Reviewing board minutes

It is pro forma that minutes must be reviewed at part of due diligence. You must not enter into a contract without seeing such minutes. Refusing access is fairly unheard of. I'm sorry, but this really must be considered a 100% deal breaker.

that sound very fishy. walk away... far away.

walk away

Absolute 100% deal breaker

Upon further reflection, what you say is happening is so unusual, maybe there is something more to it. Did the board (really it would be the managing agent) say no inspection without an appointment? Or until after the holidays? Or that ONLY the lawyer can see the minutes and that copies can't be made? These things would be not-so out of the ordinary.

As a corporation, every coop MUST keep minutes of board meetings. The level of detail is not mandated, but some record of the meeting must be kept. So it isn't exactly "news" that, as you write, "my lawyer tells me that the coop board keeps minutes..." The refusal to reveal them is bizarre. How does anyone in the coop ever sell an apartment?

My lawyer was told that she cannot see the minutes at all at any time.
I thank you all for your advice. This has been extremely helpful.

wow this is really really nuts! walk away far far away. Make sure you tell the seller ---

Definitely out of the question. As a shareholder, the seller also has a statutory right of inspection to the books and records.

If this is indeed true, isn't there an authority, the DA or AG or something, that this should be reported to?

Walk away. If you want to be nice, you should let the seller know.

You might not be able to have a copy sent or emailed to you, but you should be able to go to the office of managing agent and look at them there.

Walk away. BIG red flag.

I agree, very very odd and unusual. Kylwest is spot on. What are they trying to hide? Did the managing agent say this to you or did the seller broker or seller say this to you? Strange all around. I certainly would raise a BIG red flag to my buyer and tell them not to proceed until minutes are reviewed. Not that anything is being hidden, which it may, but preventing a buyers atty from conducting full diligence - that is really bad.

The thing about the board minutes that people should know is what Kylewest mentioned before: "the level of detail is not mandated,"

Very true. In the end the minutes are kept as a record of each board meeting, but the board is not obligated to put their full thoughts into the minutes. That means, they could be thinking of an assessment, or redoing hallways, or needing a new boiler, or needing new elevator relay switches that are so costly, etc..and choose not to enter it into the minutes until a later time. Its their call. So, the minutes is informative and nice, but sometimes doesnt tell the whole picture. You can review, see all is fine, buy, move in, and 2 months later get a new assessment because elevators need new relay switches. The board knew this was needed in the future, at some point, but didnt include in minutes until maybe the meeting before the decision was made to do it.

So that must be understood when your atty reviews minutes as part of diligence. With that said, I find most boards do a good job with their minutes and what I just discussed is not the norm.

Thanks for your response - a board member said that they were not obligated to.

If that message came from the board, I'd immediately inform the seller of that fact along with a statement that you are withdrawing your offer because (1) no prudent buyer could proceed without reviewing board minutes, and (2) no prudent buyer would want to join a coop whose board takes such extraordinary positions to the detriment of shareholders. Can you imagine subjecting yourself to life under such an absurd system of rules? I'm a proponent of coop living, but this one is radioactive. Move on. You've now been warned.

ditto - kylewest took the words out of my mouth. You'd want to do business with these people?