As Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., once said, taxes are the price we pay for civilization. While that may be true, its truth doesn't make a hefty tax bill any easier to swallow, especially when it comes to city and state property taxes. There…
When finances get tight—the last recession period comes to mind—boards and managing agents often look for ways to increase revenues or decrease expenditures. In some cases, the answer is a flip tax, a “transfer fee” that is paid to the co-o…
Rare in all but a few cities around the country, residential co-ops are by far the most prevalent type of owner-occupied apartment in New York City, outnumbering condos by 3-1 by some estimates. According to a study commissioned by N…
Owners of New York City co-ops or condos with parking garages in or adjacent to their building are blessed in so many ways. The ability to drive right into your building without the aggravation of hunting down a parking spot provides a …
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 …
Every condo and co-op has its own set of governing documents by which building administrators direct their community's day-to-day business. Bylaws, rules and regulations, and precedent-setting legal cases help keep boards within the le…
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…
Any relationship depends upon effective communication to function properly. In a co-op or condo, the relationship between the board and managing agent, or between the board and the shareholders, all have boundaries regarding what is acce…
A capital improvement, as the name suggests, is any property enhancement—or "improvement"—that increases its overall value—or "capital." Capital improvements can be undertaken by individual owners as well as co-op or condo boards.…