The board of a condominium, cooperative or homeowners’ association has a fiduciary duty to make decisions in the best interest of the community as a whole. But individual board members may have different ideas as to what those decisions mig…
If you live in a condominium, cooperative or HOA, you’re effectively acting as part of a participatory democracy run by an elected group of volunteers. And as with any democracy, those affected by the board’s decisions are encouraged to get…
Every co-op, condo, and HOA has rules and regulations that residents and their guests must abide by. For the most part, they’re usually pretty straightforward: no smoking in common areas, limits on pets, no hockey-playing in the hallways. T…
One of the most unforgettable events of 2012 was the arrival of Hurricane Sandy, which, according to the National Hurricane Center, resulted in approximately 147 deaths in the U.S., the Caribbean, and Canada, and at least $50 billion in pro…
There’s an old adage that goes along the lines of, “You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your relatives.” That’s true of the people you serve with on your co-op or condo board. Board politics, like all politics, can get uncomfortab…
A democracy fares best when it is proportionally representative of its constituents. For all intents and purposes, the board of a condominium, cooperative or homeowners’ association is a democratically-elected entity, and as such, one could…
The key to any healthy relationship is good communication. That holds especially true for the sometimes-delicate dialogues that take place among residents, shareholders, board members, and managers in co-ops and condos of all sizes and conf…
One of the most difficult issues for board members and residents of co-ops, condominiums and HOAs is that of arrearages. The problem poses practical, procedural and ethical issues, and can ultimately lead to legal repercussions. There are p…
For many reasons, common-interest communities such as co-ops, condominiums, and HOAs prefer that the people living in the community’s units be the actual owners of those units – rather than renters, or subtenants, or relatives of the owners…
Supers, building managers, maintenance persons, custodial staff, groundskeeping personnel, porters, doormen, concierges—depending on the size of a community, the staff roster for a condo, co-op, or HOA can be pretty long. The truth is, in t…