Feb. 29, 2016 — Your building’s monthly management report may be the single most important tool for keeping your co-op or condo on the right path. But who should be reading this crucial document?

While many boards pick one person to do the job, most experts agree that it’s better to share the load. The more eyeballs, the merrier. Read More »

Feb. 29, 2016 — At a co-op in Woodside, Queens, where the building’s electricity usage is included in the monthly maintenance, a shareholder complained that the board president burns a string of 40 ornamental lights on his terrace every evening and sometimes during the day. The co-op lawyer replied with a stern letter stating that the president is “not required to sit on his terrace in darkness.” What recourse does this unhappy shareholder have?

“Courts take a dim view of board decisions that are made in bad faith or with self-dealing,” real estate lawyer Andrew Bart tells the Ask Real Estate column in the New York Times.

On the bright side, the board president’s ornamental lights are probably not driving up the co-op’s electric bill by much. Shared costs are a part of cooperative living, and there’s usually some inequity.

“Just as you may choose to watch television every evening or listen to music, your neighbor may choose to read,” says real estate lawyer Leni Morrison Cummins. “Life’s not always fair in a cooperative.”

Especially when it’s time to share the ConEd bill.

Feb. 26, 2016 — Before the accountant completes the annual audit of your co-op’s or condo’s financial records, the board and the managing agent will be asked to sign a letter acknowledging that they, not the accountant, have primary responsibility for the financial statements and that to the best of their knowledge the statements are correct.

This “representation letter,” called the “rep letter,” does not change or add to the fundamental responsibilities of the board or the management company, nor does it relieve the accountant of any of his responsibilities. It simply clarifies the traditional roles that the accountant performs. Read More »

Feb. 26, 2016 — For the first time ever, New Yorkers say affordable housing is the most important problem they face, according to a new telephone poll conducted by NY1 and Baruch College. Twenty percent of respondents listed affordable housing as their top concern, followed by crime, jobs and the economy at 16 percent, and homelessness at 12 percent.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they believe they’re at risk of being priced out of their neighborhood in the next few years. Money provided little solace. More than half of the people who earn six figures – 53 percent – say it’s likely they’ll be priced out.

“Pretty much everyone thought they would be priced out of their neighborhood, everyone who’s under the age of 65,” Baruch College pollster Mickey Blum told Time Warner Cable News. “Even people who earn more than $100,000.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio has set a goal of creating or preserving 200,000 units of affordable housing in the next 10 years.

Feb. 26, 2016 — It’s not every day that New Yorkers turn down a cash offer of $130 million. For this reason, the Brooklyn Heights Association has bestowed its prestigious Good Neighbor Award on the shareholders of the co-op at 75 Henry Street, who last month turned down a developer’s offer for their commercial space that would have made each of them at least $120,000 richer.
 
“They listened to the concerns of their neighbors,” presenter Tom Stewart told Brooklyn Paper. “This award is given in recognition of their true community spirit."

Many in the neighborhood were concerned that Anbau Enterprises’s proposal to erect a 40-story condo tower on the co-op’s Pineapple Walk commercial site would block views, increase congestion, reduce property values and otherwise make life in Brooklyn Heights a little bit less worth living.

By a vote of 191-112, the shareholders at 75 Henry Street agreed with those concerns and turned down Anbau’s millions. Priceless.

The Homestead's new lobby and front doors (image courtesy Garthchester Realty)

The shareholders at The Homestead, a co-op at 80 East Hartsdale Avenue in Westchester County, were pleased with the makeover at their 165-unit building. Then, at about 1:30 on a cold morning in February, an out-of-control car did a little renovation of its own, crashing into the railing surrounding the outside of the building, breaking it and sending pieces flying onto the deck plaza, into the canopy and the newly installed black metal entry doors to the building, seriously damaging them.

“Thank God, no one was hurt,” says board president Clementine Carbo. “It was a mess.” Read More »

Feb. 22, 2016 — The Department of Buildings has given its blessing to the demolition of one of the oldest and quirkiest buildings on the Lower East Side – a 200-year-old Federal row house at the corner of Grand and Essex Streets, The Lo-Down reports.
The building’s owner, Jennie Lai, plans to erect a 6,500-square-foot mixed commercial and residential building on the site, which recently housed a pizza parlor and flower shop on street level. The building is not landmarked because it had undergone too many alterations over the years, and so it was not protected by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The DOB rejected Lai’s original development plans earlier this month. She paid $4 million for the building, which will soon enter the graveyard of forgotten olde New York.

Feb. 19, 2016 — Yesterday we reported that Brooklyn is about to get its first supertall building – a 1,066-foot-tall residential tower adjacent to the iconic Dime Savings Bank in downtown. Today we can report that the push-back has already begun against what will be the borough’s tallest building.

Mario Messina, who runs the nonprofit coalition New Yorkers for a Human-Scale City, tells am New York, “These tall buildings turn the neighborhood into high-rise wastelands. When the developers see that they don’t have any more room to butcher Manhattan, they will go elsewhere.” 

City Councilman Jumaane Williams, chairman of the council’s housing committee, called the 73-story tower “concerning” because there has been little input from the community about its possible effects. “We have to build, but we have to build with measure,” Williams said. “This is happening too quickly.”

The next hurdle for the project, which is being developed by JDS Development Group and the Chetrit Group, is a hearing before the Landmarks Preservation Commission, since plans call for altering the adjacent Dime Savings Bank, a city landmark.

Feb. 19, 2016 — The demise of the 421-a tax abatement has claimed its first victim. The $1.5 billion Hallets Point project in Astoria, Queens – an ambitious project that was to create 2,000 apartments (483 of them affordable), a supermarket, school and riverfront esplanade – has been put on hold by the Durst Organization, which cites the recent expiration of the tax abatement.

“Without a new 421-a or a replacement program, we can’t continue with the project,” Durst spokesman Jordan Barowitz tells DNAinfo. “Without the abatement, the economics of the project collapse and we couldn’t get a construction loan.”

The first building in the multi-phase, seven-year project started construction before the tax abatement expired, so that component – the supermarket and 400 apartments, 80 of them affordable – will move forward. The rest of the project is in limbo.

The 421-a tax abatement was instituted in the 1970s to spur affordable residential development, but it was derided by critics who called it a giveaway for developers. The abatement expired on Jan. 15 – the day after ground was broken at Hallets Point – when developers and unions were unable to hash out an agreement on a prevailing wage for construction workers.

The Brooklyn Dime Savings Bank, which will sit at the foot of a 1,066-foot supertall in downtown Brooklyn (photo courtesy of Property Shark)

Feb. 19, 2016 — Developers have submitted plans for a 1,066-foot supertall building in downtown Brooklyn, nearly double the height of anything in the neighborhood, the New York Times reports.
The 73-story building will be built by JDS Development Group and the Chetrit Group, and will feature 500 rental apartments as well as retail space in the adjacent Dime Savings Bank, a registered historic landmark. The project must win the approval of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

“We’re really excited to give Brooklyn a building that isn’t bashful, that isn’t shy,” Michael Stern, the founder and managing partner of JDS, said in a statement. “We want this project to encapsulate everything that is great about Brooklyn’s past and everything that is great about Brooklyn’s future.”

Feb. 18, 2016 — There’s nothing wrong with renting out common spaces or individual apartments in your building to film and TV crews – provided you’ve won the consent of residents and taken necessary precautions with safety, convenience and insurance. It can be a vital revenue source that keeps monthly maintenance low and the reserve fund high.

But boards need to remember to exercise moderation in all things – including filmmaking. Read More »

Feb. 18, 2016 — When the co-op board first learned about the shareholder’s dog – kept in defiance of a long-time pet prohibition – they also learned that the dog was purportedly a “therapy dog,” a trusted companion that a resident claims is vital to his or her mental health. The directors didn’t believe her – and forced her to get rid of her dog. To the co-op’s dismay, the woman died soon after.
 
Pets can be a not-so-cute problem for co-op and condo boards – especially if the pet is a so-called “support dog.” Read More »

The auto repair shops on Brooklyn's Fourth Avenue that will be razed to make way for a luxury condo (image via Google Maps)

Feb. 18, 2016 — Haysha Deitsch, embroiled in lawsuits over his eviction of disabled senior citizens, is moving ahead with his latest project, a luxury condominium on Fourth Avenue, the so-called Canyon of Mediocrity that runs between Park Slope and Gowanus in Brooklyn.

If Deitsch’s demolition permit is granted, two auto repair shops, at 243 and 245 Fourth Avenue, will be razed and replaced with an 11-story structure containing 16 luxury condo apartments, DNAinfo reports. The architect Karl Fischer will design the building, which will include a pet spa, private roof deck and children’s playroom.

Meanwhile, Deitsch continues to fight a lawsuit brought after he evicted all but a handful of the senior citizens living in an assisted-living facility he owns at 1 Prospect Park West. Deitch’s sale of the facility for $76 million has been blocked until that lawsuit is resolved.

Feb. 17, 2016 — Sometimes, what initially appeared to be a curse turns out to be a blessing. This was the case at Lindenwood Village, a 146-unit co-op in Howard Beach, Queens, where the discovery of a theft by the office manager led to a major house-cleaning that helped salvage what had been a sinking ship.

But it wasn’t painless, and it wasn’t easy. Read More »

Feb. 17, 2016 — A shareholder in a co-op had his dryer vent cleaned after 10 years and was shocked to discover how much lint had backed up. It led him to ask: who’s responsible for cleaning such potentially dangerous blockage, the shareholder or the co-op?
“Ten years is definitely dangerous,” Howard Lupowitz, owner of Brooklyn-based Air Vent Medics, tells the Ask Real Estate column in the New York Times. “It’s definitely a fire hazard.”

Dryer vents should be cleaned at least once or twice a year, depending on how frequently you use the dryer and the length of the vent, says Maria Vizzi, an owner of Indoor Environmental Solutions in the Bronx. “Ducts need to be respected,” Vizzi tells Habitat, adding that her technicians use miniature video cameras to pinpoint obstructions hundreds of feet deep in HVAC ducts and dryer ventilators. “(Ducts) are the lungs of the building, and if there’s a blockage it’s going to impact the airflow and create these types of quality-of-life issues.”

City codes require that dryer vents be cleaned, but don’t specify how often. To determine who should pay for the work, consult your building’s governing documents, advises real estate lawyer Leni Morrison Cummins.

Feb. 16, 2016 — As a board member, reading your building’s monthly management report isn’t enough. It’s just the beginning. Once you’ve finished reading the report, here are seven steps you need to take every month. Read More »

This is not the time for co-op and condo residents or their property managers to fall asleep at the wheel, advises the law firm of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. Filing deadlines are looming for New York City’s Co-op and Condo Tax Abatements. Read More »

Feb. 15, 2016 — The General Assembly's Committee on Housing is holding a public hearing on co-ops and affordable housing. Citizens can offer up to 10 minutes of personal testimony at the hearing, which will be held on Fri., Feb. 19 from 4 to 8 p.m. at the State Office Building (8th Floor), 163 W. 125th St. in Harlem.

The hearing will focus on three problem areas: co-op boards that disenfranchise shareholders; reserve funds that are dangerously low; and the high-dollar sale of co-ops that were intended as affordable housing.

If you wish to speak at the hearing, you can register by filling out this PDF.

Feb. 12, 2016 — So your board has decided to open the doors to film and TV crews, in the interest of turning your building’s charm into some cold cash. Now the real work begins. Read More »

Feb. 12, 2016 — Suppose a rent-regulated tenant in your co-op has a nasty habit: rather than making repair requests to the board or the super, he picks up the phone and dials 311. As a result, your building has a backlog of complaints with the city – which can tarnish a building’s reputation among potential buyers. What to do?

“No matter how you slice it, the correction of violations is ultimately a building owner’s responsibility,” real estate lawyer Lucas Ferrara tells the Ask Real Estate column in the New York Times.
Furthermore, rent-regulated tenants are not usually bound by the terms of the co-op’s proprietary lease, so the complaining renter is probably not required to follow the building’s process for making repair requests, adds Bradley Scott Silverbush, a lawyer who represents landlords.

Bottom line: to silence such complainers – and protect the building’s rep – boards need to be aggressive when it comes to addressing repairs. This is yet another case where procrastination is not an option.

Feb. 12, 2016 — Federal and state authorities on Thursday announced a $3.2 billion settlement with Morgan Stanley over practices that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis, including misrepresentations about the value of mortgage-backed securities, the New York Times reports. 

In the nationwide settlement, the bank acknowledges that it increased the acceptable risk levels for mortgage loans pooled and sold to investors without telling them. Loans with material defects were packed into the securities and sold.

Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $150 million in cash to New York State, plus $400 million in consumer relief, said state attorney general Eric Schneiderman.

The Morgan Stanley settlement is dwarfed by Bank of America’s $16.6 billion payout, and it leaves Goldman Sachs as the lone bank yet to work out a settlement with the working group appointed in 2012 by President Barack Obama.

Feb. 11, 2016 — Nearly 75 percent of all Americans 50 and older want to remain in their current homes as long as possible, according to a study by the Jewish Federations of North America. The desire increases with age, which means that as 79 million baby boomers start to retire, the number of people aging in place will swell as never before.

This is a looming challenge – as well as an opportunity – for co-op and condo boards. Read More »

New Yorkers live, quite literally, stacked on top of each other, and smells are a common nuisance of urban life, with smoking, cooking and pet odors the most frequent olfactory offenders. Boards need to address all odor complaints quickly, to keep them from wafting from the co-op to the courtroom. Read More »

Feb. 11, 2016 — In a move that could help avert heat wave-induced power outages and blackouts, Consolidated Edison Inc. has chosen IBM to build a platform that will allow New York City customers to monitor and control their power demand in real time.

The platform is part of ConEd’s $1.3 billion plan to install millions of smart meters for customers in its service territory that will track their power and gas use, Bloomberg Business reports. When up and running, the program will offer consumers access to demand data every 15 minutes, faster than other services of its kind, which now take several hours or even a day, according to ConEd.

Customers receiving their power demand in real time can more easily participate in programs that pay them for cutting use in critical situations when the grid needs it most, such as a heat wave.

“We see it as a game changer for the residents of New York City,” says Tom Magee, general manager of ConEd’s advanced metering team. “We are in a new phase.”

The Lindenwood Village co-op in Howard Beach, Queens, where self mis-management nearly led to ruin.

Feb. 10, 2016 — As New York real estate scams go, this one was not staggeringly lucrative, but it gets bonus points for creativity and audacity. It was a scam made possible by the fact that, for years, the Lindenwood Village (Section D) co-op in Howard Beach, Queens, was run like a personal fiefdom by the board’s vice president, Ellen Buonpastore.

But this co-op wasn’t just self-managed. It was thoroughly self mis-managed. Read More »

The tallest building in Queens will soon rise here, at 23-15 44th Drive in Long Island City (Image via Google Maps)

Feb. 10, 2016 — It doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue, but at least it will be very tall – the tallest building in all of Queens.

Court Square City View Tower, 79 stories with 774 apartments and 20,000 square feet of retail space, will rise 964 feet into the skies above Long Island City, making it the borough’s tallest building by about 50 feet.

The plans were filed last Saturday, the same day a developer filed plans to turn a nearby taxi garage into an 11-story condo building, the Real Deal reports. Court Square City View Tower is being developed by the Flushing-based developer Chris Xu, who, along with his brother George Xu, paid Citigroup $143 million for the property at 23-15 44th Drive.

The tower is being designed by the architectural firm of Goldstein, Hill & West.

Feb. 9, 2016 — If you’re like most co-op and condo board members, your eyes glaze over at the sight of the monthly report from your managing agent. Big mistake. That report may be the most important document you’ve never read.

Ignore it at your peril. Read More »

22-12 Jackson Avenue in Queens (Image via Google Maps)

Feb. 9, 2016 — Adam America filed plans over the weekend to replace a gritty Long Island City taxi garage with a glittery 11-story, 175-unit condo building with nearly 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. It’s the third major development on an industrial block near Court Square and MoMA PS1.

The plans for the 170,000-square-foot building at 22-12 Jackson Avenue – on a piece of land that fetched $43.5 million last summer – include a pool on the first floor, a gym and children’s playroom, and storage space for 91 bicycles, the Real Deal reports. 

Isaac & Stern Architects is designing the building, which will also include a rooftop “recreation area.”

Feb. 8, 2016 — Lights! Camera! Action!
 
Angelina Jolie was in trouble. The apartment had just exploded, the windows blown out into the street. The movie megastar crept along the outside ledge of the building before sneaking into a neighboring apartment, then sprinting out through the lobby to safety on the street.
 
“Cut!” Read More »

Feb. 8, 2016 — The owner of a Union Square condominium was having his apartment renovated when the contractor’s men accidentally scratched the elevator door with a ladder. The contractor admitted responsibility for the damage, but the building’s property manager told the contractor not to pay the building any money – because the building was taking $600 out of the unit-owner’s damage deposit to cover the repair. Did the manager do the right thing?
 
A condo has a relationship with unit-owners, not with the contractors or subcontractors they hire, says the Ask Real Estate column in the New York Times. So if the building is damaged by a contractor, the board will seek compensation from the unit-owner who hired the contractor. Smart boards require unit-owners to sign an agreement before renovation work begins.
 
“These agreements make crystal clear that the condominium owner and not the contractor is liable for any damage to building property, which includes the elevator,” says real estate attorney Adam Leitman Bailey.
 
Most buildings also require contractors to take out an insurance policy that names the condominium and the unit-owner as additional insureds. It’s also possible to file a suit against the contractor in Small Claims Court for up to $5,000.

Feb. 5, 2016 — When more than 45 percent of the people in your community are over the age of 60, then you’re living in what social scientists call a “Naturally Occurring Retirement Community,” or NORC. Your building may not be there yet, but now is the time to start preparing for a future that will inevitably be grayer as the population ages. One strategy is for your board to partner with private organizations. Read More »

Feb. 5, 2016 — No city can have too many billionaires. So the world of high-end New York City real estate is understandably aflutter that new federal rules are scaring away buyers of super-luxe Manhattan condos.

Beginning on March 1, the U.S. Treasury Department is requiring that title companies disclose the true names of people who pay more than $3 million in cash for Manhattan condos, and more than $1 million in Miami. Such purchases were traditionally made by faceless Limited Liability Companies, or LLCs, which fed governmental fears that rich international buyers were laundering ill-gotten gains in high-dollar American real estate.

Shivers are already being felt along West 57th Street, Billionaires’ Row, according to Curbed. “Additional regulation is the last thing we need to hurt potential business that really creates jobs for American workers,” says Gary Barnett, president of Extell, a prime developer on Billionaires’ Row. “This is another layer of difficulty that is going to potentially hurt further development.”

There is good news for all those poor rich people: the federal disclosure rule runs only until August 27. Which led Jonathan Miller, president of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel, to make a prediction: “A wealthy individual isn’t going to risk ending up on a list somewhere. They can wait six months.”

Feb. 5, 2016 — This time, a co-op’s shareholders decided to take the money and run. Two weeks after a Brooklyn Heights co-op turned down a developer’s $130 million offer to buy their commercial space and erect a 40-story condo tower, the residents of a co-op at 61-63 Crosby Street in Soho have sold their building for $42 million to L3 Capital, a Chicago-based investment firm that plans to turn the cast-iron jewel into an office building.

“The co-op owners decided to take some chips off the table and move out,” says Adelaide Polsinelli of Eastern Consolidated, who represented the buyer in the deal.

The 20,600-square-foot Crosby Street building, located between Spring and Broome Streets, was erected in 1876 and converted to a co-op in 1981, according to the Real Deal. It contained seven loft apartments and a ground-floor retail space most recently occupied by the clothier Carson Street. The building comes with 6,500 square feet of air rights.

Feb. 4, 2016 — Today we take our third and final look at some of the most frequently asked questions about house rules.

How strict should a board be about enforcing house rules? Read More »

During February, Habitat Weekly is advising boards on how to deal with a quartet of vexing complaints that bedevil every building. This week: noise.

Noise complaints are the migraine of the headaches besetting co-op and condo boards. They come without warning, they tend to be brutal, and there’s no simple cure. Worst of all, they can come from almost any source – stereos, TVs, musical instruments, renovation work, appliances, parties, children, footfalls, even the noise people make when they make love.

Boards need to address them. Forcefully. Read More »

Feb. 4, 2016 — Here’s a new way to go rogue. A co-op shareholder in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn kept opening front lobby windows when the space got overheated or when cigarette smoke wafted in from a first-floor apartment. The managing agent sent a letter ordering the shareholder to leave the windows closed, explaining that rain could get in and make the lobby’s tile floors dangerously slick. When the shareholder kept opening the windows, the agent fined him $100.

And rightly so, says the Ask Real Estate column in the New York Times.

“Individual shareholders do not have any right to decide what common-area windows should or should not be opened,” says attorney Marc Luxemburg of the firm Gallett Dreyer & Berkey. “Particularly if there is a risk of harm to other shareholders.”

Instead of going rogue, the shareholder should write a letter to the board, expressing his concerns and asking the board to address them. Peter Varsalona, a principal at RAND Engineering & Architecture, says the building could add a ventilation system to improve air quality in common areas. Or the smoker could do the right thing and add an air filtration or ventilation system in his apartment.

But going rogue is not the way to go. 

Feb. 3, 2016 — Yesterday, today and tomorrow, we’re answering some of the most frequently asked questions about that misunderstood topic, house rules. If properly written – and firmly, fairly enforced – house rules can turn your building from a living hell into a bit of heaven. Rules on noise, smoking, pets, enforcement techniques and many other issues are some of the most important – and controversial – documents in any co-op or condo.

Here are two more FAQs: Read More »

Feb. 3, 2016 — New York State’s School Tax Relief Program, or STAR, is designed to give a rebate on school taxes to homeowners who make $500,000 or less a year, and to senior citizen homeowners who makes less than $84,550. Many co-op boards have treated the STAR rebates the same way they treat abatements under the Cooperative and Condominium Tax Abatement Program – that is, they levy an assessment on shareholders equal to the rebate and abatement. Other boards pool the STAR rebates, distribute the benefits to all shareholders, then assess that amount. The shareholders suffer no pain (or gain), while the co-op gets a valuable revenue infusion.

But boards who snatch the STAR rebates are over-reaching, attorney Steve Wagner, a partner in the firm Wagner Berkow, tells Brick Underground. “The law mandates the cooperative and/or its managing agent to administer the tax rebate and to credit the STAR tax exemption only to those tenant shareholders who qualify for the exemption,” Wagner says.

Only shareholders who use the apartment as their primary residence qualify for STAR rebates and the abatements. The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance has strict rules on how co-ops should handle STAR rebates.

Make sure your board isn't practicing fuzzy math.

Feb. 2, 2016 — Today’s New York Post carries a story about a unit owner in a luxury Upper East Side condo who has sued his upstairs neighbors for allowing their kids to play floor hockey in the hallway, sometimes as early at 6:30 in the morning. The games produce “sounds of jumping up and down...banging, thumping, running, heavy footsteps and commotion.” As for sleeping past 7 a.m. on weekends? “Forget it,” the lawsuit says.

What we have here is a failure of the upstairs resident to obey the house rules – and a failure by the board to enforce those rules. Read More »

Ever get the feeling your property taxes are too high? That something just doesn't seem quite right about them? Follow that instinct because sometimes it pays to challenge a bill from the city’s Department of Finance (DOF). Read More »

Feb. 2, 2016 — One dubious turn deserves another. The Jewish Theological Seminary, following the lead of its Morningside Heights neighbor Union Theological Seminary, has sold a chunk of its campus and air rights for $96 million to the developer Savanna, which plans to erect a 250,000-square-foot condominium building on the Broadway property.

The developer has tapped the architecture firm Beyer Blinder Belle to design the project. The seminary plans to use the proceeds from the sale to renovate existing buildings and add new facilities, including a performing-arts space and a residence hall, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Like Union Theological Seminary, the Jewish Theological Seminary is cashing in on sky-high Manhattan land prices, which reached $284 per square foot last year, according to the commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield.

“Most of these groups don’t have a lot of capital money available,” says Cushman’s David Lebenstein, who was not involved in the transaction. “When they can tap into hidden value in their real estate, it’s a big win for them.”