While a lot of the day-to-day business of running a co-op or condo building happens in the management office or on-site at the level of maintenance and staff management, meetings—board-only and resident alike—are the forum where importa…
Q Our co-op has a board member who shared a confidential board decision with the shareholders and went so far as to initiate and circulate a petition for a meeting of shareholders to reverse the board decision. Naturally, many sharehol…
Everyone has experienced disorganization at one time or another. Say you have to go somewhere, and you forgot your driver’s license, only to find it in the pocket of another jacket. Or you can’t locate your cell phone because you turned …
New York's co-ops and condos are both governed by a multitude of laws and rules. For co-ops, the primary governing documents are the bylaws and the proprietary lease. For condos, they are the condominium declaration and, once again, the…
Recently, the Appellate Division First Department, in Fletcher v. Dakota, Inc., involving a shareholder in The Dakota, a historic luxury co-op on the Upper West Side, held that the business judgment rule does not protect individual con…
Q Is it possible to obtain a co-op charge card for our super to use so he can purchase need materials and equipment without having to go through long procedures with the managing agent? If possible, is it advisable? —Taking Cred…
As a construction attorney I can say that it is rare that a change is made in the law which revolutionizes the design industry. Up until now, the laws in the State of New York only allowed architectural and engineering firms to be owned…
Q I am a shareholder in a four building, 68 unit co-op. Two years ago, shareholders voted down a board proposal to replace the building’s 23-year-old windows. Recently, the board has decided to go ahead with the project which will co…
As the directors of a cooperative corporation, co-op board members have a number of duties to their shareholders, chief among them to preserve and improve their investment and to maintain and/or improve shareholders’ standard of living …
Q I just found out that a member of my co-op board has been issued a check for a very large amount from our operating account. There has been no explanation or discussion about this, and now nearly six figures worth of our community …