The 2011-12 legislative session is on in Albany as this article is being written, and bills of all kinds are being considered—including some with implications for co-op and condo owners and administrators across the state. Housing is al…
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 …
The good news is, after a fallow period in the depths of the recession, the construction industry in New York City is starting to come back. However, with that activity comes the potential for disputes and property damage, especially w…
It’s not necessarily to the degree of the Hatfields vs. the McCoys, the famous mountain clan involved in a decades-long blood feud, but living side-by-side in a co-op or a condo can, needless to say, get pretty heated on occasion. …
Congratulations, you’ve been elected to serve on your building’s board. You managed to convince the rest of the building that you know enough about building systems or law or economics or even people-pleasing to make them vote for you a…
No one likes it when a neighbor has an ongoing renovation project that lasts for months on end, especially when the renovations may cause damage to your own apartment. Luckily, most buildings have a mechanism in place to fix this: the …
For some New Yorkers planning their daily errands and activities can be as logistically difficult as mountain climbing. These New Yorkers are, of course, those with disabilities, the elderly or anyone whose mobility has been compromise…
In the best of circumstances, qualifying an applicant for a co-op or condominium purchase can be a challenging process. Market conditions play a part in a board's consideration of applicants, and recent fluctuations have changed the wa…
During the Second World War, the United States and its allies invested a fortune in research to understand why so many people in the Axis nations seemed willing to believe the unbelievable, do the undoable, and follow leaders who seemed…
For most people, few things are as stressful—or exciting—as buying a new home. That can be especially true for buyers and residential unit owners who sign up to be among the first residents in a newly renovated or constructed condo or c…