IIRC the NYC Counsel or the NYC legislature enacted a special exemption permitting board meetings to be held via Zoom or any other video conferencing service. This was done during the height of Covid and was intended to facilitate the board being able to conduct business every month despite any provisions in the By-laws. Check with your co-op's attorney for a definitive answer.

Per a follow-up email from HPD today, in-person meetings are not required. Conversely, online platforms such as Zoom will suffice in agency requirements.

Your Thoughts Please .....

Not sure what else can be added to this conversation. If the HPD said in-person meetings are not required, the board has carte blanche to conduct meetings in a venue of their choosing, be it in person or virtual online.

Am I missing something in your question?

Perhaps BCL "Business Corporation Law " has something? The majority of shareholders are not board with online only, and many are not tech-savvy. Thank you.

I think it’s good to ask shareholders from time to time what they’d like. In 2024 boards need to be more open minded and not everything is about looking at old documents from 30-40 years ago. How about a compromise and one year virtual and the next year in person so both sides are happy?

This is an interesting question. I would believe if a shareholder is requesting the community room to have a shareholders meeting the board should not have the power to denied the shareholder in question the community room.

It’s not like they’re having a party or fundraising event where the board would have the right to express concerns of allowing the shareholders in the community room.

So with that being said I hope there’s an attorney out there that could answer the question in a legal manner if the shareholder in question has had his or hers request to the community room rights violated.

There are rulings in the Mitchell Lama Guidelines underscoring accessibility rights to shareholders. . Worth stating after much push back Gouverneur Shareholders were granted access to use the space to discuss Board Elections. Its was censored by the Board nonetheless. . If anyone out there with legal experience please help with suggestions it will be greatly appreciated.

If the co-op is a mitchell lama co-op the mitchell lama rules states the shareholders rights. also
Hud rights and responsibilities

The Mitchell Lama Guidelines contain rulings underscoring shareholders' accessibility rights. It is worth stating here that we received a lot of pushback from the board.
Shareholders were eventually granted access to our community room to discuss Board Elections, but not without censorship from board members.

Anyone with Legal experience, please advise. It will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Unfortunately, the board still negatively responds to shareholder rights. Management instructs building staff who post flyers to remove them. Limiting shareholders to a meeting

As a temporary measure, you can slip a copy of the meeting notice under each unit's door unless you have an unwieldy number of units.

Be very clear about the date, time, and purpose of the meeting. Don't try to hide anything like your name. Mistrust will severely hamper your efforts. If multiple shareholders agree with you, get their permission to include them on the notice. The more who sign on, the more weight your efforts will carry.

Don't badmouth the board or in any way disparage them. Always be completely professional.

Be prepared to hire a co-op law attorney. Interview 3-4 before any meeting with the board. Describe to the attorney what you're trying to do and how you plan to go about it. It's perfectly fine to discuss billing rates and estimated costs during initial contact. Imagine the look on the boards' faces if discussions break down and you calmly state, "I guess this will need to be resolved legally. Here is our attorney's contact information. Who on the board should they get in touch with?"

Good luck!

Is that subletting or you have a roommate?

Airbnb is considered short-term renting. Keep in mind the shareholder is living in the apartment. In fact, its a pre-requisite when applying for a registration number. my question is, can they impose a subletting fee when the shareholding is currently living in the same unit.

https://cooperatornews.com/article/qa-not-fine-with-fines

You are right to identify potential legal and other issues involved with collecting a debt from a shareholder. I would contact the co-op's attorney to get their opinions and recommendations. Engaging a debt collector might create more problems that it solves because of NYC tenants' rights laws, and there are other less draconian ways to resolve an overdue maintenance issue with a shareholder.

If your co-op has a managing agent try asking them what the GFA is. In fact, they should be handling the LL97 issues for you as part of their MA responsibilities.

Gross floor area for Coop is listed on Notice of Property Value for your property in NYC Dof.

Use can use address to search for Borough Block Lot. Also you could use digital tax map to locate your property.

Look for the Notice of Property Value for January of this year as only the January notice has square footage on it.

Then you can look for your building in Dob Now or Building Information System to check for size of building.

LL 97 should not count the area on the roof.

Their is also an online tool called Energy Snapshot the will have basic information on your building such as square footage and energy usage.

Roy

Gross Floor Area for LL97 is the
GFA used by Department of Finance.

The square footage is listed on The Notice of Property Value that is released in January.

Gross Square Footage is also listed on your Building Energy Snapshot.

Roy

We had that situation. A sign won’t work because the type of person who would do this will not be scared off by your sign.

You need to catch them in the act and then threaten them with legal action.

The best way to catch them is with a security camera in the laundry room.

Many times, most often, are the shareholders, residents themselves giving keys to those they know nearby allowing them in, caretakers too.

Thank you for your input.

I heard it might be a staff member’s relatives that live near by which makes no sense if you talk about security. Who really are these people? It’s still private property. So one minute you can’t sublet without permission but you can allow random people on our property and give them access? Now I understand why the Super wasn’t concerned.

Oh the other point I wanted to make was our laundry room isn’t extremely big for all the units we have and we can’t expand it but I would need to wait to do my laundry because a relative of a staff member is using it? That’s not right.

I believe you also have legal liability and face a potential negligence lawsuit if a non-shareholder is injured using the washers or dryers on your co-op's private property. Check with your co-op's attorney to see if you have any legal exposure.

Who's name is on the stock certificate? If the parents name is on both then in my opinion the parent should be the only vote. We have that type (sort of) of situation in my bldg. The parents name is on both, so when the adult child constantly is in arrears, we send notice to both. In fact the parent is responsible for both apts. All correspondence should be sent to both.

We are a condo, not a co-op, so owners do not have stock certificates. Our management company has whatever document shows that the parent purchased the apartment; I'll reach out to them.

Nothing specifically about selling or renting.

Before you sell or rent, be aware there are certain DOB regulations and codes that mandate a super has a physical residence in your building or lives within a couple of hundred feet from your building if the building has 10 or more units. In the future, this could have a problematic impact on your compliance if the super's apartment is not available for the super to live in.

The Proprietary Lease governs the privileges, rights, and obligations of the *shareholders*.

The Bylaws lay out how the *board* governs the co-op corporation and conducts co-op corporation business.

Two entirely different documents with entirely different purposes.

Before making *any* changes to either, especially the one the board is contemplating, contact the co-op's attorney. Without consulting your attorney for expert legal advice you could dig a hole deeper than you can imagine.

Full Stop.

You should check with an attorney, but I'm almost certain the board does *not* have the authority to prevent non-resident shareholders from voting their shares. That would create two classes of stock within the corporation, and the board does not have the authority to create such classes. In fact, it's unlikely that *anyone* - including the full set of shareholders - would have the ability to do this. But again, ask an attorney for a definitive answer.

- Carl Tait

Very simply, if they own shares, they have a full vote. No exceptions I can think of (IANAL). Unless your Proprietary Lease has a special carve-out (which I highly doubt), *any* share dilution can land your board and co-op corporation in very hot water.

I'm not even sure the restriction on becoming a board member or officer would hold up.

There may be special rules for sponsor-owned shares, so best to check with your co-op's attorney.

Steven, I completely agree with you that disenfranchising non-resident shareholders is almost certainly not allowed, while echoing your IANAL.

One point I can state with certainty is that non-resident shareholders *can* be barred from serving as directors. That's straight from our co-op's attorney. In fact, he's the one who suggested we limit the board to residents.

- Carl Tait