1. Send a letter from the M.A. or Board explaining the problem and its financial cost to them. State clearly that if the situation doesn't improve, and quickly, the Board will have to increase maintenance fees to cover the extra cost to the corporation. Offset this harsh reality with an equally clear and concise summary of your building's trash and recycling policies, and appeal to their pride and self-interest by stating the Board is confident that such a drastic step won't be necessary.
2. Monitor the situation carefully and update residents on how well they're going and how much $ they have saved.
3. Make a point of talking about progress in a positive, upbeat way, and thank people when you see them for helping.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3.

Educate your residents. Start with the material the city is providing. If there are kids, you can think of a children activity as well. This will make the parents sensitive. Send around leaflets to be given in all languages spoken in your building making sure the residents give it to the housekeepers as well

RFS - Our residents discarded trash improperly for a long time, but we've resolved the problem, at least most of it. There will always be people who won't follow guidelines.

We have a chute on each floor and a trash area on the 1st floor in the building service area. This is what we did:

- We hung NYC recycling posters by the chute on each floor.

- We gave all residents a magnetized recycling poster for their refrigerator (available from the Sanitation Dept).

- We hung a sign over each chute that says:
ALL RECYCLABLES MUST BE TAKEN TO THE 1ST FLOOR!
THE CHUTE IS FOR REGULAR GARBAGE ONLY!
ALL REGULAR GARBAGE MUST BE TIED TIGHTLY IN BAGS!

- We have bins on the 1st floor with the following:
1) A large sign on the wall that says:
ALL ITEMS MUST BE DISCARDED IN THE PROPER BINS
2) Signs on the wall above each bin that say:
GLASS/PLASTIC/METAL
CARDBOARD
NEWSPAPERS
ALL LOOSE PAPER
MAGAZINES/CATALOGS
REGULAR GARBAGE (2 or 3 bins for this)
3) A Sign on the wall that says:
LARGE CARDBOARD BOXES MUST BE FLATTENED
When our super accepts large box deliveries for residents, he writes the apt # in black marker on them.

(The bins for recyclables are bright blue and the bins for regular garbage are black.)

- We sent residents a memo that, among other things, says:
1) The coop is subject to violations for improper recycling from $100 to $300 per incident which all Shs pay for since they must be paid for from coop funds.
2) City inspectors visit buildings without notice and will fine individuals if they find names on improper discarded items (it's happened in our building).
3) The coop will fine residents $25 per incident if their names are found on improperly discarded items or if large cardboard boxes are not flattened. (That's why our super marks the apt number on boxes bec residents did not flatten them and tore off labels so they couldn't be identified.)

The memo stresses the need for proper disposal, courteously but firmly, and asks for everyone's cooperation.

RFS - If you don't have a building recycling/trash area, find a place to set one up. It will save your super a lot of time and effort. Residents have to be "trained." You don't want to create a police state, but convince them that guidelines are for everyone's benefit, and let them know you're serious. And if they don't follow recycling/trash rules, charge them the $25 fine. Keep cardboard box labels or markings for a while as proof of non-compliance. You only have to charge people the fine once or twice before they start shaping up. It's working for us.

RFS - A few things I forgot to mention. A Sanitation Dept officer can come to your building to look at your trash area and tell you how to improve it and recycle properly. They're even willing to attend a meeting and speak to your residents. The only problem is that it takes a long time to get an appointment with them.

Stress to residents how recycling is helping to save the environment. There are many websites with tips on recycling (bring a mug to the office instead of using styrofoam cups at the coffee machine...bring a cloth bag to the grocery store instead of using their plastic bags...use the reverse side of letters and other paper for scribbling notes, draft copy, shopping letters, etc.)

Send residents a memo. Even better, have a 1-hour meeting in your building about 8pm. Have enough seats for everyone and serve coffee & cake. Tell them interesting facts about waste/recycling (many websites for this too). For ex:

-- There's more plastic in the Pacific Ocean today than there is plankton/seaweed.
-- A paper bag cost 3 cents to make. A plastic bag costs 1 cent to make, but it costs 17 cents to dispose of.
-- 100 billion lbs of plastic are discarded in the US every year which will be in landfills for 500 to 1,000 years.
-- Give examples of what recyclables are made into: plastic bottles into ski jackets, skateboards, house paint...milk jugs into weatherproof patio furniture that looks like real wood...metal cans into eyeglass frames, carpeting. It's quite amazing what recyclables can be used for!

Get residents psyched up on recycling and their cooperation will be more forthcoming.

Generally, more waste is generated in more developed countries. However, the extent of the damage to the environment does not depend on the amount of <a href="https://www.rubbishwaste.co.uk/">waste</a> , but how it is collected and recycled. Therefore, I use the services of a company for the removal of various types of garbage in London. Not only the state of the urban environment, but also the efficiency of its further disposal depends on the method of garbage collection.

You know, I've been noticing lately that more and more people are taking care of the environment. Many observe waste management. Some even specially order a <a href="https://www.rubbishwaste.co.uk/">rubbishwaste</a> service for garbage collection and recycling, if the utilities can not cope with this. But unfortunately, the environment is suffering every day and there is no end in sight. The planet would soon be cleared of garbage.

You know, I've been noticing lately that more and more people are taking care of the environment. Many observe waste management. Some even specially order a service for garbage collection and recycling, if the utilities can not cope with this. But unfortunately, the environment is suffering every day and there is no end in sight. The planet would soon be cleared of garbage. https://www.rubbishwaste.co.uk/

The residents must be made aware of this problem. Have a meeting about recycling, send out a memo, provide enough clearly marked receptacles for recycling. Have inspections done. Fine floors if you have to but do something. Explain the impact on his response time to real situations. Threaten to raise the maintenance if resident refuse. In other words, GET THEIR ATTENTION!

Regretfully -- welcome to the real world. No matter how much we have tried, including several presentations by the Dept. of Sanitation to our residents, our Super and Porter still spend much of their time sorting garbage. We even attached a copy of the Dept.'s printed matter to our House Rules. Do you have the Dept. of Sanitation's recycling posters and other information posted prominently in your recycling area? You can get all kinds of literature from them, free for the asking.

Hi Pres,

Our 50-unit co-op in Yonkers is wired for Cablevision (we do not have a contract with them) and we just signed an agreement to allow Verizon to wire us for FIOS. We will not be dumping Cablevision for FIOS, but our residents will soon have a choice of TV/internet/phone providers.

Thank you for your input. It's good to know we have an option to keep both.

Regards,
Pres

The Argo Corporation has been very, very good for our co-op.

we changed management companies last year and our three finalists came down to argo, midboro and andrea bunis.

we are a 400 unit coop in downtown manhattan,

Thank you for your info... However of the three you mentioned, we have recieved extreme negative feedback on one... could you tell us who you hired... Thanks, AliceT

re: extreme negative feedback

now you have me wondering about which company you are talking about.

in a vote of the BDs midboro won by one vote over argo.

Richs, Did you receive my last message about your Mangement company?//

Alice

i did not receive your comments about our mgt company. please resend

Dear Rich, Dont mean to be vague, but at this time my advice is that every board member read the Manangement agreement, keep every Email -- have Owners CC Board members with thier complaints to your Mananger, and check the accounts...And remember, the Mananger and Manangement company works FOR the Coop...
Which, is probably good advice for any board.
AliceT

hello Alice T

i hope you still read these boards. please pm at the listed email address.

Because of the Habitat new format, I dont know if you will get this, but you may want to make sure that the whole board has a copy of the Mang agreement.

I have a management company to recommend, a start up, but the managers are licensed and have over 25 years experience.

Veritas Property Management in NYC. 212-799-2365. Tell them PPS referred you.

The Pres.

We plan to start interviewing for a new ManCo immediately --could any of you give us any pointers. Questions you asked, or issues you felt were important..

Thank you... AliceT

Here some questions we asked when interviewing new managment companies: Good luck...

How much is your management fee?

Provide a list of names and numbers of other coops you represent in our area? Reference purposes only.

How many managing agents do you have?

How many buildings does your company manage?

How many buildings do each managing agent have to manage?

Are your managing agents licensed?

How many years have you been in business?

What accounting systems do you use?

How often do your managing agents visit their buildings?

Do you have managing agents that speak a foreign language?

Have you managed buildings that are union?

Veritas Property Management are great. 212-799-2365.

What is Veritas Management great at? No one on our board never heard of them. Please eleaborate. Thanks.

Be on guard. When our former management company heard they were not in consideration they messed us up badly. Almost a year later we still have missing files and statements. Only under the threat of a lawsuit did they give us files. Monthly accounting statements were delayed. The former manager refused to sign off so that our accountants could certify our annual report. And they were late in submitting bills which resulted in thousands of dollars in penalties and a downgrade of our credit rating with D&B. This is just a condensed version of what went wrong

This was a major NYC management company not some fly by night.

We had the same experience with many management co. So do many other co-ops,just look at all the co-op that keep switching.

We decided about ten years ago to become self managed. We took responsiblity for our own actions. No more lost records,late tax payments etc.

Ted I would like to have your email address to share about this. I'm curious if it is our same
M

After a 30 year succesfull career in the Coop/Condo Management industry I have started a consulting service which among other services assists Coop and Condo boards in the management selection process at a very affordable fee. If you are interested please contact me at nyc.retailman@gmail.com

Did you ever get an answer to this? We're in Manhattan and also thinking of elevator repair.

Our coop in midtown Manhattan (60 apts) got a J51 abatement recently for just over $100K in tax benefits for our boiler, elevator and exterior capital improvement projects! The application fee for a J51 is $500 and our property manager handled the filing. The program is sponsored by the NYC Dept. of Housing and Preservation Development (HPD).

Go to www.nyc.gov and keyword in "J51" for more information. You can also call the HPD at 212-863-5517 for complete details on eligibility, how/when to apply, etc.

It's a tax benefit opportunity that you should definitely take advantage of.

Thanks. After the board did what research we could, our agent finally hired a specialist lawyer who is applying for it. Congrats on getting your abatement!

Thanks, ABB. My only comment to you: I don't know why your prop agent hired a specialist lawyer to file a J51 abatement for you. Our agent handled it for us. Seems a waste of money in legal fees. We have a coop attorney but we didn't even have to use him on this.

One of the many reasons that I'd like us to look for a new agent who is more up to date on what's going on....what can I say? Too late on this J51, but I've saved your information about what to do for next time.

ABB - I may be wrong but I think your agent can start J51 filing when construction on a cap improvement project begins but you have to file for it within 4 yrs after the job is completed. Just my opinion but if your agent doesn't know if your bldg is eligible for J51, there's probably a lot he should know about many other things but doesn't. Every good agent knows about the J51 program or at least how to find out about it.

My suggestion: get a new agent/mgmt company and don't put it off. You may be losing out in many ways with the one you've got.

What is the value of some of your apartments?

The sale value of our apts are in the $450K to $500K range.

The offender's actions affect more than one shareholder, which makes it a board responsibility to handle.

Why have you been waiting for the shareholder to do it?

Call the DEP. Call 311. Call the police. Call an independent noise specialist to record the decibels.

Don't force the shareholder to do it, that's the board's job.

The Board can only do so much. The S/H have to get involved. This is a problem in our building. S/H call, but dont want to become involved -- and you are putting the Board in the middle of a "he said-she said" situation.

The best would be for all the S/H who have a complaint to write (just one line) to the Board.

Otherwise, -- you can make an anonomous(sp) call to 311, orcall the police -

Start the paper trail now. Co-op's attorney needs to step in and get the ball rolling - with a notice of complaint letter. If you have a management company, they too should get involved.

$0.37 per share, per month, which works out to a little less than $100 per month for my apartment.

Of course, it's not realistic to expect maintenance never to go up. But what some of us in the building question is such a large increase, particularly after the accountant's positively glowing report at the last annual shareholders' meeting.

I understand rising fuel costs, etc. Everyone I've talked to has had a maintenance increase this year. But the increase in my particular building was roughly twice that of other buildings in the neighborhood.

1 Get more involved in the management of your building by participating and joining a committee
2 Ask for explanations of changes or items on your financial statement from your managing agent.
Any increase or decrease should show in a comparison between the amounts in a column
3 Building's are almost as different as people. Most solutions end up as a compromise.
4 Don't forget you are an owner not a renter. What happens to the entire building effects you and your investment

is a rumor-mongering jerk.

Boards don't vote in maintenance increases to cover their asses (unless there's something hinky goin' on, which is very very rare, despite your neighbor's statement); they raise maintenance to cover things like 10% increases for water and electricity, 20% increases in insurance premiums, 20% tax increases, and sky's-the-limit for fuel oil. Please keep in mind that board members are shareholders, too, and have to pay the same increase everyone else does.

You're better off asking the super next time.

why dont you say something helpful? for one, it has been a mild winter. our fuel charges will not be much more than last year. our insurance went down with renegotiation. etc. no - we are suffering from mismanagement and a board that is not making every efforts to cut costs and is not being advised to do so. a good manager would give them bulet points wiht how to reduce costs. for one - you should challenge your water bill, etc.
are you so scared of change and being proacive that you must insult my neighbor?

Ok, something helpful: a coop is a business, so why not try a spreadsheet approach:

- Maintenance increase history, as many years as possible
- Assessment history, ditto
- Costs for everything major you can think of: that new elevator, the new carpet in the lobby, plate glass window fixed, storage cages installed, code violations cured.... those old annual reports you filed come in handy after all, and if you forgot to file them, the management company has copies.

Now ask questions like, What kind of major annual increases has/does/will your building face each year - gas, electricity, water, fuel oil, liability insurance, interest rates, taxes? Were there unexpected repairs like a sewer pipe break? What sources of income does the co-op have to offset those? Ask questions like that 'til you run out of questions. By then you'll have a better idea why most co-ops raise maintenance as a rule of thumb.

Not done yet: figure your share history. What did your shares cost when you bought them? How much would they fetch today, as determined by recent sales? Do any of the expenses you thought were "arbitrary" - like the new chandeliers - have an impact on your building's image and value to buyers? Hmmm, guess they mightn't've been "mismanagement" after all.

Looking receipt by receipt, anyone could probably discover "mismanagement" of some kind in any co-op, from the purchase of new mop heads ("what was wrong with the old ones?"), all the way up the continuum to outright fraud.

There are boards that are fumble-fingered and boards that are light-fingered, but I'd also wager there are boards that have a firm grasp of their fiduciary duty.

How about positive kudos for THEM?

Throwing around words like "mismanagement" is dangerous when you don't know what you're talking about. Accusations like that rocked our building awhile ago, and it took A LONG TIME for it to recuperate. And - looking closely into them - the charges were baseless.

All that turmoil for nothing, when shareholders could have just talked to the board openly and treated them with the respect VOLUNTEERS deserve for taking responsibility for EVERYONE'S investment.

As for "mild winters" - take a look at your fuel consumption stats. You'll find even mild winters suck up a LOT of oil, and prices are still in the "need oxygen" category.

Next time, run for the board and see for yourself how hard it is to balance so many egos, mouths and - ah, get outta here. I got things to do.

According to NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority), the number of heating degree days through Feburary 2, 2008 is up 6.5% from last year's pace. This year's colder winter is coupled with a 40.2% increase in residential heating oil prices according to the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administrations's latest pricing survey. Unless a particular coop has drastically reduced heat supplied or spent considerable money to invest in a more energy efficient heating system, then it's highly likely that coops' heating costs are up dramatically from year-ago levels.

Batch, what's with the crack about asking the super?

That "crack" was a compliment. This person WOULD have been better off asking the super, who (even if not privy to board discussions) often has a far better grasp of the state of the building's infrastructure, financial health, and the costs of repairs, supplies, etc.

Chill. I don't insult hard-working people who do the best they can, many times at far too low pay, far too long hours, and far too little respect.

If I say something, I say it plainly. Innuendo is for those who second-guess the doers.

I must have read it wrong, I am sorry about the response that I wrote.

Mike

we were able to avoid an increase by taking 100% of the tax abatement. in past years we took 50% or less.

if we did not do this we were faced with a 6% increase.

I believe (correct me if Im wrong) after 30 days, a person living in an apartment is no longer a visitor -- but a renter or subletter, and subject to the House rules and a sublet screeing by the Board.

If there is a fire or an emergency, it is the Manangements or Boards legal responsiblity to have a list of all residents, and I believe that after 30 (60?) days, if you live in an apartment -- you have to be listed as an occupant.

There are also Insurance issues that apply, and if they are not listed, than this could lead (accident etc) to a libility issue. We faced this Insurance problem with a S/H who had three full time employees.

Check your House rules and CoOp lawyer. And, as always put your questions in writing, you never know when you will need to refer to the Email trail...

If they are there with the shareholder, they are a "roommate" and not subject to any approvals. fortunately the roomate law overrides and coop laws. However, they cannot engage in offensive behavior. The offensive behavior of this occupant is the problem of the prime shareholder. It must be very well documented and based on %100 fact wiht no element of personal biase.

I am intrested in the Roomate Law, could you direct me to where I can find it..

However, I am certain that after 30 (60?) days, anyone living in an apartment -- for legal: libality and insurance reasons, have to be listed.

But do check your house rules...

you can google the law. The landlord may write the sharholder asking for the name of the new resident but they may not ask anything else. They are entitled to the name only (privacy issues). There is no other official process. god bless the roommate law.

What if the "roommate" is not legally registered as living at the co-op? Does the Board have more rights in that case as to screening, employment, etc. of the stranger in town? What if the guest is keeping a rent-controlled residence uptown as well or has a registered address in another state? Do Boards have a right/obligation to do due diligence on unknown people/guests? What form would that take?

If the person is a friend or other relation to the primary resident and living with the resident the board has no right to ask anything other than a name. I love that boards are too nosy anyhow. the hwole coop concept has gotten really warped. Love the roommate law. it is coop board proof. but also it is non of their business - ie it is meant to protect the domestic partner privacy of a resident.

Yes, privacy protection is an important right but so is the right of shareholders in their building to peace and quiet enjoyment of their premises and knowing who is living in their building for security purposes. We do not care what their relationship is between two peoplle or what they eat for breakfast, we do care when a "guest" or visitor is creating a disturbance by acting in an unruly fashion and threatening shareholders. From the answers I have gotten here it seems like the responsibility falls on the shareholder who owns the unit and we should take action to let her know via a lawyers' letter that these house rules are being violated and she is responsible for the behavior of her guest.

other than that, you cannot control roommates. each apt. is entitled to one. a papertrial - an OBJECTIVE and accurate paper trail is the correct path for you. The incidents must be 100% factual and not just some loud noise tha tis made occasionally - but have real credibility.

If these misdeeds were to occur in our building, we would have our attorney send a certified letter to the owner of the unit indicating the misbehavior of the occupants in the unit with the need for immediate cessation of the undesirable behavior which is contrary to the proprietary lease and bylaws and inimical to the quality of life.

If there is no change in behavior, the second or third letter, depending on the gravity of the situation, would indicate the co-op&#146;s need to begin proceedings to terminate the proprietary lease.

In our case, if the occupancy of the apartment changes and the management office was not formally notified, we would also have the attorney note that in the letter, e.g.: violation of the proprietary lease.

correct - get the facts exactly straight in the letter so you cant be sued for harassment or character defamation. the letter cannot be baised on any personal dislike of the person - it must be 100% about behaviour that is in direct violaiton of the house rules, etc.

I have to agree with st comments regarding the guest. One has to be oh so careful and not rush to judgement otherwise it may be a very costly lesson that you Coop learns. Make sure you have all your facts, documentation, log records etc correct. I believe it can be worked out in a civil manner without lawyer, attorneys, lawsuits etc.

FN