Are you listening?

A 20-year condo owner and resident, Tahir, found me on LinkedIn and reached out. He has some concerns about how his building is run, so we set up a call. He spoke and I listened.

Tahir’s condo is a 110-unit building in a popular community among students and young professionals. Located in Massachusetts, the building has a garage, a large courtyard, and a swimming pool.

PROBLEMS:

Tahir is concerned that under the current board’s direction, the building will end up being the worst building on the block. The condo used to have a strong board that focused on the upkeep of the building as well as improving the quality of life for its owners and residents. A few years back, a new board of three took over and it is Tahir’s opinion that this board isn’t going its best to preserve the community.

#1 QUALITY OF LIFE ISSUES

One of the changes that the current board made was eliminating the security guards resulting in break-ins and stolen packages. Tahir also feels that the building’s trash is not properly disposed of in a timely manner. There are areas that seem to be able to accommodate more storage or bike storage spaces.

#2 SELF-DEALING

In the past, there have been some questionable occurrences. For instance, one of the board members had a spouse that was a vendor.

#3 THE BOARD & ELECTIONS

The condo has yearly elections and needs 67% either attending or via proxy to meet a quorum. This year, Tahir took matters into his own hands and went door to door to get three new people on the ballots. The three nominees were told that the ballot had to be notarized. Hence, no vote, and the old board members continued serving. Tahir told me that it feels like Gerrymandering.

SOLUTIONS:

For the quality of life and self-dealing items, my recommendation is always to volunteer for the board. This is the only way that you can have a say and make an impact, in my opinion. Tahir did volunteer with a group of neighbors, but unfortunately didn’t succeed... this time ?????? We get lots of calls from coop and condo owners who nominate themselves with the intent of taking over the board and making a positive impact on their community. Some succeed in getting in, and some don’t. If that is you, you’re not alone!

Prior to the next election, I suggest that you do some research to gain knowledge and be better prepared the next time around. Here are some tips on what you need to review to prepare yourself:

1. The condo’s by-laws (you can find those in your closing documents from when you bought the apartment, sometimes on the condo’s website or building management portal, or you can request it from your property management firm or a neighbor.)
2. The state laws pertaining to elections as they overrule the by-laws

In New York State, HOAs and condos are governed by the Condominium act, whereas coops are corporations and fall under the Small Business Law.

There’s a great organization that helps to educate and support owners of condos, coops, and homeowners’ associations (HOAs) called The Homeowners Protection Bureau, LLC (HOPB.) The website has all the governing laws listed by state. Here is the link to the resources in Massachusetts.

There are also separate documents in a coop or condo board election which might be helpful to know:

1)?????PROXY: A proxy legally authorizes another party to cast votes on the proxy holder’s behalf, like a power of attorney but for elections.?

2)?????BALLOT: The ballot is an official document used by shareholders or owners to vote on specific actions, such as capital improvement budgets and board members. The ballot has the name of the nominees listed.?

To be proactive, you might want to read our article “Welcome to the board! How to get new board members up-to-speed.”?

I hope you got value from this article, there's nothing better than hearing that you are not alone. At The Folson Group, our goal is to inspire you to run your building like a business. We enable and inspire co-op or condo board engagements to be filled with a feeling of accomplishment, excitement, meaning, happiness, and increased probability of success.

I am passionate about making every coop and condo owner live in a building that is greener, more sustainable, more affordable, and safer!

For other best practices for co-op and condo boards, get our FREE Policies and Procedures Checklist emailed straight to your inbox.?

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