Terra cotta became "terror cotta" on May 16, 1979, when a chunk of lintel broke off from the seventh or eighth floor of 601 West 115th Street, a Columbia University-owned apartment house built in 1912. It crashed onto Barnard College freshman Grace Gold, killing her.

Barnard would rename part of its McIntosh Student Center in her memory, but Gold's tragic legacy reverberated further: The year after her death, New York City passed what would become one of its most widespread, enduring and, for building-owners, toughest and most expensive building-safety laws. Read More »

A scenario from the proxy wars: a very prestigious building, inhabited by some Very Important People. For some reason, their control of this co-op board became the most important thing in their lives. The campaign for office was brutal and the election meeting was intense and contentious. Unfortunately, it was all about personalities — and frequently in such cases, elections are so close that every vote counts. That's when proxies — a document authorizing a specified person to vote your corporate stock, generally because you cannot attend a meeting for some reason — can tip the balance. Read More »

Can your cooperative or condominium afford to repay thousands of dollars to former shareholders? It's not an idle question. After a lawsuit, the Hotel des Artistes co-op on Manhattan's Upper West Side was forced to do just that to the tune of $350,000, because a sublet fee hadn't been incorporated into the corporation's proprietary lease — even though it had been enacted by a majority of the tenant-shareholders! Or maybe you're on a board that gets sued, and you find your indemnification provision doesn't cover legal fees, forcing you to spend tens of thousands of dollars of your own money. Read More »

Aug. 13, 2008 — The New York City Sanitation Department has begun enforcing a law enacted August 2 to prevent unwanted menus, flyers, circulars and those ubiquitous fly-by-night locksmith cards from cluttering doorways of houses and apartment buildings. Called "lawn litter" in sanitation jargon, such materials are now prohibited at any home posted with a sign meeting minimal requirements. Read More »

If your co-op or condo houses one of New York City's estimated 58,000 to 70,000 elevators, get ready for a new city code this January that requires building owners to conduct more frequent inspection and testing. It'll cost you more money and create coordinating headaches. Will our "vertical transportation" be safer? Here are the ups and downs of the new rules. Read More »

Hallway space, lobby space, roof space, backyard space — any co-op or condo common space that's underutilized, if used at all, offers a novel method for how your building can generate income and lowers the maintenance cost per share. Read More »

Blame Enron, WorldCom and Tyco. Because of the financial scandals at those major corporations, now cooperatives and condominiums have stricter and more complicated standards to follow when reporting taxes. Here's what it all means and how your building can get through it as efficiently as possible. Read More »

Post-Issue Update: June 17, 2008 — New York State Governor David Paterson has signed a four-year extension to the New York City property-tax abatement program for city coops and condos. The legislation, introduced by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and State Senator Frank Padavan, allows the Department of Finance to include the abatement in its property-tax bills for the 2009 fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2008. Read More »

It seemed like a slam-dunk. When a developer approached the board of 270 Fifth Street, a 35-unit Brooklyn co-op, about buying the building's air rights, the delighted board imagined capital improvements and new reserve funding — until the bank with the building's mortgage swooped in to take the air rights hostage. Read More »

If your building is lucky enough or prudent enough to have multimillion-dollar capital reserves, keeping them intact and growing them brings unique albeit pleasant problems. The real estate boom of recent years saw some co-ops, for instance, convert commercial rental units into additional shares and selling them, while others acquired large sums via flip taxes. Whatever the reason, cash accumulated quickly, and it's now up to you to make maximum use of those funds. Read More »