New York State. This is a complex situation in which I may need to get a lawyer. It is a landlord tenant issue but also a co-op issue as I own my own apartment. I am also disabled and now in default to many creditors.
This problem has gone on many years - both my illness (a separate issue) and the constant leaking of the building. This building has had a leaking roof. I am on the top floor and the roof is right above me. The leaking has been destroying my ceiling since I moved in 12 years ago. The management has hired some local groups of men here and then to do patch work on the roof non of which worked while they concentrated on all sorts of other cosmetic fripperies (all new matching rugs/elevator interior/paint/plant/gardeners (they didn’t last all the trees died) etc to attract new moneyed buyers to inflate the value of the property and milked this building like a cow until the new buyers are now terrified because it all of a sudden became apparent that structural things like boilers, roof, electrical, plumbing were not so pretty had not be so pampered but somehow money had vanished.
Finally I when, after, 11 years waiting, after notifying the management companies (in 2005) that I needed to sell, was almost out of savings in 2005 a group of totally incompetent non union workers came for 18 months charged us all a whopping assessment (my part was $152 extra per month for 18 months to fix some of the old leaks and left leaving us all with some new roof leaks, mine in the living room now. This was in June 2007. A member of the board advised me to patch it over and not tell any prospective buyers that there was a leak. But he told me the roof was guaranteed and the workers were coming back to fix it. In December 2007 He told me they were looking for new bids. To me this meant I would probably have to wait at least 2 more years for any kind of repair probably have to pay a new assessment. Also there wasn’t much chance of selling my apartment at this time with the sub prime mortgage crisis.
In January I went to the city of New York and put in a complaint. I am seeing some new doctors now. Because of my nerve pain I have trouble walking but they think I may have luck with a spinal implant and I will have surgery to try to deal with this in May. I am on disability and have no money left so I have defaulted on my credit cards. I do not want to pay these people my maintenance until they fix the roof and my ceiling which looks like years. The judge in court just told me I can withhold it but I think I need to set up an Escrow account and I have no idea how to do that. I don't want my credit card creditors to think I have any extra money (I don't) and to take this money away. My friends and my son-in-law would help me set up and account. All I get from the board and the management company is that they're "working on the problem” I’ve gotten the same answer for this problem for 13 years now while plaster fell down on my head, while water ran down like a faucet while the elevators were taken out for 3 months - I just can't let them get away with this anymore. I know I'm the landlord in this situation but, believe me, we shareholders are really helpless in this situation. I may be in the worst situation but there are others in this building who are just sitting there watching workmen come in "to enlarge the lobby" (why is the lobby being enlarged while my windows don't work and who authorized this does anybody know? And does anybody know how much this is gong to cost? Is this why my maintenance went up so high?") Believe me I’m old I’ve been here a lot longer than they have but I watch them and they’re almost as desperate as I am – they invested in this place thinking everything was going to be taken care of and now they’re watching their investment (and they invested a lot more money than I did – although they had a lot more than I had) go right down the tubes) because no one in this situation knows what their rights are. We have workmen coming to enlarge the lobby in 2 days. No one in the building knows why the lobby is being enlarged. All of us are upset about the way the maintenance has gone up. There was no shareholder meeting to decide that the lobby should be enlarged. The large plate glass window in the lobby is being replaced. It’s been there for 25 years that I know of. I know it’s going to cost 100’s of dollars to replace. All we shareholders don’t understand why it’s being replaced. We don’t want to pay for these things. We know the roof leaks. We know the pumps for the steam system are broken and been repaired several times. The board tells us nothing. Contracts are flying about with Verizon with architects etc. and no one can get an answer about who’s awarding them. Just double talk. A lot of the shareholders are scared and waiting to see how I do. A lot of them don’t want to complain for the same reason I didn’t – it’s our property we don’t want to downgrade it to ruin our equity. I would be grateful for any advice you have to offer.
Basically how can I set up an Escrow account for my monthly maintenance payments so that the management company knows the money is there and my creditors cannot touch it should they try (I was told that, as a person on disability alone I am relatively safe but that is no complete guarantee). I will be having the city coming in every month and serving the management company papers and penalties for the leak so there will be documentation that the problem exists if they try to take me to court.
This problem has gone on many years - both my illness (a separate issue) and the constant leaking of the building. This building has had a leaking roof. I am on the top floor and the roof is right above me. The leaking has been destroying my ceiling since I moved in 12 years ago. The management has hired some local groups of men here and then to do patch work on the roof non of which worked while they concentrated on all sorts of other cosmetic fripperies (all new matching rugs/elevator interior/paint/plant/gardeners (they didn’t last all the trees died) etc to attract new moneyed buyers to inflate the value of the property and milked this building like a cow until the new buyers are now terrified because it all of a sudden became apparent that structural things like boilers, roof, electrical, plumbing were not so pretty had not be so pampered but somehow money had vanished.
Finally I when, after, 11 years waiting, after notifying the management companies (in 2005) that I needed to sell, was almost out of savings in 2005 a group of totally incompetent non union workers came for 18 months charged us all a whopping assessment (my part was $152 extra per month for 18 months to fix some of the old leaks and left leaving us all with some new roof leaks, mine in the living room now. This was in June 2007. A member of the board advised me to patch it over and not tell any prospective buyers that there was a leak. But he told me the roof was guaranteed and the workers were coming back to fix it. In December 2007 He told me they were looking for new bids. To me this meant I would probably have to wait at least 2 more years for any kind of repair probably have to pay a new assessment. Also there wasn’t much chance of selling my apartment at this time with the sub prime mortgage crisis.
In January I went to the city of New York and put in a complaint. I am seeing some new doctors now. Because of my nerve pain I have trouble walking but they think I may have luck with a spinal implant and I will have surgery to try to deal with this in May. I am on disability and have no money left so I have defaulted on my credit cards. I do not want to pay these people my maintenance until they fix the roof and my ceiling which looks like years. The judge in court just told me I can withhold it but I think I need to set up an Escrow account and I have no idea how to do that. I don't want my credit card creditors to think I have any extra money (I don't) and to take this money away. My friends and my son-in-law would help me set up and account. All I get from the board and the management company is that they're "working on the problem” I’ve gotten the same answer for this problem for 13 years now while plaster fell down on my head, while water ran down like a faucet while the elevators were taken out for 3 months - I just can't let them get away with this anymore. I know I'm the landlord in this situation but, believe me, we shareholders are really helpless in this situation. I may be in the worst situation but there are others in this building who are just sitting there watching workmen come in "to enlarge the lobby" (why is the lobby being enlarged while my windows don't work and who authorized this does anybody know? And does anybody know how much this is gong to cost? Is this why my maintenance went up so high?") Believe me I’m old I’ve been here a lot longer than they have but I watch them and they’re almost as desperate as I am – they invested in this place thinking everything was going to be taken care of and now they’re watching their investment (and they invested a lot more money than I did – although they had a lot more than I had) go right down the tubes) because no one in this situation knows what their rights are. We have workmen coming to enlarge the lobby in 2 days. No one in the building knows why the lobby is being enlarged. All of us are upset about the way the maintenance has gone up. There was no shareholder meeting to decide that the lobby should be enlarged. The large plate glass window in the lobby is being replaced. It’s been there for 25 years that I know of. I know it’s going to cost 100’s of dollars to replace. All we shareholders don’t understand why it’s being replaced. We don’t want to pay for these things. We know the roof leaks. We know the pumps for the steam system are broken and been repaired several times. The board tells us nothing. Contracts are flying about with Verizon with architects etc. and no one can get an answer about who’s awarding them. Just double talk. A lot of the shareholders are scared and waiting to see how I do. A lot of them don’t want to complain for the same reason I didn’t – it’s our property we don’t want to downgrade it to ruin our equity. I would be grateful for any advice you have to offer.
Basically how can I set up an Escrow account for my monthly maintenance payments so that the management company knows the money is there and my creditors cannot touch it should they try (I was told that, as a person on disability alone I am relatively safe but that is no complete guarantee). I will be having the city coming in every month and serving the management company papers and penalties for the leak so there will be documentation that the problem exists if they try to take me to court.