Temperature A Hot Topic For Condo Owners

Condo Living sent the following question to Shlomo Sharon, President, Taft Forward Property Management Group

Question 1

I have reported the matter to both the management company and the president of the board. They have given me little or no response to this problem. Can you advise me as to what my rights are and how to get this problem solved?

Question 2

Answer

As you can imagine, it is very hard to determine if a heat wave will last for three days or for one day, for example. Even meteorologists make mistakes. Once the switch over has taken place, however, it takes time to mechanically switch the system back.

The difficulty is that in determining when to turn on the heat or air conditioning, the board of directors has to balance the needs of the condominium as a whole and the needs of the individual residents.

You should make your concerns known by informing the board and management in writing. If the board receives, in addition to yours, other complaints from the residents, they may consider implementing certain changes.

The property management or the Board of Directors should reply to your concerns if you have presented them in writing, even if only to explain to you the predicament of switching the system from cooling to heat and vice versa.

If all else fails, you do have the option to requisition an owners’ meeting, in accordance with the procedures set out in the Condominium Act, but only for the purposes of discussing this issue. The board has the authority to make the ultimate decision.

In the interim, a practical solution would be to have an electric heater in your unit for the duration of the cold snap and to turn down the heat, use a fan and open the windows if the weather is unseasonably warm.