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 mig…
2018 October
Focus on... Board Operations
If you live in a condominium, cooperative or HOA, you’re effectively acting as part of a participatory democracy run by an elected group of volunteers. And as with any democracy, those affected by the board’s decisions are encouraged to get…
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 th…
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 …
While a productive building or association manager who ably navigates the day-to-day operations of one or more client communities may not have millions in the bank, it’s hard to argue that he or she is not ‘successful’ in practical terms. B…
Appreciation, and the profit that comes with it, is surely a major benefit of home ownership. But that profit does not come without a cost. You can’t hide from the tax collector, and sooner or later he or she will come looking for you to ex…
Condo, co-op and HOA communities come in all sizes, shapes, and locations. They can range from literally thousands of units spread across multiple high-rise buildings, or scores of single-family townhomes in sprawling HOAs. They can be desi…
When most New Yorkers think of co-op apartment buildings, they have a vision of a stately old Park Avenue prewar residence; a shining, modern glass tower on the Hudson waterfront; or even maybe a quaint duplex in brownstone Brooklyn. But th…
Whether in a single-family home or an apartment building, pretty much every homeowner has had that moment: when in the middle of the night, he or she turned on the kitchen light to see a huge water bug scurrying across the counter, or heard…
Q. Can a board member vote on a change in rules that will directly benefit him/her? For example, the board member is an investor with more than 10 units and needs more parking spaces for tenants. Therefore, he/she moves to vote to change …
Q. When asked for full copies of monthly financials or ability to at least view them, I am told that this info is confidential and can not be released. My board will only issue a pie chart showing where funds are placed and totals of inco…