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Q. Can married couples serve on the co-op board at same time? —Concerned Stakeholder A. “Unless specifically prohibited in the corporate documents or bylaws,” says attorney Adam Leitman Bailey of Adam Leitman Baile…
Q. A co-op owner purchased her unit in 2005 and has been subleasing it to the same tenant since 2011. The co-op board recently passed an amendment to the bylaws that states an owner cannot sublease a unit for more than two years, and it a…
Q. My question refers to how many handicapped parking spaces must reserved in a particular co-op or a condo. Is there any legal requirement to set aside a certain number of spaces? Must a multiple dwelling with parking spaces used exclusi…
This past June, the New York State Legislature and Governor enacted into law a sweeping overhaul of landlord-tenant relations throughout the State; just a few days later, these same powers enacted amendments to those amendments. While relat…
The greatest changes in cooperative and condominium law this past year did not come from the legislature or from the courts but from the New York Attorney General’s office (NYAG). This article will review some of those changes and the most…
Q On the stock certificate for our co-op, it just lists “John & Jane Smith.” Does that mean we own it “tenants by entirety” or “tenants in common?” If we want “tenants by entirety,” do we need to have it re-issued to state so? —Stockin…
Effective December 3, 2014, all residential leases in New York State now require a notice to residential tenants about the presence of absence of sprinkler systems in the “leased premises.” The new law, however, while defining what a…
Under New York law, does a landlord have a general right to inspect leased residential premises in the absence of a specific lease provision granting that right? Assuming no written lease, no specific agreement on the issue, and that th…
To reduce their potential liability from secondhand smoke-related issues, condominium and cooperative boards and landlords or rental buildings can attempt to adopt rules and bylaws or lease terms that clearly address smoking issues. (Altho…
According to a well-worn truism, "You can't fight City Hall." In the old days, that was true—particularly when it came to public works projects. If the city wanted to do it, there was no one to say 'no,' except at the ballot box, when it w…
Increasingly, those who manage residential rental, cooperative, or condominium apartment dwellings in New York are learning they must walk a fine line in setting house rules that govern the ownership and acceptance of animals in their buil…
While for many laypeople cooperatives and condominiums are essentially interchangeable, from the legal point of view they are radically different institutions. Much of this difference can be attributed to history. Co-ops have …
Most New York residents—and certainly most New York attorneys are aware of the Warranty of Habitability. Few may know that its origins are statutory, and fewer still care that it contradicts common law, but most would be surprised by the t…
Q What do you do when a board/board member rejects you as a prospective buyer for self-serving gain? My husband and I were in contract on an apartment where we were paying in cash, had no mortgage, could easily pay the maintenance ev…
Q Who owns the handicapped parking spaces set aside in the parking facility of a newly constructed condominium? —Keeping it Accessible in Kings County A “Sponsors of newly constructed condominiums are responsible for creating th…
Most buildings in flood zone areas already maintained flood insurance as a result of lender requirements and therefore were covered by Sandy. The biggest surprise was those persons who use their homes as home offices or the building rents …
Some of the most intense combat occurring in modern times is not that which has taken place on battlefields, such as at Normandy, Pork Chop Hill, or in the la Drang Valley, or currently in the mountains of Afghanistan, but rather in 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…
Many times, cooperatives and condominiums have commercial retail spaces connected to or below their building. These are immensely valuable as a result of the income generated by these stores and restaurants. Ergo, the importance of a ne…
Q I live in a self-managed co-op and we are getting conflicting information about whether co-ops can disallow roommates or not. We've heard that the board of directors has absolute decision making power over whether or not to allow room…