Co-op and condo buildings can often seem like their own little self-contained worlds, with drama, politics, and debates aplenty. Given that, it's understandable why shareholder/owners might think the people who run their building—the boa…
While not a common practice, boards of directors of New York cooperatives have, at times, reached the decision to evict a shareholder based on objectionable conduct. Nearly every cooperative corporation's proprietary lease contains a sectio…
New York City can be tough enough to navigate as a young, able-bodied person; it's even more difficult for the elderly or physically challenged to get around and go about their day. Imagine living with a physical disability in an apartment …
Renovating in existing, occupied buildings such as co-ops and condominiums is a challenge. There is no extra space to work in, and one little mistake can damage a number of apartments. Not only is all the space already spoken for, it's ful…
Since my column in June of this year, there have been some significant cooperative and condominium cases that have been given little publicity. The most interesting case, may be the West Gate House case which brings the infamous Jennifer R…
You may not realize it, but your building may be hemorrhaging money. Not in the form of disastrous lawsuits or maintenance crises like a collapsed roof or exploded boiler, but in a steady trickle coming from your method of ordering supplie…
In this and in future columns, I will be examining decisions of interest to co-ops and condo boards and suggesting what valuable lessons can be learned from these legal decisions. Recently, there were several interesting court decisi…
A Brooklyn condominium board learned a painful lesson recently when a jury awarded $55,000 in punitive damages to a unit owner who lived with a leaking roof for 11 years. The verdict in the case Board of Managers of Sterling Condomi…
Many co-op and condo board members know the difficulty of working to resolve arguments between residents. In mixed-use buildings, the problems may be greater. With both commercial and residential unit owners or shareholders in a building, …
The entire real estate industry - from owners and developers to contractors and architects - has been focused on the issue of mold contamination during the past year. However, no segment of industry has been more watchful than cooperative …