The Condo laws in New York State are in favor of the Board Members. The judge will normally dismiss the case on the grounds that we elected these members and so the Board can do whatever they want! Unfortunately our Board isn't voted in because at elections, votes are not counted for something as a $25 parking ticket. This isn't in the by-laws but whenever I as a unit owner refer to the by-laws the Board just ignores them. We are supposed to vote on any capital improvement according to the by-laws but this isn't followed by the Board.
My problem is that our ceilings collapsed due to water damage and leakage. I went to the Building Code Enforcement who told me they couldn't do anything unless the actual roof collapsed. The Board collected two assessments totally over $500K. They hired a contractor who had no experience in roofing. Worse the Board sign a contract in which they accepted not to have a warranty. They also signed that neither the Board or individual owners could file a legal complaint against the contractor. Needless to say the roof was never fixed and the leaking has gotten worse and there seems no recourse from the Town of South Fallsburg.
Yesterday I was on the property when a tree almost hit me. The Board had sold our park trees to be logged but didn't take any safety precautions. When I contact the Board to ask if the company doing the logging was insured,the Board refused to answer any questions. We have been told that we can't have any transparency in the way of capital expenses or any budget. We are having our maintenance increased without warning. The Board says they will continue to increase the maintenance until they can cover their expenses and then go out and by a huge compactor and putting up an electric fence when we have 24 hour security!
My lawyer said there is nothing I can do except put my maintenance in escrow or walk away from my unit. The Board doesn't seem to care when owners walk away from the units even from a lack of maintenance point of view. The Board just put them on the market "as is" like foreclosures asks maybe $10K and soon there is a new sucker in the unit. I'm at my wits end! Why is walking away from my unit and losing my investment the only option I have due to this Board?
