can I see how common charges are being used?

you should be getting an annual financial report from your condo association/management.

You can request to see the board meeting minutes.
Also the Condominium Act of The Real Property Law requires that all expeditures and receipts be on file.

You also get an annual statement from the condo. It is not itemized for each, it lists total amounts by catagories.

ba types faster than I do.

but less informative :)

Info by way of experience, ba.

It took me months of requests to finally get an appt. to see the condo minutes.
They can't be copied you can only copy by hand (as I did for 4 hours one afternoon. I ran out of time because it was 5pm and the office was closing. They didn't allow me back in the next day to finish viewing the minutes.)

When they finally produced them in discovery (in the frivolous lawsuit they filed against me)
the minutes were vague and intentionally misleading. There was a year where only one meeting took place (according to the condo).

They also claimed they were unable to produce bills relating to expenditures that I knew for a fact had taken place ( such as building repairs made due to the neglect of the condo, managing agent and the super.)

An owner can also contact the office of the Attorney General to check the Condo's file, and/or file a complaint. ( no litigation required for that).

NYCnewbie: is that why you want to see/know/check?

NYCnewbie,,
sounds like you don't trust something.

And if so, is smart to ask how to see/check.

"Simply being retained by the Condo board"...

As in "SIMPLY BEING WASTED by the Condo board...

an owner can see some of that waste, simply by living in the building and paying attention to what is going on around you.

It helps to work from home during the weekdays (8am-5pm).
You can see the super up to no good. You're around for "emergency water shut-offs" and things like that.

I was home during the weekday when the terrace of a unit 2 floors above me flooded due to the neglect of the Board, managing agent and the super to maintain it, as required by the Bylaws.

If I wasn't home at the time, the resulting leak through my ceiling would have caused even more damage to my apt. and possibly could have leaked down into other units below me. (The super was unaware of the flood and leaking down to other units below it. It was me who alerted him out of his stupor.)
I woul;d have come home to find the damage and received a B.S. excuse/explanation of what had happened and they probably would have accused me of causing the leak through my ceiling (!) without mentioning the terrace flood.

Everything in that building was shrouded in lies wrapped in deception. Much easier to do in a Condo than a co-op, though it happens in a co-op. A co-op is required to have regular board meetings throughout the year and to keep minutes of same.
A condo board isn't required to even write/take/keep minutes of their regular meetings.

Another example:

The board, managing agent and the stuporsuper allowed work to be done on the main gas line of the building without a permit. They got caught by Con Ed who called in the DOB. The DOB wrote up a violation (it's the most severe level: immediate danger to the building type). The fine (DOB can fine for violations) was $2,400. The building was without gas for 5 weeks.

To make that long story short: Nothing and I mean NOT A WORD was ever reported about the violation in the minutes. As a matter of fact THERE WAS NO board MEETING until months after this and the minutes mentioned none of it. 5 weeks without gas for cooking/laundry room dryers.

So newbie: You get the picture.

Nothing in the annual financial report either.

They didn't pay the fine and were hit with a $400 late fee.
They still didn't pay.

A couple of years later thay were hit with a $5,000 civil fine for not paying the earlier fines.
They had to pay and the DOB sent another inspector after $3,600 was wasted on plumbers to come in and shut the gas lines down (and connections in each apt. -- that was another week without gas --and then test the main gas line. Then the plumbers came around to each apt. again to reconnect the gas.)

wow- what condo was that?

You doing the math on this, newbie?
A waste of over 10 thousand dollars from the condo's cash reserves.
And they almost blew up the building.

Nothing about any of it ever in the minutes. No unit owners' meeting because the sponsor didn't show up.
In the 13 years I lived there,they went from holding annual meetings in April,moving meetings to Sept. and then to mid-Dec. Finally they moved the meeting to mid-March. They only have until the end of March to get met within the fiscal year.

I have the exact figures because I looked it up on the DOB website.

Go there and type in your building address. Click on "open violations". Then click on violation history.
That's where you will "see" things like that. Probably the only place/way to see.

Hey, it's after 7pm! I've got a dinner order being delivered to the grey zone VIP lounge from Nobu.
They pass by Sophia's office and she gets a wiff -- but no Nobu for her.
It's just me and huntersburg allowed.
After huntersburg goes out, bjw can stop in.

hey sophia, get your hands offa that tuna roll!
stop eyeballin the miso cod!!

gross.

http://streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/23611-columbiacounty-gave-up-eating-shit-years-ago

huntersburg: You want coffee?
I'm going out. There's a fresh pot on.

decaf please

NYCnewbie: In my condo the annual statement breaks down everything: salaries, electric bill, elevator maintenance etc and the amount of the building's reserve fund. I'd being willing to bet that your condo's bylaws require an annual statement to owners and that it has to be approved by a CPA.

harlembuyer: Yes, annual statement breaks the expenses down by categories.
But not by each expenditure.
And that's where things can get fuzzy.

so...is your theory that every building is run crookedly or just some of them or just the one you lived in? what is the point?

newbie: The 10k+ was spread around the catagories: "Plumbing",
"Decorating","Misc." in the annual financial report.

Get the picture,harlembuyer?

Thge C.P.A. gets a folder of , let's say "Plumbing bills".
He adds the bill amounts up and totals them for that category.

That doesn't let the owners "see" exactly what is being spent for what reason.

10k+ wasted because the board didn't want to get a permit.

huntersburg: Shall I place an order for delivery from Tribeca Grill for tonight's V.I.P. grey zone lounge?
Unless you're in the mood for some Mex from Centrico.
Something from Corton, perhaps?
I think I'll order some things from each.
David Chang said he will provide next week's V.I.P. lounge menu.

SOPHIA: CALL THE BUILDING AND GET THE HEAT TURNED UP, PLEASE.
I already created, designed and furnished the V.I.P. lounge in here.
I don't want to use an electric heater. It's cold out today.