Dos Keep your Board educated concerning emerging trends. Board members aren’t tied the latest cases, legislation, and changes that impact their roles as board members. Many allied professionals – attorneys, accountants, engineers, insurance agents – will send emails or links to posts about important new...
Part Three of a Three-Part series: The leak came from another unit, how is it my responsibility? In week one of our three-part series, we learned that the association is generally not responsible for property damage in a unit barring some negligence on its part...
Part Two of a Three-Part series: They are responsible, shouldn’t their insurance carrier provide coverage? Last week in part one of our series, “Who pays when causation, claims and coverage cross?” we discussed responsibility for property damage. We learned that responsibility is not as simple...
Part One of a Three-Part series: My oriental carpet was damaged by a roof leak; shouldn’t the association pay for the cost to replace my carpet? The answer is, “it depends.” Having insurance does not always equate to a legal responsibility for damage caused (or...
Do . . . 5. Create realistic budgets that fund all necessary operating expenses and reserves. Many board members take great pride in never raising assessments. This is a great practice if there is an ability to reduce certain costs – say insurance premiums. But if it...
We often see complaints from community associations regarding smoking, cooking smells or noise emanating from one unit to another. This leads to the question: what, if anything, can the association do? While many communities have restrictions in the governing documents prohibiting acts which may be...
Very often boards of condominiums and other community associations hesitate to engage in litigation against unit owners who fail to pay common expense assessments due to fear of the legal expense. In addressing this concern, I often advise boards that likely if you do nothing, you...
Vincenzo Mogavero, chair of our New Jersey and New York litigation groups, has just received his M.B.A. from Cornell University. Vincenzo joined the New York office as a litigator in August 2011, and has continually impressed all of us with his intelligence, work ethic and leadership...
Last August, New York City enacted Local Law 147 which requires owners of class A multiple dwellings to adopt and disclose a smoking policy. Although touted as a disclosure policy, there are several requirements that owners need to be aware of since the law takes...
The Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) 15 U.S.C.A. § 1692, et seq. applies to attorneys engaged in the collection of debt for community associations. The language contained in demand letters is a frequent source of FDCPA litigation. Liability is often imposed based on...