Whats the deal with this building

We are one of the first few moved into the building. Not a friendly building management. It is always unhappy about the residents with lots of complaints on residents. Even small unknown mistakes are exposed as big issues and law suits. There is no proper line of communication with building management except only through building superintend, but his reply is to communicate with building Management Company. As of now only communication for us to reach the building management is through realtor, who has been kind enough to try his best with no luck. They offered parking in the building, but it is useless. Indoor parking is impossible to park and it also accumulates lots of dust from the vent.

Actually this is quite common for Manhattan building managements, there are worse ones out there.

Go to the board member or President or have your lawyer send a letter to the board detailing issues with the management. It would help if you are not the only unit owner complaining and retaining the lawyer.

This sounds pretty bad to me.

300, should he prepare for retaliation from the management? And what if the board is as corrupt as the management?

That is why you need more than one unit owner to hire a lawyer. It is much harder for them to retaliate against multiple people.

300, if 2 shareholders are brave enough to start a legal process, do you know normally how much it will cost each of them in a ballpark?

Do you know any lawyers good at bringing down boards and managing agents?

Why not propose a solution and help the original poster?

We are helping. By providing an estimate and recommending good lawyers, is it the best help as you also suggested?

I am not an attorney and can't provide legal advice. This post might help guide you in the earliest stages while figuring out next steps. If the problems are truly signficant, you will need as many of the owners to co-operate as possible. This will be extremely expensive and if the problems are as extensive as you are eluding to, it's not just legal costs- but also will probably need to have a building wide engineering review done- where the engineer's will survey all owners/tenants for known problems as well as visually inspect all building systems. Even then, the engineers won't likely uncover some issues unless the sponsor agrees to allow the engineers to perform invasive testing (i.e. probe behind walls and other sealed areas). If the sponsor sold all the apartments and no longer had other financial ties to the building- you might not have much leverage if they don't care about their reputation because they could fold the LLC they are operating against. Since the sponsor still holds many units- you might have some leverage if the owners are well organized. The key is organizing all owners and getting a solid sense of what is wrong in every unit.

UptownSpecialist and other experts, do you know any lawyer who's good at bringing down managing agents and/or boards? Especially for those bigger buildings?

There are plenty of articles on the topic- sometimes written by an expert attorney or interviewing an expert attorney. For example: https://www.brickunderground.com/buy/construction-defects-condo-what-options-buyer

Or https://cooperator.com/article/bringing-a-construction-defect-claim/full

FYI- my post is relevant to owners- not tenants (though the unit owners will need cooperation from their tenants). If you are a tenant asking about all of this- it's a very different story, as this requires many of the unit owners full cooperation.

Can someone tell me the exact problems this building is having………structurally and otherwise?
I’m about to buy one. Thank you very much.

Will there be a lawsuit soon in this building?

UptownSpecialist, thanks. But the main issue we discuss here is about misbehaving/irrational managements, do you know any lawyer that's good at fighting against boards and managements?

A lot depends on what is truly going on in the building. There is no where near enough information to give you a recommendation and even if I had all the info, I might not be the best person to give a recommendation.

My own building had a managing agent that wasn't depositing owners common charge checks, wasn't issuing monthly statements, and padded monthly expenses- we promptly fired them at the end of the their annual contract. I have served on my building's board- it's an unpaid job, and is disruptive to my actual full time job- but the building desperately needed my skillset. I have had a lot of owners and tenants over the years angry with me that felt the board wasn't addressing their concerns. While we didn't fix the problems immediately, it didn't mean we were ignoring them. A lot comes down to finding someone that is actually willing to communicate. Once I spent the time to communicate with the owners and tenants, they calmed down- even if it meant their issues weren't going to be solved anytime in the near term. It was a huge investment in my time for an unpaid job- but not everyone will manage this the same way.

UptownSpecialist, thanks for sharing your personal story. Do you know friends living in big buildings (those have doorman) being bullied by management/boards and had success experience of fighting back?

Anton…do you live in this building?

I am pretty sure he does not. He just enjoys arguing and controversy.

For people looking for condo and coop unit owner legal representation, there are many. Do a google search.

https://www.nadelassociates.com/CO-OP-and-CONDO/Owner-Shareholder-Representation.shtml

mykonos55, I live in the area, and I know people living in this building, that's why I wanna help. But even if I am not affiliated with this building, there is nothing wrong trying to help. I am sad to see some mean people not only don't want to help, but also discourage other people to help.

300 Mercer....do you live or know anyone that does live in this building ....and their experiences so far?

No.

Anton....what has been the complaints in this building?
Anything structurally?
No response from sponsor/management company (that he owns)?
Any help would greatly be appreciated.
Thank you very much.

Anton....what has been the complaints in this building?
Anything structurally?
No response from sponsor/management company (that he owns)?
Any help would greatly be appreciated.
Thank you very much.

mykonos55
when you say that you are about to buy one, are you in contract and about to close or are you about to sign a contract?
in either case this certainly sounds like something which your attorney should be investigating. If you have an attorney who is simply going through the motions on a transaction now may be the time to switch.

An attorney ,no matter how well versed he is , cannot tell or warn you about what’s actually going on in the building. Only residents who actually live there and have that experience can forewarn you about any potential downside or issues. Otherwise it’s pure speculation on what can go wrong in a new development....and lots can go wrong.

Try this. Get the names of unit owners from "recorded sales" in Streeteasy. See if you can find some of the owners on Linkedin. I am sure some of them will respond to your Linkedin if you explain the reason in your connect request.

mykonos, your lawyer reads the notes from board meetings, gleans clues from this and will advise you.

mykonos55, I didn't hear about structural issues. The person I know mentioned the hostile management problem as well. But board minutes might not record this information.

If sponsor controls the board (and he does) , you will not have any negative comments at all in minutes.
Why have many of the affordable units sold but most of the market rate not???

Crappy neighborhood -

there are currently lawsuit against management for harrassment and board. buyer beware, i am a potential buyer for a co-op and heard how management treated a 70 yr old couple who own and live there for 20 year saying they cannot afford the increased maintance fee, the couple has since faced harassment from doorman, management and they wont even let them use laundry room even thoguh they had been paying)

THE MANAGEMENT OF THIS BUILDING is terrible- i am a prospect buyer and met a tenant whose selling and found out the reason why this building coop are selling is because of the terrible management/board.

there is also mice in the building, after viewing the place/ and hearing why one of the owner is selling i decide to not buy. BUYER BEWARE!!! do your research, TERRIBLE HORRIBLE MANAGEMENT AND COOP!!!

BEWARE i do not want to live in a terrible environment. which is why there are 50+ units sold with in past years,!!!!

@fhcen I think you have the wrong building. While 70 West isn't without it's own problems, the problems you listed are not applicable.