Category: Q&A

Our board has unilaterally determined that a “majority” of residents want an exercise room. And the board, in spite of this, continues  to spend our money to pursue the project despite our requests to “cease and desist” and hold a general m…

Q Does a co-op board have any involvement in an individual building shareholder securing a reverse mortgage? —Curious Shareholder A “Yes—a board of directors of a cooperative apartment corporation is involved wh…

Our co-op elected its new officers, as usual. However, this year, there were two  amendments to the proprietary lease, one for staggered board terms and the  other to change our transfer fee, or flip tax, from one month’s maintenance to two…

 Certain shareholders in our building keep some personal belongings (i.e., bikes,  baby strollers, skates) in the hallways next to their apartments. Sometimes we  have to squeeze by their hallway clutter to get to our own units. Is there an…

The original condo declaration, bylaws, amendments and house rules allow for  renovations without board approval to interior units if they do not affect  common area are not structural in nature. I installed a wall partition (does  not affe…

 My building has a rental apartment that was bought from a previous shareholder. Apparently, an amended document was not filed with the state attorney’s office, so there are still shares attached to this apartment. These shares were voted b…

I’m a president of a new condo and have no experience running one prior to this. There is an apartment in the condo that consistently has children dropped off. After some inquiry it turns out to be the children of relatives, around 4 or …

 The tenant below me smokes nonstop. Her windows are always fully open and the smoke travels directly into my  apartment above. My apartment smells like an ashtray and of course leaves us vulnerable to  second-hand smoke. Even with our wind…

Can a designated trustee of a co-op apartment serve as a member of a co-op board  in any role?     —Upper East Side Shareholder   A “The general answer to the question is yes provided that the bylaws of the  corporation or th…

 I am president of a co-op, which has a swimming pool. The question has come up  as to whether or not a lifeguard is required by law. I am writing because I  found an article on the Internet on cooperator.com found at  (cooperator.com/artic…