Page 12 - New England Condominium June 2019

12 NEW ENGLAND CONDOMINIUM -JUNE 2019 NEWENGLANDCONDO.COM O nce upon a time, you usually ing of the unit. Given that co-op and own heating system. When owners leave greeted your neighbor in the condo units carry monthly costs such as for long periods, they turn off the heat. hallway of your building as you common area charges, maintenance and In the winter – especially in a climate like were coming or going. But you haven’t probably mortgage payments, owners ours, where you can have long periods of seen or heard a peep from her in almost who plan long absences for work or travel intense cold and temperatures plummet – two months. You wonder if she is okay. So you ask the super one morning in unit during that time to cover those costs. snap. This is especially true in townhouse the lobby about your neighbor’s where- abouts. He responds that she’s perfectly art-collecting neighbor, can afford or pre- fine – she just went to a writers’ retreat in fer not to have anyone at their place while pen in an apartment building.” Portland for a year. The reason why the on vacation. Those type of residents be- neighbor didn’t sublet her place, the su- per explains, is because she has a valuable collection of pre-Columbian art and was afraid of possible theft or damage. And just like that, you have a ghost owner for a neighbor. The Fundamentals of Vacancy Co-ops and condo units are potentially apartment unit surrounded on all sides income-producing assets. While osten- sibly intended as principal residences for involved in any number of situations that their owners, both can generally be leased require building staff or outside contrac- out. In a co-op where a resident of the tors to access it. unit is a shareholder in the corporation that owns the property, the act of leasing says Stuart Halper, Vice President at the out the unit is referred to as a sublet. In New York-area based Impact Real Estate a condominium where a unit is owned Management, “is the most important directly, the leasing out of the unit is re- ferred to simply as a lease. In both cases a long period of time. The most impor- – particularly in a co-op – the board will tant issue is whether the heat is on or not. set of keys with the management, super or have some level of control over the leas- often place a rent-paying tenant in their pipes can freeze up over an extended cold But some owners, like the aforementioned and garden apartment type developments. come so-called ‘ghost’ owners. The Practical Effects of ‘Ghost’ Ownership Perhaps the most obvious possible consequence of unoccupied units is prob- lems with accessing those units when necessary. Unlike a private home, an and up and down by other units may be “Access to a unit in case of a problem,” consideration when an owner is away for keys! Halper suggests that all owners who In many buildings today, each unit has its a neighbor, so that their unit can be easily Water pipes can burst. This can also hap- If a break happens in an empty unit, or if water or other damage from an adjacent unit affects an empty one, it’s imperative that building staff or outside personnel be able to get into the unoccupied unit to ad- dress the problem and keep it from turn- ing into something much worse. While the idea of a super or plumber entering one’s home unsupervised for an unlim- ited amount of time might not sit well with residents, it may be fair to say that being held liable for the damage done to neighboring apartments by one’s leak, or coming home to mold growing all over the walls, is far worse. Emergency Response The key to solving this problem is... leave for extended periods of time leave a accessible in the event of an emergency. And if the idea of leaving keys to your home with anyone other than a close rela- tive gives you anxiety, consider the alter- native if no means of easy access has been arranged before a resident has left, and something serious comes up. “We call the fire department and they break down the door,” says Halper. “The management and the board have the authority to step in under governing documents if they can’t get hold of the owner for necessary or emergency repairs.” Jim Toscano, President of Property Management of Andover in Lawrence, Massachusetts, takes a view similar to Halper’s about the most common cause of problems resulting from long-term absen- tee owners. Toscano manages numerous properties where owners spend the winter in warmer climes. “Problems arise when they haven’t properly winterized their unit,” he says. “There can be the potential for damage in their unit or in neighboring units. It doesn’t happen as often as it did, say, 10 years ago, because we have educat- ed owners. So now it’s much less frequent – but it can be frustrating at times. When it does happen and we have to get access, we call a locksmith to open the door.” Community Policy How should a co-op or condo board address the potential problems posed by ghost owners? “The best approach is to require unit owners to leave keys with management,” says Halper. If this requirement is not in the community’s bylaws or house rules, it can be adopted through the amendment protocols of the co-op or condo. In lieu of, or in addition to, keys, To- scano says it’s also helpful to require residents to leave up-to-date contact in- formation with the management. “If we don’t have the information we need, which is required, we can penalize the owner through a fine or other monetary penalty,” he says. “The fine can be daily and continuous. At, say, $25 per day, that can pile up fast. Unit owners usually re- spond quickly after they see the bill.” Liability In the event of a broken pipe, manage- ment must act, and act fast. “We have an obligation to preserve and stabilize Absent Owners Managing Communities When Nobody’s Home BY A J SIDRANSKY MANAGEMENT continued on page 19