![]() Your co-op’s attorney then verifies that the board is assessing the proper maintenance, and will begin proceedings against shareholders who do not pay their maintenance. If shareholders do not submit their HIAs or certified tax returns in a timely manner, then regulations require the board to apply a rent surcharge. Your board must verify the accuracy of these HIAs by comparing income stated on each affidavit with the income stated on each occupant’s certified tax return. In a Mitchell-Lama co-op, the co-op board must assess and calculate maintenance based on household composition and income, as reported on household income affidavits (HIAs). To prove fraud, the law firms that board of directors hire need to have the sophistication and expertise to hunt down the truth and to ensure the sanctity of maintaining affordable housing in New York City. These illegalities includeīattling fraud claims becomes all the more complex when you find forged birth certificates, cooked-up tax returns, false forms of identification, fake nationality papers and sham bank accounts. Therefore, many co-op boards hire attorneys to investigate and prosecute illegality in their cooperatives. This can be a daunting task, since these buildings consist of hundreds to thousands of units. But what can you do? Plenty.įirst, the ground rules: The board of directors of a New York City Mitchell-Lama cooperative is responsible for ensuring that all its shareholders are legitimate and comply with the law. Not ethically, not morally and, if for no other reason, not legally. Some unit owners illegally profit on their units by subletting them or by charging key money upon an illegal sale.Ī co-op board can’t turn a blind eye. In one building we represent, a one-bedroom apartment legally sells for $20,000 - but goes for upward of $100,000 on the black market. In some Mitchell-Lama co-ops, such black markets illegally sell apartments for 500 percent higher than maximum legal sales prices. Like grain shipments to starving Somalia, benefits intended for the masses get diverted by the well-connected, the powerful and the crafty, who steal and then sell them on the black market. And as with many things designed to aid the poor and the helpless - some of them uneducated, sometimes some of them old and frail, some of them optimistically naive - corruption pervades the process. Llámenos al 1-21 si necesita ayuda gratis en su idioma. Online Complaint Formįor more information go to: hcr.ny.gov/mitchell-lama-program General Info Line All complaints received on the toll free number will be responded to on an expedited basis and will be acknowledged within one business day. The line is currently answered from 9 AM to 5 PM but tenants can also leave a voicemail message after business hours. Tenants in State-supervised Mitchell-Lama developments can register complaints about their apartment, building or complex twenty-four hours per day. The Office of Housing Operations is responding to complaints on the toll-free line - 1-86. ![]() The NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal has a complaint line for tenants of State-supervised Mitchell-Lama properties (both rental and cooperative). DHCR's 24-Hour, Toll-Free Mitchell-Lama Complaint Line Complaint Information ![]()
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