what can i do about my co-op?

Are there neighbors that want to join you? you need to speak with a lawyer.....spend your own money and meet with a real estate lawyer before you do anything.

So spill the beans....what co-op is this? Or if you don't want to stte the actual building, at least the area of town.

Forget the lawyer - they will have no interest. It sounds like an unfortunate situation. If it were me, I would attempt to contact other shareholders who have similar concerns. Get a group together and replace the president of the board with someone who cares and is willing to assume the responsibilities of the position. I never heard of a board president that does not actually live in the building and I think it would be easy to remove him after 11 years of negligence. Nominate yourselp and turn the situation around!

Only way is to organize a coalition of concerned members and act on your own. Call the managing agent and let them know that they need to start paying attention to you or the group or else everyone will simply stop paying maintenance and let the building fall apart on them.

I wonder what would happen if EVERYONE just started withholding maintenance fees...

You should be able to call an EGM, get the rest of the owners to vote in a new board. For a good guide to taking control of your co-op, order "The New York Co-Op Bible" by Sylvia Shapiro. Don't name your building though as this post will be here forever and you'll hurt your resale price someday.

Note this will take some work: slipping a few anonymous notes under doors won't do it.

Can't believe the pres doesn't live in the building. That bodes terribly.

I would definitely stop paying maintenance. Contacting the management company sould probably be futile as the treasurere is also the building's manager - an extreme conflict of interest.

Lots of good advice here - it's your building, you need to build a consensus. Good luck!

The comments above make good sense but I believe you should speak with a lawyer who could advise you on liabilities,etc.

propsguy, is this an HDFC coop, or something similar -- something UHAB perhaps?

Can you give details about how many units there are in the coop, when it became a coop, and an estimate about how many out of the total units are owner-occupied? Does the building have rent-regulated tenants who don't own their apartments?

Hey, Pguy, loose lips sink ships & I would say NOTHING at all to identify your building. It's a ridiculous but very touchy situation. Good luck!