LEGAL/FINANCIAL

If you want a snapshot of how New York's property management field has changed over the past quarter-century, you should look into the history of Cooper Square Realty. When Dan Wurtzel joined the fledgling company in 1987, he was one of four employees. Today, he's president of the New York operation of FirstService Residential, which purchased a stake in Cooper Square in 2003 and later formed partnerships with Wentworth New York and Goodstein Management. With 400 employees and more than 500 properties in its portfolio, FirstService Residential is now the largest management firm in the city.

A subsidiary of Toronto-based FirstService Corp., FirstService Residential operates in 21 states and has more than 12,000 employees. 

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It's easy to forget that one of the byproducts of all this new condo construction is disruption of life as usual — unless you live across the street from it, that is. Take the rental building across the street from a luxury condo that is under construction. One of its tenants wrote to Ronda Kaysen's latest "Ask Real Estate" column in The New York Times explaining that a structure has been erected in front of the rental building to accommodate fire trucks from the station, likewise across the street from the construction site. According to the tenant, "taxis, cars and moving trucks can no longer pull up to the front of the building…. [and] traffic [has been] diverted to a small lane next to this structure, creating unsafe conditions for drivers and pedestrians." It's a political question, explains Kaysen, adding that the tenant could contact the Department of Transportation (DOT), or better yet the local community board or elected officials. But the bottom line is that, very likely, "the condo is an as-of-right development, which means that it was not subject to a public review process where the community would have had the opportunity to weigh in on practical matters like where to house fire trucks. This might explain why the structure seemingly rose out of thin air." It's something for existing co-ops and condos to keep in mind, especially since next time, one of those new condos — and any accompanying ugly structures — might be right outside their doors rather than outside a rental building.

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Waiting for the fiscal year to end is why so many co-ops and condos have their annual meetings in May and June. The annual financial statements should be delivered by the accountant to the board and the shareholders or unit-owners within four months of the end of the fiscal year (usually by April 30 if the fiscal year is also the calendar year). However, if the fiscal year is not the calendar year, the financial statements will be due later than April 30. The annual meeting should be held after the financial statements are received so the unit-owners and shareholders have an opportunity to review them prior to the annual meeting when the auditor can answer questions about them.

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Prices in Brooklyn continue to skyrocket, and more of the locations that make Brooklyn so charming and engaging to new residents continue to disappear. Even landmarks have to make way for all those new condos. And another one just bit the dust, reports the New York Daily News. The historic Brooklyn Lyceum on 227 4th Avenue — which was originally a public bathhouse and most recently a performance venue — is going condo. According to the Daily News, former owner Eric Richmond fell behind on mortgage payments, which opened the door for real estate developer Greystone. The developer snapped up the Fourth Avenue landmark for $7.6 million at a foreclosure auction in October last year, and will be converting the space into high-end townhouse-style homes. Alas, no more eccentric musical acts by independent artists. But there is a silver lining: the building's "celebrated façade, which still features stucco and terra-cotta dolphins dating back to the building's bathhouse days, will remain intact."

Photo by Kate Leonova for Property Shark.

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Annual water rate increases in New York City were in the low single digits a dozen years ago: prices rose by one percent in 2001 and by three percent in 2002. Then, in a terrible piece of timing, annual rate increases soared into double digits just as the Great Recession was reaching its terrible depths. In 2008 the increase was 11.5 percent; the following three years saw increases of 14.5 percent, 12.9 percent, and 12.9 percent. Just like that, water had become a major and growing expense when many buildings could least afford it.

Officials from the city's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Water Board offered a variety of explanations that did little to mollify New Yorkers suddenly faced with staggering water bills. The officials blamed everything from neglected infrastructure to unfunded federal mandates. There is a lot of expensive work going on, including the construction of a $2.8 billion filtration plant, a $1.4 billion ultraviolet disinfection facility, and the ongoing work on the $6 billion Tunnel No. 3 that will supplement the city's two existing water tunnels, which were built in 1917 and 1936 and are expected to need major work in the future. That work will be addressed once Tunnel No. 3 is completed.

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A resident asks: I am on my condo's board. There's a unit owner who moved into the building a couple of years ago. She's on the first floor. A few months after she moved in, she placed two bins on the first floor for recycling, along with a notice letting unit owners know to use them. But she did this without consulting with the board. There's been nothing drastic, for now, but I'm trying to convince my board that we have to talk to her, get her to stop before the problem escalates and the building gets fined. They think I'm being dramatic. What can I do?

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It's been a couple of weeks since we told you about Marion Scott Real Estate's lawsuit against RiverBay, Co-op City's board of directors, which controls the 50,000-resident complex. The management company's lawsuit in state Supreme Court claims the corporation's move to suspend it was illegal. Furthermore, the New York State Homes and Community Renewal agency urged the board to reinstate and retain Marion Scott until it wraps up an investigation into the allegations. Which it didn't. So here we are, two weeks later. Marion Scott remains locked out, and the New York Daily News reports that a Manhattan Supreme Court judge denied Marion Scott’s request for a preliminary injunction, although "Justice Paul Wooten [did agree] that the directors acted inappropriately when they cited a host of alleged missteps and suspended the management company." The lawsuit is still pending.

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Early this month, The New York Times declared 2015 to be the Year of the Condo, and with good reason. Reports from various residential brokerages, including the Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group cited by the Times, projected that at least 6,500 new luxury condo units in more than 100 buildings would be available for the taking this year. After a five-year drought, that figure seemed pretty impressive. But a report published last week by Halstead Property Development Marketing paints a different picture.

It looks like the number of new condos available for purchase this year is closer to about 3,500. Why?

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Why shouldn't boards defer maintenance? If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? Who can blame boards for not spending money where it's not imperative for them to do so? Gas, oil, and insurance are expensive. Don't get us started on taxes. Certainly, when budgets are tight, it truly is difficult to justify seemingly unnecessary expenses. As for raising maintenance or passing on yet another special assessment, many boards are understandably reluctant to go those routes. Unfortunately, however, when co-ops and condos defer maintenance, they open themselves up to a host of problems — from leaky roofs to bursting pipes — in the long term.

Some key areas where boards tend to defer are plumbing, roofs, and boilers.

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When it's 30 degrees outside, the last thing on your mind is probably one of the best amenities your co-op or condo may have: the swimming pool. But just because the pool may be out of sight, doesn't necessarily mean it should be out of mind.

Depending on whether your building has an indoor or outdoor pool and what the operating hours are — namely, whether the pool is seasonal — now is an ideal time for boards to take a look at the pool to see what kind of shape it's in, whether it needs any maintenance, and whether it's time to talk about renovating it. Seasonal pools tend to open for business on Memorial Day, and May 25 will be here sooner than you think.

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