Page 11 - Chicago Cooperator Winter 2019

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THE CHICAGOLAND COOPERATOR —
WINTER 2019
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stayed with a family member elsewhere. For
other residents who were able to go up and
down the stairs, we accommodated them by
hiring extra staff to help people with their
groceries, luggage, etc. We placed chairs on
each landing and provided cold bottles of wa-
ter for anyone who was tired or overheated.”
Another example of community outreach
during an elevator upgrade played out at a
close-knit mid-size co-op in Upper Manhat-
tan’s Hudson Heights neighborhood. Built in
1939, the 56-unit building has only one eleva-
tor. The cab and equipment were completely
refurbished a few years back, presenting the
co-op community with a unique set of chal-
lenges. The building was home to about a
half-dozen residents who were past 90 years
of age—all living above the fourth floor. Hope
Kaye has been a resident of the co-op for 15
years and says that most of the elders were
former refugees from Eastern Europe during
World War II, and as such were perhaps less
likely to ask for help than others might be.
According to Kaye, those who had children
didn’t have them living close by. In order to
support and assist their neighbors, the com-
munity was proactive.
“One unique aspect of the problem was
that these six elderly shareholders took their
lunch every day at a senior center around the
corner at a synagogue social program,” Kaye
explains. “Their social lives required them to
leave the building daily. So we set up a pro-
tocol to help them without asking them if
they needed help. We placed folding chairs
on each landing to provide a ‘rest stop’ af-
ter each flight of stairs. We also organized a
program to check in on them and offered to
do their errands—things like food shopping,
picking up dry cleaning, etc. that they might
not be comfortable asking a neighbor to do.
For those who wanted to do their own shop-
ping, we had the super and residents who
were home during the day on lookout to help
them carry their bags up the stairs. We did a
similar thing with garbage disposal. All gar-
bage must be sorted for recycling, and so had
to be carried down to the first-floor collection
area, because the building’s garbage chute was
sealed up years ago. We made sure that when
we took down our garbage, we took down
theirs, too.”
Kaye says the elevator project took approx-
imately six weeks. “If anything,” she says, “the
project and the way we handled it brought us
closer as a community.”
Another important consideration when it
comes to navigating a major elevator project
is to enforce the timeframe and schedule set
out by the elevator contractor in their refur-
bishment or replacement contract. According
to Duggin, “The contract the building signs
with the company doing the work will contain
a clause specifying a timeline and completion
date. If that timeline and date are not met, the
contract will contain penalties.” While delays
in any type of construction work are typical,
when it comes to something as crucial to the
community as elevator work, both the board
of directors and management need to stay on
top of the situation to minimize the inevitable
disruption.
The Legal Angle
What are the real liabilities a co-op or
condo board should consider before proceed-
ing with an elevator project? Attorney Mi-
chael C. Kim, principal at Michael C. Kim &
Associates in Chicago, says that “In general,
the association would not be responsible for
providing disabled occupants with alternative
housing or compensate/reimburse them for
such expense. Elevators may require repair,
or even replacement at some point in time.
Having one elevator is an obvious condition
of the property, and if that elevator is out of
service for whatever reason and for whatever
length of time, that is a potential situation that
owners and residents need to take into ac-
count. While the association cannot wrong-
fully interfere with an owner or resident’s ac-
cess to their unit, the association cannot and
does not unconditionally guarantee access.
The best course of action is to give as much
notice as possible of the modernization proj-
ect and its effects on access, so as to allow the
disabled residents to make alternative living
arrangements, such as staying with relatives
or renting temporary quarters. Providing ac-
cess essentially deals with keeping the exist-
ing structure and services in good repair and
does not require the providing of additional
services which would extend beyond that ba-
sic function or obligation.
“Having said that,” Kim continues, “as a
practical, political, and neighborly service,
some associations will identify and even make
arrangements with buildings or other facilities
in the neighborhood, sometimes with special
rates arranged, to lessen the inconvenience to
the affected residents, however, providing and
paying for complete alternative living quarters
would be unusual in my experience.”
Mark Hakim is a co-op attorney with
Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg & Slad-
kus, a law firm based in New York City. “Un-
der the New York City Human Rights Law, the
Federal Fair Housing Act, and the New York
State Human Rights Law,” reasonable accom-
modations in housing must be made to those
living with legally defined disabilities. The
accommodations to be made should be such
that the disabled person can enjoy the use of
his or her apartment in the same fashion that
someone who is not disabled can. In addition,
in a co-op building where there is a landlord/
tenant relationship, while the board (compa-
rable in this case to a landlord) is entitled to
shut down the elevator to make the repairs/
replacements, depending on the terms of the
proprietary lease, that shutdown may entitle
the shareholders (in this case comparable to
tenants) to make a claim for abatement of
their maintenance.” In other words, if a share-
holder can’t make full use of their apartment
because of an elevator shutdown—no matter
how necessary that shutdown may be—they
may be able to argue successfully for suspend-
ing their monthly maintenance until the lift is
ELEVATOR...
continued from page 10
back up and running.
Hakim cautions that notice should be
sent to every resident of a building when an
elevator shutdown is planned, and that man-
agement should make inquiries to determine
which residents may need assistance. How-
ever, it is generally the responsibility of the
disabled shareholder or unit owner to notify
the management or board and request a rea-
sonable accommodation to be made.
When it comes to something as crucial—
and as potentially disruptive—as a major
elevator repair/replacement project, co-op
and condominium boards should be proac-
tive and communicative. They should reach
out to all the occupants and determine who,
if anyone, will need accommodations and
how those can be reasonably made. Open a
dialogue with all, and do not ignore the is-
sue until it is too late. It’s always better to be
communicative and proactive, rather than
tight-lipped and reactive. Each board should
understand and expect that there may be re-
quests for accommodations and should be,
at all times before, during, and after the bid
process and during the pendency of the work,
ready to assist and respond to reasonable re-
quests.
n
A J Sidransky is a staff writer/reporter with
The Chicagoland Cooperator and a published
novelist.