Under the above subject line, the Property Manager emailed me on January 7, 2014 to say:
Would the contractor be able to enter on Thursday, January 9 at arund 10am to have a look and perhaps resolve the bathroom vent insulation?
We agreed that 10:30 would be fine.
On January 8, 2014 I wrote the following email to the Property Manager:
When the roof tiling was replaced, the exhaust fan pipes were disconnected and never reconnected. The bathroom exhaust fan pipe must be reconnected to the roof port and the insulation must be properly repositioned both as originally installed. Our bathroom fan needs to be upgraded to open the flap to the outdoors. To just slip insulation over the exposed pipe is futile.
The Property Manager replied that the contractor would "assess the issue and make the necessary repairs".
On January 13, 2014 I sent the following email to the Property Manager:
The contractors came by on Thursday to assess the upper bathroom fan issue, but immediately asked if they could go into the basement. I said OK - several minutes later I went down to the basement and saw that the contractors had removed the steel slab covering the sump pit and one of the contractors was taking photos. I went back upstairs and they remained in the basement for quite a while. I went back down and the contractor was taking a photo of a ventilation pipe.
How many photos did the contractor take and why did he take photos? The contractors were only supposed to reconnect the bathroom vent pipe. Kindly provide me with copies of these photos and the reason why they were taken under the ruse of fixing our upstairs bathroom fan.
A few hours before yesterday's All Members Meeting, I finally received the following email from the Property Manager:
These contractors are also doing the sump pump inspections for the co-op. They are the ones who replaced XX's sump pump. I informed them that you have a sump pump and they knocked it off their list of pumps to inspect while they were there.
We are checking for make/model, back-up pumps, alarms, etc. I will receive details of the sump pump inspections once they have all been completed.
It was a last minute discussion and I forgot to send you a quick message.
I replied:
The contractors took more photos than just the sump pit. They went around the whole basement and took photos.
The Property Manager replied:
I just spoke to the contractor. He took pictures of the floor and is providing the Co-op with a quote to fill in the cracks.
He is the type of contractor that sees potential work and goes ahead and quotes on it if it is in his scope. He apologizes for alarming you in any way.
I replied:
The contractor came with instructions to take photos of the basement and that is exactly what he did - the walls and pipes included. He did not take photos of the basement floor because of potential work, such as filling in the floor cracks This is utter nonsense.
The contractors did not alarm me - they were very polite, but on a mission other than reconnecting our bathroom vent pipe to the roof port. This was not a spur of moment sump pump check.
Kindly provide me with the photos the contractor took.
The Property Manager replied:
I do not wish to engage in your accusations. You are free to believe whatever you wish.
I will not provide you with any pictures as I do not have any to offer.
As I said before, when I receive the details of the sump pump inspections, I will provide them but I am going to amend my previous statement. The co-op's lawyer will be provided with any information I receive, when I receive it, and he can provide it to you or your lawyer if he choses.
Enjoy your day
I replied:
I have every right to ask for those photos and will continue to ask for those photos.
*****
This is in keeping with letters at least two other members received from the co-op's lawyer telling them that they must not talk about or criticize whatever our Property Manager does. Because the Property Manager has total access to the co-op's lawyer, the co-op should budget more than $1500. for legal fees for 2014-15. When I brought the low budget figure up at last night's meeting, the response was that this figure was totally correct in that the co-op forces targeted members to pay all the co-op's legal fees.
Oh, and what if the targeted member refuses to pay protection fees for the Property Manager? Well, she will just put the member into arrears and evict the member that way.
We have a Human Rights complaint against the co-op. It is going forth to a Hearing based on the condition of the unit and the timing of the move.
Yikes! Lots of stuff in there. I'll start with obvious. If you receive a letter asking permission (or telling you) that any contractor is coming in or inspection being done, it has to be restricted to that in notice. They can't go fishing around looking for anything else. If they do, tell them to come back another time and have PM issue separate letter.
ReplyDeleteShe denies being given photos which may be true or not. I see no legit reason why you couldn't be provided with them. It's obvious, her professional tone became more predictably petulant at the end on your insistent requests.
What??? No criticisms allowed of omnipotent PMs? I'm shocked, I tells ya.
$1500 for legal fees? That should get co-op 5 hrs of service for year. That's a joke. Unless someone else (CHF, cough) may be assisting with legal services.
I don't understand bit about targeted members being forced to pay fees. That could only happen in two cases --- lawsuit vs a member or evictions. In latter, co-op by-laws have standard clause that co-ops will seek "substantial indemnity" costs which basically are full legal fees. In other legal actions, those are only awarded where there has been some egregious activity by defendant or Court feels necessary to sanction bad behaviour as matter of public policy but it's rare.
There was recent attempted co-op eviction attempt in Tor where judge clearly rejected "substantial indemnity" request. Instead of the tens of thousands requested, he allowed $4K.
All the Board members were assured (possibly by their new lawyers) that mostly all legal fees would be paid by what I call 'targeted' members. They nodded in unison that this was so and that members 'should' pay their legal bills. So assured were they that they only budgeted $1500. for legal fees. I think they were also under the impression that if they were to lose cases, the co-op's insurance would pick up the tab.
DeleteThere are 15 sumps in our co-op excluding the office. No one has yet been notified that there are going to be sump pump inspections underway and our PM always sends out warning type notices that locksmiths will be called and YOU will be charged back if they can't access your unit. At the All Members Meeting a member did bring up the fact that her sump pump was too noisy. That's when the opportunity arose for the PM to say that the co-op was going to have all sump pumps inspected. Good timing for the PM.
These contractors had specific instructions to take photos in the basement and I'm certain it's because of our Human Rights case against the co-op. Too bad the co-op just can't be forthright.