Page 8 - New England Condominium February 2022

8 NEW ENGLAND CONDOMINIUM
-FEBRUARY 2022
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to remove a board member with an un-
disclosed conflict or who has been self-
dealing should review their bylaws.
They often allow the removal of board
members with or without cause, but the
threshold vote may be difficult to obtain.
“It’s a bit more difficult when the
conflict of interest is with the managing
agent,” Hakim continues. “Managing
agents are entrusted to assist in the
operation of the building and are
expected to do so with the building’s
best interest in mind. It’s not uncommon
for a management company to use
preferred vendors or contractors to help
obtain the best prices for the building.
However, undisclosed interests and
kickbacks will certainly not sit well with
the building, and are likely illegal given
the agency/principal relationship that
exists. To avoid any grey areas, all new
management agreements should include
a clause prohibiting conflicts of interest,
kickbacks, and gratuities. Managing
agents should have the building’s best
interest at all times.”
The expectation from shareholders
and unit owners is that the board and
management of their building or HOA
will always be thinking of the property
and its residents first. Maintaining
CONFLICTS...
continued from page 7
trust between boards, owners, and
management requires full disclosure,
which can quiet concerns when a board
member or management company offers
what might appear like an inside deal. As
always, transparency and accountability
are key.
n
A J Sidransky is a staff writer/reporter for
New England Condominium, and a published
novelist. He can be reached at alan@yrinc.com.
larly those of the vertical variety, the
communal element of shared walls, spac-
es, and financial obligations brings both
an alleviation and a magnification of the
effects of such isolation.
Jim Stoller, president and CEO of The
Building Group, a property management
firm based in Chicago, sees this phenom-
enon firsthand at the buildings his com-
pany manages, which are mostly luxury
highrises in the city’s Gold Coast and
other downtown neighborhoods. Of the
COVID era, he says, “There’s a lot more
people working from home—and there’s
a lot of people who just aren’t work-
ing—so there are a lot more eyes around
the building.” As the pandemic evolved,
triggering lockdowns, shelter-in-place
orders, and other unprecedented steps explains that complaints must meet
intended to slow the spread, Stoller says, a “standard of reasonableness” to be
“there were some people who were acting considered a violation of an association’s
out, unfortunately; pounding on walls, or corporation’s governing documents, or
walking around the buildings. In some the warranty of habitability, in the case
cases, they were going up to staff mem-
bers and getting in their faces—just re-
ally acting inappropriately. And that did that the vacuum in the unit above them
create a lot of additional stress for board is bothering them, that they’re trying to
members and for management, and also work and they can’t work, and they’re
for the staff. Especially early on, when demanding that something be done.”
there were a lot of unknowns. It was a dif-
ficult period.”
While Stoller praises his staff for People are entitled to vacuum their floors,
their dedication and hard work—as well and in a multifamily setting, it’s inevitable
as “the 90% of the people in the condos that some noise from such activities will
and co-ops that we manage [who] really penetrate the walls of adjoining units. So
were wonderful”—he goes on to say that how should a board respond?
with so many people home all day, and
ambient stress levels so high, “there are unusual time, there’s an aspect of this
a lot more complaints about neighbors—
the smoke complaints have gone up; management
complaints about people hanging out in
the lobby have gone up. And then, with tenderness, a little bit of empathy,” advises
the amenities [being closed] in many Dakoff. “Because everyone’s in an unusual
buildings, you couldn’t go work out or position, and more people are home than
swim it off, so that increased tension as ever before. They’re trying to work and
well.” In many cases, says Stoller, that live in a small space, in a vertical high-
tension escalated to the point where rise generally. And so they’re hearing
management was compelled to involve things they never heard before.”
the building’s or association’s attorneys.
One of those attorneys is Howard
S. Dakoff, partner with Chicago-based for incidents that rise to the level of
law firm Levenfeld Pearlstein, LLC. He an objective violation—legal letters,
of co-ops. “I’ve had calls from managers
[saying] that a unit owner is complaining
This type of complaint, he says, does
not meet the reasonableness standard.
“What I tell boards is that in this
that’s not legal expertise, that’s not pure
skill—it’s
psychology,
dealing with owners with a little bit of
Getting Serious
While there are prescribed remedies
fines, even eviction in extreme cases—
DEALING WITH...
continued from page 1