A condominium, cooperative, or homeowners’ association elects a board for a specific purpose: to manage the community’s day-to-day business, oversee special projects, and draft and uphold the rules and regulations that keep life orderly and…
Community living—the very basis of co-op, condo and HOA life—is based on the idea of trust. In a community of potentially hundreds or thousands of residents, every resident can’t be involved in the making of every decision. Too many cooks c…
Most people go about their days paying little attention to the labor performed by those who make their lives easier. From transit workers to service employees to government officials, how often does one stop to thank the people making every…
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…
Here’s a scenario: It’s mid-December. The board has assembled for their last meeting of the year. The managing agent brings great news: due to several unforeseen factors, including the past year’s mild winter and savings resulting from c…
A push for fair and democratic board elections in New Jersey got a major boost this past July when Gov. Chris Christie signed legislation that would codify a fair process for electing board members. The passage of the law also signals to al…
Q. As a condo board member for 15 years, we recently had an issue with a recently deceased owner’s family who pulled up the carpeting in the late owner’s ground-floor unit and found termites (which we are addressing), and cracks in the c…
Q. Can a board member who has served on one board for many years serve on another board that is in the same HOA association? I don’t want to cause a problem with this member, but it does mean they would be casting votes on two associatio…
Q. Can a condo board suddenly decide to sell pool memberships to friends of owners and friends of boat owners? We have a marina with a liberal guest policy, but selling memberships to outside people is not beneficial to owners. Is it lega…