Q I live in a co-op in Manhattan and have a neighbor who enjoys smoking pot. The problem is he does a horrible job containing the smell. He smokes out the window and around the apartment. The smell comes into my apartment (which is dir…
Q My question is, since Co-op City (in the Bronx) determines carrying charges based on household income, if there's a change in the household income whereby one of the occupants is unemployed shouldn't there be a downward modificatio…
Q My ex-[husband] owns his co-op but has become diagnosed as mentally incompetent after a stroke. He is in arrears on maintenance and the co-op is seeking to evict him. He will be homeless. Also if the co-op takes his apartment, wil…
Q “The board was advised by one of the owners that we must mail all the minutes of each directors’ meeting to all the owners. Is this correct?” —Out in the Open A “In order to answer this question it would be nece…
The sitting president of a Connecticut condo board recently approached the property manager with a proposition: If he saw to it that her contractor boyfriend was awarded certain jobs in the building, the property manager would receive …
Q The board of directors at my co-op recently mandated that every apartment must carry homeowner’s insurance and list the complex as “additionally insured.” My insurance agent says that by listing them as “additionally insured” on the po…
When it comes to board members pushing their own pet projects, stalling meetings, and generally gumming up their building’s administrative works for selfish reasons, Chris Ebert, senior property manager of Downtown Properties in Manhatt…
As attorneys who represent a large number of cooperative and condominium buildings, we’re seeing more and more often that, instead of attracting community-oriented individuals, New York City condominium and cooperative buildings often a…
While previous columns focused on numerous outrageous situations that have faced us during our more than 25 years of collective service to our cooperative and condominium clients, one case sticks out in our minds. Incredibly, one case morph…
As many readers are by now aware, a rule that proved a hindrance to the operations of many co-ops in New York was drastically altered in December of last year--and the changes are having far-reaching effects on the city's co-op communities.…