Bad things happen to good buildings; it's a fact of life. From tyrannical sponsors to maintenance mishaps, there's plenty to go wrong - and when it does, your life can be made miserable. But sometimes a truly inspired manager can pull a ha…
Driving around Manhattan can be a hazardous sport. Cabbies signal lane changes by changing lanes. Brazen bike messengers yield for few things, and stop for fewer. Congested pedestrian groups form walls as they cross the street, stymieing c…
Of all the goings-on in the thousands of co-op and condo buildings in New York City, perhaps none inspires more questions and confusion than board and shareholders' meetings. How often must meetings be held? What gets decided at meetings? …
New York City's eight million hardy souls are used to a lifestyle in which the best of everything is at their disposal. But now residents may have to do more with less as the city struggles to find its way out of a deepening fiscal crisis.…
With all the recent concern over environmental hazards in residential buildings - mold, funguses, and various allergens - it makes good sense to discuss one of the most dangerous of the invisible problems that can plague a home or building…
In a decision with profound repercussions throughout the co-op community, the New York Court of Appeals decided last month to allow the application of the business judgment rule in situations involving so-called "objectionable tenants." …
Anyone living in a co-op knows that if they want to renovate their apartment, they will need to sign an alteration agreement. This document is basically a contract between the shareholder and the co-op in which the shareholder agrees to va…
Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) reached agreement on a new three-year contract, averting a potentially costly and damaging strike that would have impacted more than a million apartment dwellers in Manhattan, …
Reporter's Diary Day One: The Assignment 2:30 PM: Read e-mail assignment letter from editor at The Cooperator. Topic is compulsive hoarding: who does it, how it mushrooms into problems for shareholders and their neighbors, what can…
State legislation regulating the payment of contractors and allowing the withholding of payment for shoddy or incomplete construction work, was signed into law by Gov. George Pataki and became effective January 15. The Construction Co…