Q I am a shareholder in a Westchester County 73-unit cooperative, two of which are commercial units generating approximately two percent of the co-op’s income. The president of our five-member board of directors has been president for o…
It is an annual rite of passage for owners of co-ops and condos. Once a year or thereabouts, they gather in a common area—in my co-op in Astoria it was the basement, right off the washers and dryers—and vote for next year’s board. Someti…
My building has a rental apartment that was bought from a previous shareholder. Apparently, an amended document was not filed with the state attorney’s office, so there are still shares attached to this apartment. These shares were voted b…
Most shareholders would agree that attending their annual meeting is an activity low on their priority list, right after flossing their teeth and organizing their sock drawers. Some feel the meetings are boring, while others feel they do…
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…
Ever feel like your board meetings last longer than Wagner's entire operatic Ring Cycle? They may not last nine hours, but even three hours is a long time to sit in a chair—especially when the agenda doesn't include the Flight of the Valkyr…
Q What happens if board members consistently miss meetings, or don’t attend, messing up the voting process for a board? What recourse do we have? —Attentive Board Member A “Removal of a member of the board of…
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…
Q Some members of my co-op board want to change our transfer fees upon sale to assign a lower per share fee for those shareholders who purchased after the year 2000. Their reasoning is that real estate values decreased after 2000. Othe…