2009 Nov
Focus on... Building Maintenance

With the economy still in the weeds and building administrators looking for creative ways to save money and build up their bottom line, it’s no surprise to hear that co-ops and condos are taking a hard look at their maintenance and buil…

Even when living in a multi-family building, individual residents must handle some of the same responsibilities as those of a single-family homeowner. While board members will be more involved than other residents in helping to ensure …

If you’re part of a co-op and condo community, you’ve definitely had to deal with the New York City’s Building Codes. They’re a complex set of regulations, documents, amendments, local laws and more, regulating all sorts of things, from …

Clean laundry. It’s one of those basic things without which we would go mad but which we rarely stop to consider. Within New York’s co-op and condo complexes, laundry room facilities are an integral part of a happy, functioning environm…

Ever since the first hydraulic passenger elevator was installed in New York City in 1870, the city has relied upon elevators to support its upward growth. Given that few would care to contemplate living or working in a 20-story walk-up,…

 "Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” An immortal line from a beloved movie, and perhaps a reflection of how many  Western urbanites over the years have viewed the large pockets of Asian  immigrants that have settled in their cities. Chinato…

 Even before the landmark “Pullman” case in 2003 in which a co-op board and shareholders voted unanimously to evict an especially  troublesome and disruptive shareholder from their building—New York co-op residents have grumbled about “obj…

 No doubt about it, the Big Apple is a pedestrian town: according to the New York  City Department of Transportation (DOT), over eight million people tread the  city’s approximately 12,750 square miles of sidewalks each day.    New …

 In the late 1980s, seeking high-growth, low-risk investment opportunities, and  with an affinity for brick and mortar, European pension funds began to invest  heavily in the American real estate market. So much money poured into the Unite…

 According to some sources, the word “tips” is actually an acronym—it’s short for “To Insure Prompt Service,” and the list of people who are commonly tipped—at least in the United States—includes everyone from hair and nail salon workers t…

Q I am three months behind in my homeowner’s association payments. Can the condominium foreclose on my unit? My mortgage payments are up to date, and I called my lender who said, ‘no, they cannot foreclose.’ What do you say? I wrote a…

Q Our co-op has a question about our various insurance policies. Our insurance agent has recommended to the board that we keep our D&O coverage separate from our general liability coverage. I understand that some commercial general l…

Q I own a co-op unit in Jackson Heights, and recently I asked to get a copy of my building’s insurance policy. The board’s management told me that they only give this information out when an owner is buying, selling or refinancing—no…

Q Last year, I bought a brand new condo from a builder in Brooklyn. The disaster started from the first day I moved in. After I remodeled and thought that I could enjoy it, I found that there isn’t any insulation between the walls, f…

Q “When I purchased my apartment in Brooklyn, noise was a concern of mine. I was told by the sales team and the builders that noise was not a problem. But now with people moving in, I hear closet and kitchen doors closing, people wal…