2007 Aug
2007 Aug Vol. 27, No. 8
Focus on...Insurance
Board Resource Guide: Etiquette for Board Members
Serving on the board of directors for your building brings on a range of emotions: pride that you were selected to represent the best interests of your fellow shareholders; unease at the thought of the additional time commitment of meetings; and, perhaps most importantly, nervousness that you will do or say something that will ultimately be problematic for your board or for you personally. Read More
Board Resource Guide: Serving on the Board: What It's Really Like
As any co-op or condo board member knows, serving on the board carries with it a responsibility to fellow residents and shareholders to make decisions in the best interest of the building. They don't leave their role as board members at the door after a meeting, and this can present a problem if neighbors pick inappropriate times to discuss building matters. Read More
Board Resource Guide: Orienting New Board Members
Getting elected to a building's board can be a big job in and of itself—but the truth is that winning a seat is only the beginning. After making the decision to campaign for a seat, and then winning it, new board members can find themselves failing to understand exactly what they've gotten themselves into. Read More
Board Resource Guide: Training the Board
Board members come in all shapes and sizes—literally and figuratively. In some buildings, no one wants the hassle of working a thankless job for no compensation, and the same four people are guilted into the job every year by default. In other buildings, a board membership is a badge of honor, carrying great cachet, and residents vie for the privilege. Read More
Unusual Insurance Claims
The world of insurance, although not necessarily simple, is usually cut and dry, not the stuff of excitement. While condos and co-ops have insurance for the common areas like roofs, stairways, lobbies and often the apartments as well, the practice of individual unit owners buying homeowners' insurance is more and more common. Read More
Getting Dumped By Your Insurance Company
Simply put, insurance equals protection. Insurance will help protect your investment if your building is damaged or destroyed by fire or other causes. Public liability coverage will protect you if someone is hurt in the building and sues you. This insurance is vital to the financial stability of a building—without it, and one big loss can place a building in financial turmoil. Read More
Reducing Liability in a Co-op or Condo
Insurance can be a hassle to deal with when it comes to your property, but failing to pay attention to the details of your policy could cost you money now and in the future. Knowing the specifics of your building's insurance policy, and also being familiar with the property that the policy covers, can save you money now and for many years to come. Read More
Filing an Insurance Claim vs. Settling
Sometimes bad things happen to good buildings. It's just a fact of life. And sometimes, bad things happen to good buildings with an unforeseeable and unavoidable frequency. That is also a fact of life. Usually, when those bad things happen, the building's insurance carrier is there to step in and make things right. Read More
Co-ops and Condo as Movie Sets
They torched cars and set fires throughout the park and
around our building in 50 mile-per-hour winds. And, yes, the fire spread to
unprotected areas. Read More
The Importance of Intelligent Insurance Underwriting
The property and casualty insurance market can provide a slippery slope for co-ops and condos in the New York metropolitan area. Insurance companies can be your best friend orworst enemy. Working with the right insurance broker is key to making sure you are getting the most comprehensive coverage at reasonable costs. Read More
Insurance and Your Contractor
Co-op buildings routinely require contractors to provide a Certificate of Insurance before any work is started either in a building or for individual shareholders. Read More
Q&A: Super Required?
I’m a shareholder in a co-op in Park Slope. The board has summarily decided that we no longer require a full-time, live-in superintendent. When I served on the board several years ago, I understood that a building had to have a particular number of units to require a super. I don’t recall the legal number, but, for example, a six-unit building didn’t require a super. Is it legal for us not to have a super? If that’s true, who would take care of our building’s business? Read More
Q&A: Policing the Board
Who checks up on the board? Does the board police themselves from within, or is the managing agent checking up on their actions? If the board makes a mistake, will the shareholders be notified? In what way is a board accountable to the shareholders? Read More
Q&A: Evicting Renters
I live in a 140-unit co-op building. The building was built in 1961 and was converted in 1985 under a non-eviction plan. The former sponsor still owns about 20 percent of all the units. These units are either rent-controlled or rent-stabilized. The sponsor has approached me to buy either one of the rent-controlled or rent-stabilized units. He claims that by law now, he has to get rid of the apartments and that if I buy the apartment, then I can ask the present tenant(s)to leave the apartment. He said that I, as the new owner, can do this, but the law does not allow him to do it. Is he right? Can he sell these units to new owners that will force the tenants out without offering them any compensation? Read More
Q&A: In the Dark
My family lives in a beautiful three-bedroom apartment on the first floor of an Upper West Side apartment building in Manhattan. Twelve months ago the co-op elected to begin a re-pointing project on the exterior of our building that we were told would last 3 months. Scaffolding was erected shielding our apartment from all natural light. It has now been 12 months and there is still no end in sight. We can not get a straight answer from our board as to when we can expect the scaffolding to come down. Not only do we have no light, but the scaffolding serves as an easy entry through our street side windows for any determined burglar. Read More
Q&A: Leak Costs
I live on the top floor of a co-op. Over the past three years water seeping through our parapet wall did considerable damage to one room in my apartment. Repairs were finally made. The walls and ceiling took two days to plaster and the painting took another day. Who is responsible for the cost of the plastering and the painting? Read More
