Managing Board mutiny

squeegee beckenheim

Hello all,

I recently moved into a wonderful renovation of a very old building. Unfortunately, for all of us who moved in, the sponsor kept a lot of the old gas and plumbing lines and a lot of shotty work was done on the roof and original walls. There was a fire here a few years ago, and a flood recently, and our apartments show this.

During this time, while we have banded together to get all of this taken care of, the property management board has not been doing their part. Our common areas are dirty, the garbage is not taken care of properly, our individual small grievences are not being taken care of.

They know we are having a lot of problems, and have been missing in action when they claim to be a middle man to reaching the sponsor, for our larger issues as well.

Any advice? We've actually considered begining our own board for this building. Everything is getting way out of hand.

idlewild

Always bring in a contractor, a licensed contractor with a good track record (such as with BBB which is allied wit NYC Consumer Affairs) and have the contractor look at everything, top to bottom before you buy, whether in new construction and especially in renovated. You'd bring a mechanic with you for a used car, correct? Are you insured? Is the sponsor insured? Are you ready too sue? What is the property management board btw? Do you hire them? Now that I think about it are you renters or owners?

stacey

Ditto to everything that Idlewild said plus check your offering plan and check to see exactly what they offered you, i.e., modern plumbing, 220 electric, etc. If you are not supplied with what is in your offering plan contact the Attorney General.

squeegee beckenheim

Thanks so much for the advice. We are all renters and the management company is Guardian. They're very nice and we know that they are new to this building and probably have gotten themselves into more than they can handle, but we have serious quality of life issues going on here. The unit next to me is doing construction to keep their roof from caving in.

We are treading on eddshells here because we all understand this isn't their fault, but they are here to represent us, and we are being played for fools. The sponsor and his lawyer have basically ran for the hills. We have been doing all we can to alert potential buyers of the last unit of what is going on. We feel as soon as it's sold we will never hear from the sponsor again.

This is so upsetting to me because this was my life savings- my first real place- and I was so excited to be in the neighborhood.

We have a lawyer and are preparing for a litigation inspection in each unit. Sorry I'm being so vague, I don't want our hard earned plans out there on the internet without us formulating first.

I appreciate all perspectives on this!