Q. Can a current board member campaign for his re-election, or go around knocking on each door and telling owners who to vote for? Is this legal?                                —What’s Appropriate?  A. “Yes and yes,” says Jonathan H. …

Q. We live in a co-op, and one of our neighbors seems to have a constant flow of different strangers entering and leaving their apartment while they are absent. I cannot imagine that the board knows this is going on, and our house rules d…

Keeping a building dry is both an interior and exterior challenge. All buildings, regardless of materials and construction, are at risk of water infiltration and moisture build-up in walls, ceilings, window wells and roof materials.  This …

Increasing residents’ monthly fees is never popular, but with insurance, labor, materials, utilities, code compliance and other operational costs rising across the board, your building’s cash inflow needs to reflect economic realities in or…

Each and every multifamily community is different with unique needs, expectations, and challenges. If you’re a regular reader of this publication, you’ve heard that refrain many times, across a broad range of contexts—including board govern…

Q. Residents of our 250-unit HOA in New Jersey have been complaining about dirty water for well over a year. First, the board and management told us it was an individual unit problem—then they replaced boilers, to no avail. We still had d…

American families are facing a convergence of economic pressures that are redefining what it means to live comfortably. After years of elevated inflation, the cost of essentials, from housing and groceries to transportation and health care,…

We all know that technology is continuously evolving—sometimes faster than the physical and mechanical infrastructure around it. A glaring example of this is intercom systems. They’re standard fare in nearly every apartment building, from t…

Life in a co-op or condominium is shaped by shared spaces, collective decision-making, and a complex web of responsibilities, including having appropriate insurance coverage. This guide explains the essentials of understanding your obligati…

Despite their sizable influence, and the fact that their members are residents of the communities they govern, co-op and condominium boards are often misunderstood. What can they do? What can’t they do? Can they approve a request from one r…