You should consider consulting a California attorney who specializes in CA co-op law, rules, and regulations. Most of the contributors on this board are familiar with NYC co-ops, and I'm pretty sure this is little to no commonality between CA and NYC co-op rules and regulations.

My best and only advice is that you not do anything except bring the matter to the attention of the co-op's attorney and be guided by what they tell you. The few dollars you may save by trying to do this yourself could mushroom by orders of magnitude if you don't proceed to the exact letter of the law. My wife was a Trust and Estates attorney and you would not believe the levels of detail and complexity in dealing with something like this.

Good luck

What ever happened to the unsold shares?
We own co-ops throughout the City and would be interested buyers if they're available for sale. lf you would like to discuss email me @ stevenduck88@gmail.com
All the best!

I agree with Steven that consulting an attorney is *mandatory* here. Unsold Shares are one of the most complex and contentious areas of co-op law, with significant changes in interpretation over the years.

One point which I don't believe has ever changed (but confirm with your attorney): if the shareholder has lived in the apartment for even a day, then they are no longer a Holder of Unsold Shares and cannot regain that status.

- Carl Tait

Quick question. Where do you think the co-op's management would get the funds to replace fuse boxes with circuit breakers throughout the entire building?

Quick answer: Shareholder maintenance increase or assessment

It's much more financially fair to all shareholders that each unit owner be responsible for replacing their fusebox only. Over the years individual shareholders may have added additional electrical capacity to their fusebox or made other changes resulting in a more complex replacement and higher individual replacement cost.

If you read your proprietary lease, there should be a section that states you purchased your unit "as is" and become responsible for all defects extending back to when the Offering Plan was approved. I think it's paragraph 18 in most standard PL's

Our Coop did the same it's an upgrade from the old glass fuses to breakers. Cooperators should not be significantly upgraded without Board and Management approvals to increase electrical capacities. This is to ensure code compliance and safety measures. It would be on your proprietary lease, or house rules

Hi, your Proprietary Lease (PL) should have a section called Repairs by Lessee which spells out the responsibility of the Shareholder and the corporation with regards to repairs.

Traditionally, all electric wiring and service, once it enters into your unit is the Shareholder responsibility. We do this replacement of Federal Pacific / STABLOK breakers that are a fire hazard and the shareholder is always responsible for the payment, as per the PL.

We have applicants who bought a co-op of three hundred thousand, and the board refused to interview the people who would put in a trust fund. The daughter paid all cash for the apartment for the parents.

There is a whole list of purchaser characteristics known as "Protected Classes" which prevent boards from denying the sale of an apartment. Some better-known Protected Classes are race, religion, sexual orientation, age, handicap, etc. If a purchaser falls into any one of these classes and their application is denied, they can sue for discrimination.

This leaves a very limited list of reasons a purchase can be denied. The most common one is the purchaser's financials. Lesser known reasons are diplomatic immunity or status, firearm ownership, disallowed pets, etc.

It is for this reason that all board members and anyone involved in the purchase review should never have *any* contact with a purchaser, ever. The financials must be reviewed and approved before the interview is scheduled, otherwise, the board leaves itself open to a discrimination suit for the briefest of encounters.

Putting shares into a trust is an entirely different situation. It's much more legally complicated than simply titling the shares in the name of the trust. The board needs to pass a resolution allowing shares be held in a trust, and a lot of ancillary issues worked out and agreed upon before the formal transfer takes place (who's allowed to live in the apartment, who is responsible for maintenance and assessment payment, who are noise and other complaints directed to and notices served upon, etc)

The co-op may not allow shares to be held in a trust, which is why they refused to interview the purchasers. The board knew they would reject the sale and did not want to allow a situation where the board could be accused of discrimination if any of the protected class characteristics were obvious at the interview.

From this point, the only communication should be through the attorneys. And since I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY, this advice is worth what you're paying for it. ;-)

As usual, Steven424's answer is excellent. I do have to disagree with one sentence, though: "This leaves a very limited list of reasons a purchase can be denied." It's just the opposite: there's a "very limited list of reasons" for which you *cannot* deny a purchase. It is perfectly legal - though idiotic and infuriating - for a board to deny an application for a ridiculous reason. Left-handed? Enjoys Beethoven? Has the same name as a board member and you don't want mail getting confused? (I've read that this has actually happened.) None of those are protected classes, so there's no legal hurdle. But of course it would be hideously inadvisable and misguided to do so, and your coop would get a terrible reputation.

In practice, rejections are *overwhelmingly* for financial reasons. A poor credit report would certainly fall into that category. The runner-up reason would be the proposed use for the apartment. "I plan to practice flamenco dancing for approximately 16 hours per day."

And to repeat Steve's important point: do not have *any* contact with the prospective purchaser(s) before the interview. Make your decision based on the application and associated documents, then after you've decided to say Yes, make the interview a meet-and-greet. Do not interview at all if the financials are unsatisfactory, including the credit check.

Note: I AM NOT A LAWYER.

Thanks for the additional information and updates, Marty. The only rejection we really ever considered was for financials, and we were able to work something out.

I agree Steven. In my 25 years on the Board, I think that every rejection was for financial reasons.

I would think so. Paying for a credit check is normally a routine part of submitting an application, whether or not the application is ultimately approved. It's just a step in the process. There are many reasons why an applicant might be denied after an application is submitted:

1) The applicant's credit check may reveal a poor credit history and thus, a bad risk for the co-op.

2) The applicant may not be making enough income to be relied upon to pay their monthly maintenance on time and in full

On May5 shareholders of co-op will protesting. Board avoid to do election for new board.
They want to be for life. On our letters HPD not respond. What else shareholders can to do, for election. Protest will be on: 156-11 Aguilar Ave, Flushing NY,11367

Glenn - I suggest you start a whole new topic thread for your question. Right now it's buried in the middle of a thread discussing rejecting a new purchaser and I don't thiddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddnk very many people will see it in its current location.

Coincidentally, Cooperator News just published an interesting article on this subject at https://cooperatornews.com/article/the-board-approval-process

Some quotes:

"Boards can demand troves of personal information from buyers, and can approve or deny a purchase for just about any reason--or no reason at all--but they may not engage in illegal discriminatory practices."

"Unusual demands aside, most boards are primarily looking at the purchaser’s financial profile when assessing their application. Can this person afford to buy the apartment and cover the monthly carrying costs? Do they have the resources to pay a special assessment, should one be necessary?"

Building square footage is only one of many factors the Dept of Finance uses when calculating building Assessed Valuation. What you need to do is contact an attorney who specializes in lowering overall building valuations. They're called Tax Certiorari attorneys.

If your managing agent already works with Tax Certiorari attorney or they can't help you find a one, I can recommend the one we've used for at least 15 years. Tax Certiorari attorneys are paid a percentage of the amount they lower your R/E taxes so there are no up-front fees.

My old co-op used to charge $75 a month as a late fee if you missed your maintenance. I know they didn’t do this during the pandemic.

We have just started back up with our Late fees since the Pandemic. After the 15th of the month, your maintenance is late. We assess a $50.00 late fee everytime the pymt is late across the board.

Its really up to the board. But I would give it to the manager to handle. It is what they are there for. I heard good things about honest ballot.

I was on my co-op's board for about 6 years (I later moved to a condo, before the covid pandemic changed the way boards communicate). I can't imagine a board getting away with this, without better informing shareholders. I do not understand how you cannot communicate with your fellow shareholders. Since your building is self-managed and there are only 16 units, can't you knock on your neighbor's doors and express to them your objections? Also, don't you also have access to your neighbors' emails, so that those you don't speak with in person you can communicate with by email? Also assuming when you say "eboard" you mean the actual board of your co-op. I'm sure someone else who has expertise with "e-boards" can better address your issues. Just wanted to share my thoughts. Good luck!

I was able to speak to some of my fellow shareholders, others by email, but my list was incomplete.

As an update, only 3 votes were cast, presumably from the eboard members pushing for this, and thus they could not make quorum. So they decided to reschedule the vote a week from now to try and pass it again.

Well, at least the motion seems unpopular in your co-op. It sounds like the board won't have the votes to get it passed.

The board probably won't get it passed, but this won't be the last time they try to do an end run.

I suggest you start planning for the future. Do something proactive like creating a private group on Facebook for shareholders or condo owners only. Discuss, notify, and advocate for anything you need to do without any board oversight.

Be aware that there will be expenses and you'll spend more time than you can imagine. The end result is much more transparency in the governance of your board or HOA.

This is just a very rough napkin plan and will require a lot of pre-planning and modifications.

Good luck!

Where was *your* closing attorney in all this and what did they have to say or advise you?

Our attorney was not the best. We are aware of our mistake. Now, we want to know if this is legal, and whether we can bring to small claims court.

CondoNYC - At this point, I think it is best that you find a new attorney and ask them for advice. You're asking questions of a legal nature, and there are not many attorneys on here who will answer without an official attorney/client relationship.

Good luck!

You get a free half an hour. Google it. It used to be in Midtown.
Probably the thing to do is write "paid in protest" on the subject line of your check and then take them to small claims after it is cashed.

OMG! This was an over due building bill? How can they do that? Yes get another atty, Don't let this go without a fight. This mgmt comp. needs to be investigated. I don't know who you can report this to, but I'm sure there is a higher agency that they can be reported.
Good Luck! Let us know the solution.

The new attorney hired by the OP will know all the proper legal procedures. I strongly advise the OP not to take *any* additional actions, but let their attorney handle it from here on.

And yes, I agree this should be pursued to the fullest extent possible. I think the A/G's office is the proper venue. But again, let your attorney do the talking.