CooperatorNews Chicagoland Spring 2022

Spring 2022 CHICAGO.COOPERATORNEWS.COM CHICAGOLAND THE CONDO, HOA & CO-OP RESOURCE COOPERATORNEWS continued on page 12 205 Lexington Avenue, NY, NY 10016 • CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED continued on page 8 First-time buyers in condo associations, co-ops, and other multifamily residential com- munities are often surprised—and a bit confused—by the way in which their new building or HOA operates. Whether they are coming from a rental background or a single-family home experience, condo/co-op living, and its administrative and governance structure, differs dramatically from both. In a condo, you can’t depend on the super for everything as you might in a rental, nor can you undertake to do whatever you’d like without any prior approval, as you would in a single-family home. Renter Mentality “At the root of a lot of first-time owners’ misconceptions and misunderstandings is a lack of understanding and knowledge about what monthly assessments—also known as common charges or maintenance—are for, and what they cover,” says Eric Staszczak, executive vice president for property management with Westward360, a Chicago-based management firm. “People assume that anything and everything they have—including their furniture in the event of a damage event, for example—is the responsibility of the association. They assume the building will take care of everything. But that’s a renter’s mentality.” Rita Sprudzs, a senior property manager also with Westward360, outlines another com- mon problem: “Many times, co-op shareholders don’t understand that they don’t actually own the space they occupy. They are shareholders in a corporation that owns the property. They have a proprietary lease for their unit that is assigned to them by the corporation that owns the building.” This misapprehension can lead to a great deal of frustration and acrimony when a shareholder’s plans to alter or upgrade their unit butts up against the board’s authority—and duty—to review and approve (or reject) those plans based on how they may impact other units, or the building’s shared elements, including wiring, plumb- ing, or infrastructure. “Another common issue is that many condo owners think their board has as much power as a co-op board to intervene in quality- of-life disputes, such as noisy neighbors,” says Stuart Halper, prin- cipal of Impact Management, a New York-based management firm, “but they don’t. A condo board cannot remove an owner due to ‘bad behavior.’ If you have an inconsiderate neighbor, the board can’t do a thing.” Spring Maintenance Prepare & Perform BY DARCEY GERSTEIN Orienting New Owners Getting Smart About Condo & Co-op Life BY A. J. SIDRANSKY NEW BOARD MEMBER It’s that time of year again. Birds are chirping; trees are blooming; property managers and co-op and condo boards are addressing their task lists for the change of seasons. Whether it’s a Wrig- leyville walk-up or a Streeterville su- pertall, a dense city development or a sprawling suburban complex, a building up north still shoveling snow or a south- ern community whose pool is open year- round, spring is the time to give every property a little sprucing up. Early Bird vs. Worm According to the pros, winter’s short, dark days are the perfect time to get a jump on spring planning. Well in ad- vance of the first robin’s appearance, checklists should be in order, vendors and suppliers contacted and scheduled, and staff and board members prepared so that everything comes up roses—or tulips—when the weather starts to warm. “Doing the prep work now can possi- bly save you money in the end,” says Alan Bressler, Chairman of the Board & Chief Operating Officer of Guardian Services in New York, which provides a range of facility services to buildings and com- munities throughout the Northeast, New England, and the Mid-Atlantic. “Getting all your key stakeholders involved early can really improve your facility mainte- nance operation.” Brian Butler, CMCA, CAM, PCAM, senior vice president—high rise at First- Service Residential Illinois, agrees. “The best thing that a board can do to prepare for the spring is to fight the urge to de- fer reviewing details or making deci- sions related to upcoming capital repair needs,” he says. “If boards wait until the spring thaw comes to begin making de- cisions and hiring contractors, they’ll of- ten find that the schedules for the work are tighter, and pricing may be higher Capital Design Projects There’s Always Room for Improvement BY DARCEY GERSTEIN There’s a riddle in a popular children’s book that asks, ‘What’s the largest room in the world?’ After much consideration and many incorrect guesses, one of the characters in the book has the answer: “Why, the largest room in the world is room for improvement!” If you’ve lived in a multifamily commu- nity for any amount of time, it’s hard to argue with that statement. A residential building or complex can always stand to be improved, whether with an aesthetic update, design overhaul, or an upgrade of its machinery or systems—but even the most discretionary improvements can open a Pandora’s box of regulatory requirements. Likewise, upgrades intended to make a multifamily building or community code compliant very often force some design and decor decisions—so mak- ing a ‘simple’ improvement is often anything but. Best Laid Plans With so many variables in play and po- tential points at which things can go awry with a capital design project, the pros say the best way to ensure that it goes smoothly is to do as much up-front planning and organiz- ing as possible. According to Michael Refat, the Canton, Massachusetts-based Regional Director for national property management company FirstService Residential, that starts with lining up a team of competent profes- sionals to advise on all aspects of the project before it gets going, starting with an engi- neer. “We always advise the trustees, before they engage in any kind of renovations, to get a consulting engineer \[who can\] advise them if the project will trigger code compli- ance or not,” says Refat. “Usually \[clients\] think that redesigning the lobby or the hall- way is a matter of cosmetics. But when they start the project, they’re confronted with the reality that there is a large added expense to bring the alarm system, the fire suppression system, the sprinkler system, the panels into compliance; otherwise, \[the governing body won’t\] give the building a certificate of occu- pancy.” Refat adds that first and foremost, when a board heads into negotiations with an engineer, they should come to the meeting continued on page 8