Page 13 - CooperatorNews New Jersey Summer 2021

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COOPERATORNEWS NEW JERSEY
—SUMMER 2021
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prefer to get a longer life from the existing roof
by doing repair work. Some others may think
board service is a popularity contest. Th at’s a
problem. Board service and management are
a responsibility to the community.”
Regardless of style, both managers and
board members have to keep one important
goal in mind: the long-term success of the
property. Th at requires a symbiotic relation-
ship between the board and management.
Th e nature of that symbiosis can look a lot
of diff erent ways—as long as it produces the
desired results.
n
Cooper Smith is a staff writer for
CooperatorNews.
BOARD STYLE...
continued from page 12
LEGAL...
continued from page 1
opment to begin running at the time of the
transition from developer control, instead of
at substantial completion of the project.
Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
Another bill that has echoes in Massa-
chusetts and New Jersey legislatures relates
to electric vehicle charging stations. Massa-
chusetts House Bill 3425, says Gaines, “says
that a condominium may not prohibit or
unreasonably restrict a unit owner from in-
stalling an electric vehicle charging station
in his parking space.” Similar legislation has
been passed in Boston, he says, but this law
would apply statewide.
Th ere is concern, however, that the
practical application of this law would be
problematic in many condominiums. Con-
necting any parking space to electricity re-
gardless of its proximity to existing wiring
is one issue. Th e infrastructure required to
supply wiring to a certain spot, such as run-
ning a trench from the building envelope to
the site of the parking space, might be cost-
prohibitive. “And then,” Gaines points out,
“one owner does it and then three months
later another owner wants it, then you have
to run the trench again.” So while the spirit
of this bill is important, notes Gaines, “hav-
ing a law that mandates that you can’t stop
these [electronic charging stations] from
coming in seems a bit harsh right now, at
least initially until condominiums can sort
it out themselves.”
Perhaps New Jersey’s A3367, which went
into eff ect at the end of last year, addresses
this issue more moderately. Ramsey ex-
plains that the law provides for “reasonable
requirements” for the installation of electric
vehicle charging stations by owners in com-
mon interest communities. Acknowledging
that the demand, needs, and types of vehi-
cles requiring electric charging will only ex-
pand, Ramsey notes that dealing with such
provisions now is easier than playing catch-
up down the road.
HSTPA Corrections
Back in July 2019, New York legislators
passed the Housing Stability and Tenant
Protection Act (HSTPA), providing a range
of protections to residential renters, and en-
acting certain limitations on landlords and
other types of housing providers. But as with
certain other legislation geared toward ten-
ant protections, the language in the HSTPA
“inadvertently” wraps co-op corporations
in with “landlords” and co-op shareholders
in with “renters,” since both categories of
housing operate under a leasehold agree-
ment—or so think proponents of Assembly
Bill 350/Senate Bill 5105.
Th e diff erence is that rental tenants and
landlords are two separate entities, whereas
cooperatives are run by and for the mutual
interest of their shareholder-occupants. As
such, HSTPA has had undesirable eff ects on
cooperatives throughout the state, prompt-
ing lawmakers to propose new legislation
that would “correct” the inadvertent inclu-
sion of co-ops. However, that new legisla-
tion got held up at the onset of COVID,
leaving co-ops without the ability to, for ex-
ample, hold more than a month’s worth of
carrying charges in escrow, as a co-op board
might propose for a prospective shareholder
whose fi nances were on the margin, but who
would otherwise be deemed a positive addi-
tion to the community.
Th e bill is currently in committee. Co-op
lawyers and others throughout the state who
live in, work with, or support co-ops are
eager for it to be taken back up, with legal
experts arguing that its passage would clear
up a lot of unintended harm in an otherwise
benevolent law.
Good Cause Eviction
Also in New York State, the Good-Cause
Eviction Bill, as it is commonly known, is yet
another example of tenant protection legis-
lation that inadvertently includes co-ops—
to their disadvantage.
Th is bill, A5573 in the Assembly, pro-
hibits eviction or removal from a housing
accommodation for anything other than
good cause. Attorney Margery Weinstein of
law fi rm Ganfer & Shore and Chair of the
New York City Bar Association’s Co-op and
Condominium Law Committee explains
that “‘Good cause’ is defi ned to include nui-
sance and illegal use and violations” but that
“there’s a rebuttable presumption in this law,
that the failure to pay rent is not good cause
if it results from a rent increase of more than
3%, or one-and-a-half times the increase in
consumer price index (CPI).”
As such, with passage of this bill co-ops
would not be able to increase their mainte-
nance charges more than 3% or one-and-
a-half times the increase in CPI in a given
year. “Th is eff ectively prohibits co-ops and
condos from enforcing maintenance or
common charge increases that are over
these kept fi gures,” says Weinstein, “even if
they have vastly increasing operating costs
or tax increases or other obligations—such
as all the carbon emission control rules that
they have to now comply with.” Th e vast ma-
jority of co-ops do not have other means of