Incompetent Management Company

[rgseverin]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York

This is a situation where the management company of my co-op is mediating a dispute between myself and the owner directly upstairs from my apartment. Both myself and the upstairs owner have tenants occupying our respective apartments.

Half of the ceiling in my bathroom collapsed due to water damage caused by a leak in the bathroom of the owner directly above mine. This happened exactly one month from today. The management company would not give me the owners information to contact directly, instead they sent a letter to them informing them that if they do not make arrangements to rectify the situation the management company will go in, make the repairs and recoup the costs by billing him. They never heard back from the owner.

So I figured they would fix the problem after that week. Wrong. Week #1 and Week #2 was all repeated phone calls resulting in nothing but the run around and no return phone calls. It took repeated calls to different people to even have someone set a plan in place to get this work done. Entering week #3 they tell me that a second letter is required before they can commence work. If there's no reply by the end of week #3 they would go in and do the work.

Now, we're on week #4 and the owner upstairs finally responded. I asked when I can expect the situation to be fixed and all they said was in 3 or 4 days. I asked for a concrete date to tell my tenant and all I received was 3 or 4 days in a very condescending manner. I told them I've heard 3 or 4 days for the past 3 weeks and the response resulted in a heated exchange between myself and the office manager.

So the leak in my tenants ceiling has gotten progressively worse and not one thing has been done a month later. I have a very good tenant that took forever to find but now they are extremely irate and they have all the right to be.

Do I have any type of recourse here? Can I do anything?

[You Are Guilty]

Although you did not specify, I'll assume since something like 98% of all co-ops are in NYC that you are as well. (If not, say so and we can adjust accordingly).

You, as a shareholder, have a right to "inspect" the co-op's books. It's a basic right that your management company is certainly aware of and hopes that you are not. What it's useful for is to do exactly as you requested - ID the owner of the upstairs (or any other) unit. The problem for you is if the mgmt co refuses to provide it, your recourse lay outside of small claims - you can't get equitable (non-monetary) relief there. Which means the time and expense needed in "regular" court is rather high and which your mgmt co knows 99.9% of people will not use.

Therefore, you just need to know you have that legal right. Before you speak to the mgmt co again, you need to break out your proprietary lease and find the section which talk about repairs (it's in there somewhere). Then, when you speak to the mgmt co, you're going to cite the section the language appears in and read it to them. It'll say something along the lines of "if they don't fix the damage in a reasonable time, you get to fix it yourself and bill them for it" (specifics differ by lease). Hopefully, that will get their attention.

In the meantime, make sure you keep a paper trail - document all your conversations and demands in letters to the mgmt co.

[rgseverin]

Thank you... your suggestions are great.

[You Are Guilty]

Originally Posted by rgseverin

Thank you... your suggestions are great.

You should see my impression of Bill Clinton!

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by You Are Guilty

You should see my impression of Bill Clinton!

**A: your impression of Hillary is better.