With inflation at historic highs, labor and supply shortages complicating even routine projects and maintenance, and budgets tight (and getting tighter), many condo and homeowner associations are looking for ways to control costs and sti…
For the first time in decades, serious inflation has reared its ugly head. Costs for nearly everything—including the goods and services needed to operate and maintain multifamily properties—are up an average of 10 percent. Some sectors, par…
First-time buyers in condo associations, co-ops, and other multifamily residential communities are often surprised—and a bit confused—by the way their new building or HOA operates. Whether they are coming from a rental background or a singl…
In a rental building, the landlord has certain rights under certain circumstances to remove a tenant from his property before the expiration of their lease. In a private home setting, the only real path to removing an owner is through forec…
As both a writer about and resident of high-rise residential buildings, I followed the June 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium with a hawk’s eye. I read about the people who perished and the loved ones left to carry on;…
The words communication and community share a common root. It comes as no surprise, then, that the success of communities depends on effective communication between board members, managers, and residents. In multifamily residential communit…
There’s a riddle in a popular children’s book that asks, ‘What’s the largest room in the world?’ After much consideration and many incorrect guesses, one of the characters in the book has the answer: “Why, the largest room in the world is r…
Even before the pandemic and social unrest of the last few years, interpersonal conflict and outright hostility often surfaced in the co-op and condo environment, leaving boards and managers having to deal with both legitimate grievances an…
It’s that time of year again. Birds are chirping; trees are blooming; property managers and co-op and condo boards are addressing their task lists for the change of seasons. Whether it’s a Dorchester duplex or a harbor highrise, a dense cit…
Ever since the end of World War II—and the widespread prosperity that brought about a historic baby boom, a healthy middle class, and suburban sprawl—a vibrant, manicured lawn has been synonymous with the American domestic ideal. Even for t…