Page 9 - New England Condominium February 2022

NEWENGLANDCONDO.COM
NEW ENGLAND CONDOMINIUM
-FEBRUARY 2022
9
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
ddlevy@roofmaxx.com
5 0 8
-4 4-4
7
66
3
DON’T REPLACE YOUR ROOF…
REJUVENATE IT WITH ROOF MAXX!
the appropriate response to a more must proceed very carefully,” continues
subjective complaint might be “a little Sandler, “because it could be accused of
bit of understanding and empathy,” says violating federal fair housing laws.”
Dakoff. Management and the board “may
be able to defuse an angry owner just by ers and shareholders aggrieved by their
educating them.”
Such education could include remind-
ing shareholders and owners that part of they are not constrained by fair housing
living in a co-op or condo is being a mem-
ber of a community, “and also that you an individual owner to proceed with his
give up certain rights and privileges when or her own legal action, rather than the
you’re a member of
a cooperative or as-
sociation,”
Dakoff
continues.
“Over
the years,” he says,
“and especially in
the last few months,
we’ve had to basi-
cally tell people that
if they really need
total peace and qui-
et, that’s not going to
happen in a highrise
in downtown Chi-
cago. It may just be
that condominium
living isn’t right for
them.”
Jay Cohen, presi-
dent of A. Michael
Tyler Realty, a man-
agement company serving co-ops and into the governing documents to provide
condos in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, owners with their own causes of action
and Long Island, agrees. “There’s a lot of against a neighbor who is interfering with
reasonable judgement that must go into the peaceful enjoyment of their unit. Re-
responding to complaints,” he says, “and mind [residents] of their right to seek a
each must be dealt with on a case by case legal remedy on their own behalf.”
basis.” Cohen stresses that “[property]
management is a people business. You
have to take into account the human fac-
tor in dealing with these situations.”
Another factor that can add to the may have no choice but to proceed with
complexity of such situations in a an eviction. Managers and attorneys
residential setting is the fact that some alike say that this is never an option to
perpetrators of objectionable behavior be pursued lightly, and should only take
are living with an illness or disability that place when all other remedies have been
may cause or exacerbate that behavior. exhausted.
Sometimes, as in the case of hoarding,
the behavior itself is a symptom. In these First, quarantines and lockdowns, then
cases, association and co-op boards eviction moratoria, and finally court
must act in accordance with fair housing closures and backlogs have made an
laws, which “prohibit housing providers already time-consuming and complex
(including co-ops and condos) from process even more difficult and drawn
discriminating against protected classes, out. For co-op and condo residents
including people with disabilities,” says dealing with a disruptive or disturbed
attorney Scott J. Sandler Jr. of Sandler neighbor (and likely dealing with them
& Hansen LLC, a law firm based in more frequently and with more intensity,
Middletown, Connecticut.
“Associations are typically empowered patience and empathy probably left the
to address health and safety issues,” building some time ago. With moratoria
explains Sandler, “but the practical use on evictions expiring across jurisdictions,
of that power is limited.” In cases where this is an area that managers and
mental or emotional disability is a factor, attorneys are keeping a close eye on; this
the letters and fines that are normally publication is as well.
used to curb violations are likely to
be less effective, and the protections
afforded to people with disabilities can
make more aggressive actions—such
as eviction—fraught, if not impossible.
In these situations, “The association
Sandler goes on to suggest that own-
neighbors’ behavior might be better off
taking matters into their own hands, since
laws. “Sometimes it makes more sense for
association doing
so at the expense
of the commu-
nity. The govern-
ing documents of
many communi-
ties contain provi-
sions that prohibit
behavior that in-
terferes with the
rights of other
owners to peace-
fully enjoy the
use of their units,”
he says. “Many
owners
expect
the association to
enforce these pro-
visions. However,
these
provisions
are incorporated
The Nuclear Option
When a violation is persistent,
egregious, and goes uncured after
requisite notice, then a co-op or condo
But once again, COVID interferes.
given everyone’s increased time at home),
The Communal Spirit
As the world enters its third year of
COVID, it’s clear that the effects of the
pandemic are far-reaching and exponen-
tial. And as microcosms of the broader
“Sometimes it makes
more sense for an
individual owner to
proceed with his or
her own legal action,
rather than the
association doing so
at the expense of the
community.”
— Scott J. Sandler Jr
continued on page 10