NYC/Brooklyn - Condo HOA Temporary Relocation Costs

I am an owner and on the board of my HOA of a condominium in Brooklyn. My unit is a ground floor duplex (first floor and basement) with a private backyard (limited common element). The condominium consists of 16 units across two 4 story buildings.

My HOA requires access to my unit in order to do any repairs to the building facade, as my backyard is the only to access the rear of the building.

Hypothetically, if the building facade was being replaced over a 30 day period, disrupting my ability to use my unit, would the HOA be responsible for relocation costs during the repairs for the building?

If I were renting the unit to a tenant and the same situation were to occur, would the HOA be responsible for reimbursing my tenant for the period of the repairs?

Appreciate any guidance or direction this forum could provide. Thank you.

Thank you. This makes sense.

Back to my facade example, as this might actually occur to me.

The repair company would be installing scaffolding in my rear yard and require full access to my unit from 8-6pm for about 30 days.

Do they have to pay for my relocation for that period?

Probably not - this is why homeowners should get coverage on their individual policies that pays for living expenses if something happens and you can't live in the unit until the major repairs are completed. If you were doing major repairs inside your home such as remodeling your kitchen or bathroom, you might have the same problem - why should the association pay your living expenses in that situation?

By full access, do you mean the workers would be INSIDE your unit as well as working outside? If they're going to work from 8 am - 6 pm, I would think you'd still be able to live there between 6 pm and 8 am - it would be messy and somewhat inconvenient to be sure, but this repair would take a month (hopefully there won't be delays like weather), unlike something that might take several months, such as reconstruction from a fire.

Do you have friends or family you can room with until the work is done? That's another option and you can come up with a way to compensate them for the water, gas, electricity, etc. you'd be using. However this ends, review your insurance policy and talk to your agent about adding that coverage if necessary.

Thank you for all of your replies. Let me clarify a bit.

The only way to access the rear of one of our buildings is via my unit into my private backyard (limited common element). There is no alternative way to access the rear yard without going through my unit.

My example of repairs are not for my individual unit - instead they are for the entire building/HOA (e.g. the rear facade repairs or replacement).

While I agree with the comment that if we were doing repairs on our own unit, the "inconvenience" would be our responsibility. However, in my example, the HOA is performing work on the building for the benefit of all unit owners/HOA and I am the main tenant affected by the work as they would be using my apartment and backyard for access (and to perform the work).

Perhaps a gate might be in order.

If this were me, I would at least attempt to get the condo board to pay for temporary relocation costs. The inconvenience of having workers have to walk through the unit to access the backyard every day to do repairs to a common element would be justification enough. I personally would not feel comfortable with strangers accessing the unit while I (or a tenant) was there. Not only is there inconvenience, but also wear and tear on your unit.

I can't believe the condo board would not agree paying for an alternate arrangement.

I know of a case where a Manhattan coop was having the facade of their building redone. The the noise of the work affected one of the owners who worked from home. They moved her temporarily to another unit (happened to be vacant) in another part of the building until the work was done.

What does your Declaration say about access through your unit?

I meant the Declaration/CC&Rs, not the bylaws. Usually, any right of access would be described in the Declaration.

here is a screenshot of the bylaws in regard to access rights:

screenshot didnt work. here is the text:

(A) Subject to the rights of existing tenants and other occupants of Unsold Units, each Unit Owner shall grant to the Condominium Board, to the Managing Agent or manager (if any), to the superintendent and/or to any other Person authorized by any of the foregoing a right of access to his or her Unit for the purposes of:

(i) making inspections of, or removing violations noted or issued by any governmental authority against, the Common Elements or any other part of the Property;
(ii) curing defaults hereunder or under the Declaration or violations of the Rules and Regulations committed by such Unit Owner or correcting any conditions originating in his or her Unit and threatening another Unit or all or a portion of the Common Elements;
(iii)performing maintenance, installations, alterations, repairs, or replacements to the mechanical or electrical services, or other portions of the Common Elements located within his or her Unit or elsewhere in the Building;
(iv)reading, maintaining, or replacing utility meters relating to the Common Elements, to
his or her Unit, or to any other Unit; or
(v) correcting any condition that violates the provisions of any Permitted Mortgage encumbering another Unit.

Except in cases of emergency (that is, a condition requiring repairs or replacements immediately necessary for the preservation or safety of the Building or for the safety of the occupants of the Building or other individuals, or required to avoid the suspension of any necessary service in the Building), the foregoing rights of access shall be exercised only upon not less than one day's advance notice and only in such a manner as will not unreasonably interfere with the use of the Units for their permitted purposes. In cases of emergency, however, such rights of access may be exercised immediately, without advance notice and whether or not the Unit Owner is present.

(B) For purposes of paragraph (A), each Unit Owner shall grant to the Condominium Board a right of access to his or her Unit and the Condominium Board shall grant rights of access to the Common Elements, provided that access thereto shall not be exercised with respect to any Unit in such a manner as will unreasonably interfere with the use of such Unit for its permitted purposes.

(C) A right of access is hereby granted to the unit owners, their successors, heirs and assigns, for the purpose of gaining access to the following areas: common areas; mechanical areas of the building, including but not limited to the boiler room, storage room, meter room or any other facility to which each such unit owner has a right of use; or to any area of the property that such Unit Owner has a right to use as part of his Unit or as a Common Element. However, the right shall only be exercised in a reasonable manner.

So you want you and your neighbors to pay for temporary displacement?

You started this conversation stating your situation is hypothetical – usually I don’t like hypotheticals because many things can turn the situation on its head, but in light of what your documents say, I would agree that some sort of assistance is warranted.

Too late now, but I also think this is something you should have asked about when you bought your unit – you don’t say how long you’ve lived there, but this is the type of stuff people won’t always tell you about. It might not occur to them – or the seller figures it’s your responsibility to figure this out, especially if you bought the unit as is. And as you’ve found out, the builders or developers don’t factor in this stuff either – after they sell the buildings, they don’t care what happens after that.

Going forward, talk to your insurance company about adding the living expenses coverage – you’ll need it regardless of what the board does to help protect your pocketbook as much as possible. I’d also suggest to the board that it establish a policy on paying living expenses for situations like this. They can talk to the master association insurance for some guidance, but remember, this will be reflected in your assessments (they will increase, and HOA insurance is increasing everywhere, so get ready). If your neighbors squawk, as Melissa noted can happen, you’ll know why.

For a policy, it would be ok for the board to set some sort of daily rate they will pay, which should be adjusted for inflation. listing the circumstances under which they’ll pay and what expenses they will and won’t pay for – and the homeowner should be required to provide written appropriate documentation. You might want to start by reviewing this article - https://www.bankrate.com/insurance/homeowners-insurance/additional-living-expenses/#what-is-covered-by-additional-living-expenses

You do realize you and your neighbors ARE the HOA? Do you have a property manager or do you all own the building?

Suing your HOA is suing yourself and your neighbors. Would this best be resolved by an insurance claim?

You could contact your insurance company about the flooding and let them duke it out with the master insurance company. If you haven’t already done that, why not, especially if you haven’t been able to use the basement for a year?

By the way if, by EFIS, you’re referring to the building’s Exterior Insulation Finishing System, please remember to spell out acronyms when you use them the first time, so people know what you’re talking about.

That being said, it appears your building has a funding issue – assessments might not have kept up with inflation, there’s no reserve study, no deposits into a reserve fund based on the study recommendations – and deferred maintenance all over the place. When people say there’s no schedule or plan for addressing a HOA common areas, all this and more is usually the cause – that could be part of the reason the board is balking at paying your living expenses – there isn’t enough money. If this is a seven-year-old building, there could have been problems with the builder’s workmanship and no one’s pursued that either (and now there may be an issue where you’re SOL with them).

This is where your conversation about the living expenses should begin – ask for a copy of the most recent reserve study. They should be done every five years, and based on the recommendations, you can look at the income-expense reports for the last five years or so to see where the money’s going. Note if there are any delinquencies – that will affect everything the board is able to do if you have owners who can’t re refuse to pay their share.

From there, it may be time for a special homeowners meeting where the board is compelled to tell the truth about what’s happening with the budget – if the money’s there, why hasn’t the flooding been addressed? If they don’t have the skill set or will (or both) to address them, you and your neighbors will have to decide if you want them to continue serving on the board. If not, you’d better have people ready to step up and take over (including you).

It seems I’ve been saying this a lot about bad boards lately, but people everywhere have gotten more selfish and don’t realize that we are all connected, especially in HOAs. All of you are business partners after a fashion, and have to work together to ensure your investment is worth it

PS – regarding your lawsuit threat, I’m not saying that might not be necessary, especially if you try everything else first, but as Melissa always says suing the HOA is suing yourself and your neighbors. If this HOA is already on shaky ground financially, spending money on a lawsuit that they may lose may help you but hurt everyone else, and eventually, even you won’t be able to get what’s necessary because there ain’t any money.

Yes, I am referring to EFIS - Exterior Insulation Finishing System

We have just recently had a resident board meeting in order to vote on a special assessment to deal with these building issues. The building has gotten a quote for a full building engineering assessment ($20-30k) and doesnt think it is important or affordable. This sort of report is required in order to get ahead of maintenance issues and potentially go after the Sponsor for shoddy workmanship.

I am only one person on the board. The President has excluded me from voting on anything related to my unit, claiming that it is a conflict of interest. In reality, my understanding is that its only a conflict of interest if I was voting for my family member or friend to complete the work with compensation (obviously, this is not the case). They also say they are diligently working to resolve the flooding thats impacting my unit for the last year - when our bylaws say that the HOA has 60 days to resolve issues like this.

After the building-wide resident meeting, we were able to gain two additional board members (from 3 to 5) as people are now realizing the seriousness of the problem.

The President and the HOA decided for 6 months to fight me regarding who was responsible, instead of fixing the issues. They then later took responsibility and their first "guess" on how to fix the problem failed (it flooded a week later while my wife and I were in the hospital for the birth of my second child). We are still living in an apartment that is more than 50% unusable.

Im in the thick of it - dealing with an uninformed HOA President and apathetic residents. We have been threatening lawsuit for over a year and have not been taken seriously. We have been left with no option but to bring this case against the HOA.

I hope that it can still be handled amicably because these are our neighbors afterall. The President now claims that this is a "volunteer board" and he is doing the best he can - volunteers still have a responsibility to the HOA to maintain and handle these sorts of issues. Its a thankless role. If you dont have the capacity to meet your duties for a position he volunteered for and ran for, he should resign. His mistakes will unfortunately cost all of the residents a lot of money, impact their ability to rent or sell their own units and potentially bankrupt the HOA.

The claim of conflict is ridiculous. Are you not supposed to vote on assessments or amendments because it would affect your unit? Ask him to show you the applicable statutes.

There are a very few persons on this forum who habitually insult posters like you...most do not.

Josh D.

This forum has saved me a lot of agony and helped me tremendously. Hang in there.

I am almost a mirror image of you and I am located in NJ and I am in tiny walkup with me on the bottom unit with the only access to the back of the building and side is through my unit. Yes drumroll .............. I have a EIFS facade.

The work that I had done was resealing and caulking of the back and side of the building and that was only a day worth with about six man crew and a bunch of ladders going through my finished walkout basement. The disruption was not too bad since our main living was one floor above. The walkout basement is accessed through a garage.

There is direct info on my condo docs about easement for the condo. However I do not have that extra clause that I should not loose permitted use of the unit. It’s an emergency situation however there was a mistake in getting it done correctly once already as you stated. This is a grey area.

I do not live in a flood area according to FEMA however there is a government program through insurance carriers for flood insurance. I personally got it for my unit. It is not that expensive. Insurance carriers have a lot of exclusions when it comes to water and I am sorry to hear this.

It looks like it’s heading down the path of litigation. Was there any attempt at a ADR? This can include binding and non-binding arbritation. Also there is non-binding mediation. The court system in NJ wants to ensure some ADR was done or attempted because they don’t want everything to be a lawsuit. I don’t know what the NYC system is like.

The engineering report is expensive. I wonder if it is cost effective to get three types of inspections. One for EIFS, one for roof and one for structural inspection. I had my building go through an EIFS inspection and it was very helpful. The other two are pending. I think the three together should be far cheaper than the engineering report that is being planned.

Also if the building is newly built and with a lot of issues someone needs to take a look at the HOA warranty.

There is direct info on my condo docs about easement for the condo. However I do not have that extra clause that I should not loose permitted use of the unit. I am revisiting my personal condo insurance policy. Thanks to everyone for that one.

Thanks for posting.

I meant new home owner warranty. Here is a link to an equivalent to New York.

How many levels do you have? Also you said the building is now seven years old. Age and height plays a factor into it.

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/new-home-construction-defects-new-york-buyers-rights-against-the-builder.html#:~:text=New%20York%20statutory%20law%20creates,1989%20passage%20of%20the%20law.)

again, the water penetration is due to ground water rise - also known as flooding. neither my personal insurance policy nor the master insurance policy for the building covers flooding. insurance was already explored and both claims were denied.

I thought that would cover temporary relocation costs you asked about

I saw the flooding in New York lately. You are not alone in not required to carry flood insurance. we do not have to have it unless we live in a flood zone. The insurance is expensive in many areas.

Without that added coverage insurance may not pay out either way for your expenses.

Are you potentially being not able to use your condo because of the facade repairs ? ( I have loss of use on my condo policy but I never used it)I have no idea if the scope or layout or if you work at home . I’m assuming that the contractor has no way to access the backyard ( as you say) unless he goes through your front door , walks to your back door , mulitible scaffold bucks need to be carried through . I’m assuming that he will put down floor protection he may even drape some plastic drops on hall furniture . He’s not going to pick it back up every day . He may even want to cocoon a path from your front door to rear door . If he has to pick it back up and vacuum at 6 pm every day he is going to charge . The contractor will suggest that you might consider tempory efficiency apartment . He’ll still need a crane to fly pallets of siding material over the roof to the backyard. But he’s not going to rent one every day . You in a busy street ? Crane permits can’t set up during rush hour I don’t know . How about the debris ? He going to walk it through your house to the street . Also your upstairs condo owner has to provide access the scaffold need to be tied back to the house very story ( osha) . What is going back after the efis is removed ?

Was this an issue when the previous owner had the unit? Was it disclosed to you? You might have more luck going after sellae and his agent.