Board members find themselves acting as referees so often, some may feel like they're wearing black-and-white striped shirts. Maybe they're mired in the middle of a conflict between homeowners because one group of gardening enthusiasts…
Q I own a co-op. A husband and wife live in a neighboring unit that is owned by their son. Many years went by without incident. But in the last couple of years, the woman has started verbally abusing me to the point that I have had …
As the leaders of a private corporation in which shareholders own stock that entitles them to live in an apartment within the corporation’s building, residential co-op board members have a lot of responsibility. Along with this responsi…
Q I own a co-op unit in Jackson Heights, and recently I asked to get a copy of my building’s insurance policy. The board’s management told me that they only give this information out when an owner is buying, selling or refinancing—no…
Q Can the president of the co-op board be in business with the managing agent company’s owner without divulging it to the shareholders or other board members? The board members were recently notified that the owner is one of the boar…
Building boards and their managing agents function best when they work together as a team. Ideally, the two parties collaborate to implement policy, carry out administrative duties, and make decisions about the efficient operation of the…
On last season’s “The Apprentice” reality show, celebrities volunteered their time to team up and compete, not for a job with the Donald Trump organization, but to win a large donation to their favorite charity. The show’s concept is to…
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 co-op elected its new officers, as usual. However, this year, there were two amendments to the proprietary lease, one for staggered board terms and the other to change our transfer fee, or flip tax, from one month’s maintenance to two…