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NEWENGLANDCONDO.COM  NEW ENGLAND CONDOMINIUM   -FEBRUARY 2021      9  ddlevy@roofmaxx.com  5 0 8  -4 4-4  7  66  3  DON’T REPLACE YOUR ROOF…  REJUVENATE IT WITH ROOF MAXX!  185 Devonshire Street, Suite 401, Boston, MA 02110  Quality Representation at Reasonable Rates.  (617) 988-0633  Contact Attorney Frank Flynn:  FRANK@FLYNNLAW-NE.COM  Flynn_E4C.qxp:Layout 1  12/8/14  2:30 PM  Page 1  DAL  CPA  David A. Levy, CPA, P.C.  Certified Public Accountants  Areas of expertise in Condominiums   ■  Cooperatives   ■  Timeshares  ALL COMMON INTEREST DEVELOPMENTS  Call our office for a complimentary review of your financial needs  617-566-3645 or 866-842-0108  20 Freeman Place, Needham, MA 02492  DavidALevy_E4C_NEC_Sept15:Layout 1  10/7/2015  3:54 PM  Page 1  SERVICING THE EAST COAST FOR OVER 30 YEARS  Member AICPA, CAI-NE  www.DALCPAPC.net  dlevy@dalcpapc.net  as trash collection, but as the homeowner,   you’re in charge of maintaining your prop-  erty, both the structure you call home and   the land upon which it sits. If it snows, you   remove  the snow  from  your  driveway.  If   your water pipes freeze and burst, you are   responsible for repairing them. You are the   king of your castle—and all the responsi-  bilities that come along with it.  There is a short step between condo   and co-op  ownership and single-family   homeownership, and that is the HOA—the   homeowner’s association. In these com-  munities, the owners within the commu-  nity own their homes (which may be free-  standing and not attached to anyone else’s   dwelling) outright, but band together to   assume certain responsibilities that would   not normally be attended to by individual   homeowners. These include things like   maintenance and management of roads in-  side the community’s   borders; a commu-  nity  clubhouse, pool,   and any other private   amenities; and com-  mon elements that   may include utilities,   facades, or landscap-  ing, depending on   how the association   is set up. But gen-  erally, like single-  family homeowners,   HOA members are in   charge of their homes, both inside and out.  From HOA membership, the next step   to a communal ownership structure is    condominium ownership. Like owners of   single-family homes and units in HOAs,   condominium owners own their property   outright—but their owned property en-  compasses only what is within the dividing   walls of their units. All other parts of the   property, whether in a high-rise, mid-rise,   or townhouse setting, is owned and main-  tained by  the condominium association,   of which the unit owner is a member. The   condominium owner is for the most part   free to sell—or even rent out—their unit   without the interference or approval of the   condominium association.  Co-op ownership is significantly more   restrictive. Co-op owners don’t own their   apartments in the sense of having a deed   to a piece of real property. They own shares   in a cooperative corporation that in turn   owns the building in which their apart-  ment is located, and are issued a proprie-  tary lease for their unit by the corporation.   They can sell those shares and transfer the   lease applicable to their apartment—but   only to an approved buyer. That approval   is given (or withheld) by the co-op’s board   of directors—and most boards flatly forbid   renting or subletting units, though there   are some exceptions.   The ‘Landlord Complex’  Many owners—both co-op and condo   alike—have a misconception that their   board and/or manager functions just like   a landlord, and that as such, all of their   complaints, minor or major, should be di-  rected to either or both of those entities.   “The biggest misconception condo owners   have,” says Ellen Shapiro, an attorney with   the law firm of Marcus, Errico, Emmer   & Brooks (MEEB), located in Braintree,   Massachusetts, “is that the board exists to   serve the owners individually. The board is   not the landlord; the board is representing   the community as a whole. It represents   the organization, not the individual own-  ers—and  many  owners  don’t understand   that.  This problem  is created when  unit   owners have (or are given) the impres-  sion that they can call management, the   board, or even the association attorneys at   any time and speak with them about any-  thing in their interest. The board governs   the common elements, not the individual   units—although decisions they make may   affect individual   units. ‘If it hap-  pens in my unit,   the board has to   deal with it,’ is   not how it works.   The board is not   your landlord, or   your parent, and   it can’t fix your   individual prob-  lems.”  This  mis-  understanding   tends to be even more prevalent in co-op   buildings—which is perhaps understand-  able, given how much power co-op boards   do actually have over how their buildings   are governed—but is no less incorrect. Co-  op owners in New York, where the housing   model is especially common, often move   directly from being rental tenants to being   co-op shareholders with little instruction   and extremely limited knowledge of who   is responsible for what in their new com-  munity. Accustomed for years to calling   the landlord when anything goes wrong in   their apartment, they’re often surprised to   learn that repairs that would be required   of a landlord—fixing a leaky faucet, for ex-  ample, or replacing a ceiling light fixture—  are now very much their responsibility,   and are actually detailed in the proprietary   lease they were furnished with upon clos-  ing on the apartment. The transition from   a tenant mentality to a cooperator mental-  ity may take time, and it is sometimes met   with resistance along the way.  “People need to realize that living in   a co-op or a condo is very different from   renting an apartment,” says Julie Schech-  ter, an attorney with the law firm of Arm-  strong Teasdale in New York City. “Where-  as a landlord remains responsible for most   repairs in a rental apartment even though   a tenant is occupying it, the owner of a co-  operative or condominium unit is respon-  sible for many of their own repairs within   the apartment.  “Typically, as a general rule of thumb,”   Schechter continues, “shareholders and   unit owners are responsible for whatever   is within the four walls of their individual   unit, and the cooperative or condominium   is responsible for everything in the com-  mon areas of the property, and any build-  ing system that serves more than one   apartment. However, there are some gray   areas where it is not always obvious who   is responsible for the maintenance and re-  pair; for example, HVAC systems, plumb-  ing risers and valves, and windows.”   Read the Fine Print  The pros agree that the best way for a   new shareholder or unit owner to edu-  cate themselves about his/her individual   responsibilities is simply to read the gov-  erning documents for the building—and if   questions arise, or if any of the legal ter-  minology throws them, to ask for clarifica-  tion from their closing attorney or another   qualified legal expert.  “There’s no application process in con-  do purchases” as there is in a co-op, says   Shapiro. “Condo buyers get a copy of their   governing documents from their attor-  ney—if he’s worth his salt—but supplying   A LOOK AT...  continued from page 1  “The biggest   misconception condo   owners have is that the   board exists to serve the   owners individually.”               —  Ellen Shapiro  continued on page 10


































































































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