The drawbacks of being on a board are legion. For one thing, it's a lot of work. Hours and hours and hours of work, of poring over spreadsheets, of talking to property managers and vendors and residents and tenants when you could be watc…
Members of co-op, condo and HOA boards often give a great deal of their personal time to make decisions in the best interest of their association, cooperative or condo community. These volunteers are charged with protecting the community…
All too often, a disagreement between neighbors, or between a board and a resident, goes from minor to heated to nasty—and then turns litigious. Our culture seems all too ready to sue at the drop of a hat, but lawsuits are not only expen…
Whenever an HOA resident has a burning question about policy, rules or procedure in their association community, chances are the answer doesn't lie in some obscure legal document or under lock and key somewhere in the depths of the assoc…
The homeowners association is, in theory if not always in practice, democracy in action. Once elected via popular vote by the members of the association, the board members—again, in theory, if not always in practice—represent the organiz…
When Bob Madison, a unit owner on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, tried to contact a board member to talk to them about an ongoing problem he had in the building, he was told "board members don't give out their e-mail addresses." He wa…
Running a successful co-op or condo—whether you're a shareholder or a manager—requires a lot of outside help. There are landscapers to contract, attorneys to query, owners to deal with and hundreds of other tasks each day that require in…
Sobering studies have recently been published by organizations like the International Energy Association and the National Petroleum Council suggesting that the planet's supply of traditional energy sources may not meet demand by as soon …
Q One of our board members has been president for many years. She runs the building on a unilateral basis, giving out very little information about the business of the condo. Unit owners have little influence because she is elected by …
Q In years past, condo unit owners were given copies of the minutes of the annual meeting. A new management company was engaged and this practice stopped. Now, when I have requested the minutes of the annual meeting, I have been told th…
Q Who checks up on the board? Does the board police themselves from within, or is it the managing agent that checks up on their actions? If the board makes a mistake, will the shareholders be notified? In what way is a board accountable…