I am a condo owner in Manhattan, the building board recently hired a new management company, they sent out an email to all residents stating that they need to conduct a mandatory AC unit cleaning. $80 for per AC. I have had the place for 4 years, from the previous management company they sent such email annually but always an optional for owners. The reason behind it was that there was one unit... [more]
I am a condo owner in Manhattan, the building board recently hired a new management company, they sent out an email to all residents stating that they need to conduct a mandatory AC unit cleaning. $80 for per AC. I have had the place for 4 years, from the previous management company they sent such email annually but always an optional for owners. The reason behind it was that there was one unit below us AC blew up and flooded the floor underneath, again that was 4 years ago, nothing happened since.
About AC cleaning, I had them coming in when I first lived in here, it was such a scam, they just hired people with vacuum that opened up the AC and vacuumed all the dust, $80 per AC is very steep, we have 3 AC so it's $240, and we felt such a waste of money and did ourselves for the last 3 years. Now the management company, of course on the board behalf, says it's mandatory, the board has the legal rights to do it. Even if the job wasn't conducted, we would still be charged for all the costs which will be listed in our next monthly common charge. I am pretty sure no one has hired them for the past years so they made no money, all of the sudden it's all mandatory.
I am just wondering does the board has such rights to do so? from a legal point of view?
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Response by jelj13
over 9 years ago
Posts: 821
Member since: Sep 2011
I lived in a condo where we had to mandate this because we had several serious leaks as people were not maintaining their a/c's. Most of the problems were caused by the drains being clogged, so the condensation pan overflowed. They had someone come out authorized to clean these a/c's. (We all had the same brand as it was tied to the heating system). They vacuumed everything out and tested the drain.
I have a similar set up in the coop where I'm now living. However, you are not billed separately for the service. The service is transparent because it has always been part of the maintenance. So the building assumes responsibility for your a/c running properly.
I lived in a condo where we had to mandate this because we had several serious leaks as people were not maintaining their a/c's. Most of the problems were caused by the drains being clogged, so the condensation pan overflowed. They had someone come out authorized to clean these a/c's. (We all had the same brand as it was tied to the heating system). They vacuumed everything out and tested the drain.
I have a similar set up in the coop where I'm now living. However, you are not billed separately for the service. The service is transparent because it has always been part of the maintenance. So the building assumes responsibility for your a/c running properly.