re facing a water damage issue in your apartment, who ends up paying will depend on where the water is coming from, and in some cases, who caused the leak, says Steven Wagner, a co-op and condo attorney with Wagner Berkow LLP and a longtime board member of his own 420-unit Manhattan co-op. It […]
Neighbor vs. Neighbor Produces No Winners (NY)
Sam Weiner and Faye Ran are shareholders at the 451 West Broadway Cooperative in Soho. Weiner resides in the apartment directly above Ran. Ran alleges that, on November 5, 2011, a leak in Weiner’s apartment caused the ceiling to collapse in her apartment. There was significant damage to the apartment and her personal property – […]