Page 18 - CooperatorNews New Jersey Summer 2021

18 COOPERATORNEWS NEW JERSEY
—SUMMER 2021
NJ.COOPERATORNEWS.COM
Disclaimer: Th e answers provided in this Q&A
column are of a general nature and cannot
substitute for professional advice regarding your
specifi c circumstances. Always seek the advice of
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sionals with any questions you may have regard-
ing technical or legal issues.
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Q&A
With locations in Northern and Central NJ
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Wilkin Management Group, Inc.
30 Years of History
Wilkin Management Group, Inc.ilkin Management Group, Inc.
Visit us on the web at www.WilkinGrp.com | 201.560.0900
W
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Q&A
continued from page 7
PULSE...
continued from page 6
expired, Han asserts—a threat which China
Overseas used to downgrade worker salaries
and “otherwise use the application process as
a tool of workplace repression,” according to
the complaint.
Additionally, Han’s lawsuit alleges discrim-
inatory and harassing behavior on the part of
China Overseas executives.
Jersey Digs
reports
that former VP of Design and Marketing Yirui
Huang allegedly invited Han and another
female worker to join him in the Hamptons for
the weekend and told them they “should wear
bikinis so he could take sexy pictures of them.”
SELF-MANAGEMENT...
continued from page 17
At one point, they considered hiring a full-
time manager as a result of the pandemic, but
ultimately decided it was just too expensive.
Also, the board was concerned that if people
lost their jobs and couldn’t pay their monthly
common charges, the association would have
even less money to spare. So far, self-manage-
ment has proven the right move for this par-
ticular community.
Shifting to Off-Site Management
Not every community is ready—or able—
to go it alone, however. Stuart Halper, vice
president of New York-based Impact Man-
agement, specializes in small- to mid-sized
co-op and condominium properties, and says
he’s seen some self-managed properties shift
to off -site management since the pandemic
began. “We actually have picked up a signifi -
cant number of clients [since the beginning
of the pandemic],” he says. “And many of
them are small properties coming off of self-
management. However—could I say that it’s
because of COVID-19 that they’ve turned
to [professional] management? I don’t really
know the answer to that.”
However, Halper goes on to say that he be-
lieves one particular reason they have seen an
increase in new clients during the pandemic
is that “we remained open throughout the
pandemic. We never shut down, nor did we
really work fully remotely. I do believe that
has made a signifi cant diff erence when we’ve
interviewed with a lot of the smaller proper-
ties. We’ve found that many companies—es-
pecially the smaller ones—were working re-
motely and continue to work remotely, and
some of their clients have not been satisfi ed
with their performance.”
Th e COVID-19 pandemic has certainly
wreaked havoc for properties large and small,
professionally managed and self-managed
alike. At the end of the day, the continued
viability of your particular management ar-
rangement lies more with the individuals
in your community and their willingness to
adjust to a frequently changing landscape. If
that adjustment is too diffi cult, professional
management is just a phone call away.
■
A J Sidransky is a staff writer/reporter for
CooperatorNews New Jersey, and a published
novelist.
A
“Th e action by the HOA
is improper,” says attorney
Henry C. Walentowicz, Esq.,
of Clift on-based Celentano, Stadtmauer &
Walentowicz, LLP. “I would not call it ‘extor-
tion,’ but I would suggest it is illegal. [It re-
minds me of] early grammar school teachers
punishing an entire class if the violator did
not admit guilt.
“Th e HOA is wrong on various levels.
First, most states now mandate that unit
owners be provided an alternate resolution
procedure which must be fair and effi cient.
Secondly, an association, through its trustees,
has a fi duciary duty to comply with the gov-
erning documents and the applicable laws. A
fi ne cannot be imposed without notice and
an opportunity to be heard. An indiscrimi-
nate imposition of fi nes on unit owners based
on a suspicion is unlawful as it fails to comply
with the applicable due process basics.
“Moreover, did the association conduct
an investigation to determine the origin of
the dumped garbage? It could have been
dumped by the contractors. Th e HOA is not
discharging its duties in accordance with the
applicable statutes and rules by its arbitrary
imposition of a class fi ne.”
continued on page 19