One owner owns majority of units

The building was converted from apartments to condos 20 years ago. The original owner still owns 15 of 25 units, and rents them out. He has no interest in selling any of them. He was involved the writing of the HOA CCRs and the Rules, so they favor him. The Board, of course he’s the president and since he has so many votes, he handpicked the other members. He even owns the management company because - "the Board" chose it. We can’t change the CCRs, or anything else, because he has the majority of the votes and can vote down anything we propose. Obviously, we have huge problems we can’t solve, but right now he is “asking the board” to approve installation some washers and dryers in the units. The other owners are objecting because the building was built in 1950, without washers and dryers, and currently has terrible plumbing problems. We don't believe the pipes can accommodate this. Some of the the plumbing problems have been related to washer/dryers in other units that were also installed with "the Board's" okay. Is there any way to stop any of this?

He may have handpicked the rest of the board, but that doesn’t mean they HAVE to vote the way he wants them to. I would think your bylaws say something about elections and such, so he’d have to wait until the next election to replace them (because he has the majority of votes). If those other board members are concerned about this plumbing issue, they need to vote their conscious and let the chips fall where they may.

The tenants don’t have any voting power of course, but since plumbing is an issue, I wonder if the owners can team up with them. Maybe if they threaten to move when the lease is up because of crappy plumbing that could slow him down because he won’t have the income to put in this stuff.

Frankly, I’d consider moving out of this place because as long as this guy has this kind of power, he’ll be able to do whatever he wants in the end. Unfortunately, that may mean you lose money, but better that than wind up with a huge special assessment down the road because of the plumbing problems (which may worsen if he installs the washing machines).

Happens all the time.
One individual wants to own the building so slowly purchases units. Overtime, they own the majority.

Another possibility, the owner of the apartment building wants to create a condominium. They start selling individual units to others. This is similar to a developer being in control of a new development. They have the voting power until enough units are sold.