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Several years ago, before relocating to Westchester County, I served as board president at my 112-unit co-op building in Manhattan. Like most co-ops, we had a history of occasional disputes between tenants and among board members. But, by u…
Most co-op owners have never given much thought to the manner in which they took title of their apartments. But by overlooking this important aspect of such a significant purchase, some shareholders may have put themselves at considerable f…
In a recent decision, New York's second highest court ruled that the Hotel Des Artistes coop-erative did not have the authority to impose a 30 percent sublet fee on its shareholders. In Zimiles v. Hotel des Artistes, Inc., the judge requi…
When a conversion sponsor fails to meet his financial obligations, the result can be a default on the underlying mortgage, one of the most destructive catastrophes to strike a co-op. Even a default on the sponsor's maintenance obligations c…
Times change and your building's house rules should change along with them. A decade may have passed since your house rules were first written or last updated. In that time, the City has passed stringent new anti-smoking and recycling law…
To be, or not to be [taxed]? That is the question. It appears that William Shakespeare had been posing the same question that treasurers and other board members of New York co-ops have been asking their accountants for the past five…
A cooperative is generally organized as a so-called business corporation, just like, for example, IBM or AT&T. Accordingly, shareholders of a cooperative have the same rights as shareholders in other New York business corporations to init…
tarting in the mid '70s and continuing through the latter part of the '80s, New York City was engulfed in the co- oping craze. As prices spiralled upward, owners of residential property were cashing in by converting buildings from rentals…
Trust. It's a word often heard when board members and shareholders of Big Six, a 982-unit co-op complex in Woodside, Queens, talk about their former managing agent, Richard Stone, and what they think went wrong. Essentially, they say, we…
Several months ago, I wrote an article for this column detailing the circumstances under which a cooperative board could legally discriminate against those wishing permission to either occupy or purchase the stock and lease of a cooperati…