2010 June
2010 June Vol. 30, No. 6
Focus on...Law & Legislation
A Burning Issue
The late 1990s saw a surge of nationwide smoking restrictions put into effect.
State by state, legislation banning smoking in various settings was proposed
and passed into law. With varying amounts of resistance and controversy,
workplaces, shops, theaters, restaurants and bars in a growing number of cities—including New York City—all went smoke-free.
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Legislative Update 2010
As the legislature in Albany and the New York City Council are in full swing,
legislation of every type is being proposed, debated, and considered. As one
might expect, the budget is front and center in these recessionary times, but
housing-related bills—both those specifically targeting condos and co-ops and those dealing with
multifamily housing—are also a hot topic, as always. Keeping up with pending legislation and court
cases can be a lot of work, but it’s incumbent upon boards and managing agents to stay abreast of changes in the
law in order to administer their building communities.
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The Big Green Apple
It will come as no surprise to anyone that between the cars, industry, residents’ power needs, and other energy use, New York City has a pretty mammoth carbon
footprint. According to a recent carbon inventory of the city, nearly 80
percent of New York’s carbon emissions come from buildings (including multifamily residential
buildings), with the remainder coming from transit-related emissions and other factors. In light of that finding, Mayor Michael R.
Bloomberg launched the PlaNYC sustainability program in 2007 to decrease the
city’s environmental impact. Part of that larger plan was the “Greener, Greater Buildings Plan” initiative, which directly affects co-op and condo communities.
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Go Ahead, Sue Me!
Lawsuits are an unfortunate, expensive fact of life these days—chances are that at some point in your lifetime you’ll be involved in one to at least some degree. In you live in a co-op or condo
community, legal issues arise between boards and residents all the time.
Sometimes it’s the resident who sues the building for some grievance, other times it’s the building that goes after an individual resident. Maybe Jane Doe in 3A has
defaulted on her lease in her co-op, or John Doe has consistently caused all
manner of trouble since moving into his condo unit, and has now failed to pay
his condo charges.
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But I Can't Afford a Lawyer!
Lawsuits, by their very nature, are acrimonious affairs. They can be messy, they’re time-consuming, and even when they’re relatively uncomplicated, they’re expensive. For a lower- or median-income co-op or condo resident, getting
sued or needing to bring legal action against someone can trigger serious
panic.
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Opening Doors
In the 1950s and 60s, airlines hired comely young women to work the aisles and
tend to passenger requests—stewardesses, they were called. And while the word was the feminine form of
steward, the combination of the title, the outfit, and the aiming-to-please job
description seemed to exclude male participation. To this day, the word
stewardess connotes a young, attractive, accommodating woman.
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The New York City Housing Court
In a high-cost, high-density real estate landscape like New York City, when
disputes arise in a multifamily building, tensions can escalate from annoyance
to litigation very quickly. In rental buildings, problems can range from lack
of maintenance and upkeep to rent payment default or destruction of property.
In co-ops and condos, residents’ status as shareholders within a cooperative corporation or owners of real
property that just happens to be cheek-to-cheek with other property changes the
game a bit, but problems like noise and simmering disputes with neighbors are
perennial issues.
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Affluence Personified
For people interested in historic architecture and a family-friendly atmosphere,
the neighborhood commonly called Carnegie Hill is one of the most desired
locales in Manhattan.
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New York City Facing Layoffs, Reduced Services
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg presented a Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 Executive Budget
and an updated four-year financial plan for New York City that calls for $62.9
billion in spending. While the mayor’s attempt to balance the city’s budget results in no new tax increases for New Yorkers, residents will most
certainly feel the pinch of layoffs in various city agencies and reduced
services in all areas, including, education, recreation, public safety,
housing, transportation, social services, and youth programs.
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Winning FHA Approval
All for one and one for all. We always knew that buying a unit in a condominium project meant that the value
of our property depended in good part on the likeminded conscientiousness of
our neighbors. Where owners live, vote and fund the maintenance and improvement of the
communities, homes and their values thrive. And it has been long understood
that the more buyers who can bid for homes in the community, the more likely
the value of the homes will be enhanced. But the interdependency between
homeowners became a more serious relationship in 2010. No longer can we individually secure an FHA-backed loan to purchase or refinance
a unit in a condominium. Those loans are now extinct, with one exception: where
the condominium project as a whole receives the nod from FHA, FHA will allow
lenders to make loans to individual homeowners living in the community. So how
do we get the Federal Housing Authority to smile upon our particular
condominium community? By proving that most residents live there, pay their
fees, save money and can manage to stay away from being sued. If the overall
condominium project wins FHA approval, some of us will get our loans.
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Q&A: Charging Fee For Lockers
What happens if there were storage lockers in our building that were either given free to the shareholders or they were ‘sold’ for a set fee of $500? Once a shareholder left, the storage unit reverted back to the co-op. Now there are new storage lockers, and the co-op wants to charge a fee per month only to those new storage locker holders—not to those shareholders already in possession of lockers. Is this fair? How does one argue that either everyone pays something, or no one pays? Read More
Q&A: Aggressive Board Clamps Down on Unapproved Tenant
I am a non-resident owner in a 10-unit co-op in Manhattan. I have been renting out my unit for the past 7 years. Recently, while I was away from the country on work, my son inadvertently rented my apartment to a tenant without first getting board approval. I know we violated co-op board rules and immediately stated we wanted to be in compliance. I submitted the rental lease to the co-op board, as required. But now the co-op board is saying that my tenant must vacate by October 31 (they gave us 30 days’ notice) and that if she continues to stay we have to pay a fine of $1,000 for every month she stays. There is no mention of any fine or penalty in the proprietary lease or the bylaws or in any other written rules. I have complied by turning over the rental lease to the board. This is a first and only time violation on my part of the renting rule. The board has also threatened me with forfeiture of my shares. What should I do? The board seems to be acting illegally and in an excessive use of its power. Read More
Q&A: It's Bath Time
I’ve had a long existing leak in my full bathroom since the shareholders above me moved in. It so happens that the shareholders’ son runs a bath for as long as two hours at a time, blasting the water at full force. Over time this has caused damage to the pipes and I’ve had recurrent leaks in the bathroom ceiling. An extensive plumbing job was done two years ago to replace broken and deteriorated pipes. However, the beginnings of yet another leak has surfaced on the ceiling as well as cracks down the wall. I was told that there is nothing they can do to prevent my neighbor upstairs from taking two-hour baths, or 24-hour baths for that matter, and that their hands are tied. Apparently there is no law on record that can be enforced. I live in New York. I am at my wits-end with this problem and I keep getting the runaround from the managers and superintendent. Read More
Q&A: Super-Nepotism
A front desk position in my building is about to become available. Our board wants to hire the son of our current janitor. I am not in favor of hiring relatives and our bylaws state that in such an instance, the board must notify all owners. Our current president thinks that most of the staff is like family than building employees. Thus, they in turn tend to give him “extra” special services. This is why I would like to hire someone who is not part of the “family” to try bring some equality for the rest of the residents. Do you have any suggestions? Read More
