Page 10 - Chicago Cooperator Summer 2019

10 THE CHICAGOLAND COOPERATOR —SUMMER 2019 CHICAGOCOOPERATOR.COM Time for a new CBU? Sales - Service - Installation Call Mailbox Fast LLC www.MailboxFast.com Wheaton, IL 630-215-7343 of situations that require building staff or out- side contractors to access it. “Access to a unit in case of a problem,” says Stuart Halper, Vice President at the New York-area based Impact Real Estate Manage- ment, “is the most important consideration when an owner is away for a long period of time. The most important issue is whether the heat is on or not. In many buildings to- day, each unit has its own heating system. When owners leave for long periods, they turn off the heat. In the winter – especially in a climate like ours, where you can have long periods of intense cold and tempera- tures plummet – pipes can freeze up over an extended cold snap. This is especially true in townhouse and garden apartment type de- velopments. Water pipes can burst. This can also happen in an apartment building.” “Property functions better when it’s at ca- pacity,” says Brian Butler, Vice President of Property Management at FirstService Resi- dential Illinois. “Things start to go wrong when units are left vacant. Any time a resi- dent is traveling, they should do as much ad- vance planning as possible. Notify manage- ment if you’ll be gone for a lengthy period of time. Notify the post office. Many high-end properties offer mail forwarding. Although you may be absent, there are still demands made on the operation of the building in your name.” If a break happens in an empty unit, or if water or other damage from an adjacent unit affects an empty one, it's imperative that building staff or outside personnel be able to get into the unoccupied unit to address the problem and keep it from turning into some- thing much worse. While the idea of a super or plumber entering one's home unsuper- vised for an unlimited amount of time might not sit well with residents, it may be fair to say that being held liable for the damage done to neighboring apartments by one's leak, or coming home to mold growing all over the walls, is far worse. Emergency Response The key to solving this problem is...keys! Halper suggests that all owners who leave for extended periods of time leave a set of keys with the management, super or a neighbor, so that their unit can be easily accessible in the event of an emergency. And if the idea of leaving keys to your home with anyone other than a close relative gives you anxiety, consider the alternative if no means of easy access has been arranged before a resident has left, and something seri- ous comes up, “We call the fire department and they break down the door,” says Halper. “The management and the board have the au- thority to step in under governing documents if they can’t get hold of the owner for neces- sary or emergency repairs.” Jim Toscano, President of Property Man- agement of Andover in Lawrence, Massachu- setts, takes a view similar to Halper's about the most common cause of problems result- ing from long-term absentee owners. To- scano manages numerous properties where owners spend the winter in warmer climes. “Problems arise when they haven’t properly winterized their unit,” he says. “There can be the potential for damage in their unit or in neighboring units. It doesn’t happen as often as it did, say, 10 years ago, because we have educated owners. So now it’s much less frequent – but it can be frustrating at times. When it does happen and we have to get ac- cess, we call a locksmith to open the door.” Community Policy How should a co-op or condo board ad- dress the potential problems posed by ghost- owners? “Best practice is that the manage- ment of the building maintains a set of keys for every unit,” says Butler. If this requirement is not in the community’s bylaws or house rules, it can be adopted through the amend- ment protocols of the co-op or condo. In lieu of or in addition to keys, Toscano says it’s also helpful to require residents to leave up-to-date contact information with the management. “If we don’t have the in- formation we need, which is required, we can penalize the owner through a fine or other monetary penalty,” he says. “The fine can be daily and continuous. At, say, $25 per day, that can pile up fast. Unit owners usually re- spond quickly after they see the bill.” Liability In the event of a broken pipe, management must act, and act fast. “We have an obligation to preserve and stabilize the unit,” says Tosca- no. “We won’t necessarily fix the broken pipe, but we will turn off the water immediately, and dry out the unit to prevent mold. We don’t make repairs without the owner’s per- mission. We preserve the unit so the damage doesn’t get worse. That’s a legal obligation.” “Almost all declarations include a right of access for the association to enter \\\[a unit\\\] in order to make repairs,” says Butler. “We will do everything in our power to notify the owner, but often we can’t wait. We consider damage versus privacy rights. In terms of ac- cess, if there’s no key and sufficient on-site staff we might drill out the lock. The cost will be borne by the unit owner. Sometimes we call a locksmith.” “There’s enough liability to go around,” says Halper. “Management has the author- ity to step in under governing documents if they can’t get hold of the owner for necessary or emergency repairs.” The extent of liability to the owner or the association or corpora- tion depends on the specifics of the situation. Was the pipe break within the purview of the owner or the co-op or condo according to the governing documents? Toscano explains that repair work is often dictated by insurance. Is the damage covered under the building or homeowner’s policy? According to Alex Seaman, Senior Vice President with HUB International in Wood- bury, New York, “Unit owners are legally and financially responsible for these types of loss- es. If they have a homeowners policy, they WHY MANAGERS... continued from page 1