A democracy fares best when its constituents are proportionally represented. For all intents and purposes, the board of a condominium, cooperative, or homeowners’ association is a democratically-elected entity, and as such, one could argue …
One of the most difficult issues for board members and residents of co-ops, condominiums and HOAs is that of arrearages. The problem poses practical, procedural and ethical issues and can ultimately lead to legal repercussions. Sadly, and…
Supers, building managers, maintenance persons, custodial staff, groundskeeping personnel, porters, doormen, concierges—depending on the size of a community, the staff roster for a condo, co-op, or HOA can be pretty long. The truth is, in t…
Most people go about their days paying little attention to the labor performed by those who make their lives easier. From transit workers to service employees to government officials, how often does one stop to thank the people making every…
Community living – the very basis of co-op, condo and HOA life –is based on the idea of trust. In a community of potentially hundreds or thousands of residents, every resident can’t be involved in the making of every decision. Too many cook…
A condominium, cooperative, or homeowners’ association elects a board for a specific purpose: to navigate the ins and outs of association management on a day-to-day basis. In fact, the board has an inflexible fiduciary duty to act in the be…
Despite the fact that most people would agree that discrimination is a bad thing, discrimination persists, which suggests either that existing laws against it are sometimes ignored, or that the legal definition of ‘discrimination’ isn’t alw…
Are condominiums, co-ops and HOAs cohesive communities? Is community part and parcel of what the purchaser is seeking when they buy into a co-op, condo or HOA? The concept of ‘community cohesiveness’ could be defined as a community in which…
Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat, oh my! Today, you would be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t use some form of social media to communicate with friends, family, and colleagues. Whether they are posting updates on their daily life, sha…
In 1974, Peter Drucker, a well-known management consultant and author of more than three dozen books said, “There is one thing most boards have in common; they do not function.” While Drucker’s blunt assessment was aimed primarily at corpo…