Q Our president resigned before the board appointed officer positions, but he showed up at the meeting in which a new officer was appointed to the board. Now the board wants to fill the seat that the president resigned from, with some…
The best rule of thumb for boards is to act as ethically as possible. That way, shareholders will never have a problem with the decisions the board makes, right? Wrong. We live in an increasingly litigious society, where shareholder…
Our board has unilaterally determined that a “majority” of residents want an exercise room. And the board, in spite of this, continues to spend our money to pursue the project despite our requests to “cease and desist” and hold a general m…
The "mortar" that cements together the building blocks for community is communication between homeowners and the leadership team. The following types of communication are extremely important: (a) member surveys—both written and via focus…
Q I have a question about raising the maintenance fees on a condo. Is there any set limit or percentage? Case in point—our maintenance fee has been the same for 17 years. Now the board of managers has raised it 40 percent. I was payi…
Q I have a young toddler at home and my wife is a breast cancer survivor. For several years, our next-door neighbor’s chain-smoking home health nurse has filled up the hallway outside our apartment with smoke. The smell is so strong …
Q I’m the president of our building’s board. One of our directors has recently become a licensed real estate broker, and has recused himself from interviewing any potential buyers. At first, that seemed to ward off the semblance of any …
Managing a co-op or condo community is far from an easy job. Six managing agents from some of the city’s top firms recently participated in the continuing series of roundtable discussions hosted by The Cooperator and the Federation of Ne…
A little over four years ago, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) was signed into law. The most significant provision was Section 404, which requires corporations to conduct an annual assessment and report on the effectiveness of their internal…
Fall is here and with it comes the season for watching football. Football seems to dominate American culture. There are pro games four days a week, pre-season, post-season and Pro Bowl games, college, indoor, fantasy football, and of cou…