LEGAL/FINANCIAL

A day after an explosion and fire in the East Village leveled three buildings, we are learning that at least two people are missing, 20 people were injured (3 of them critically), and at least 80 have been displaced. DNAinfo reports that the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and other agencies are taking a closer look at contractor Dilber Kukic. The Bronx-based general contractor, who survived the explosion, performed work at 121 Second Avenue in the past year. He was also "already under the scrutiny of Manhattan prosecutors in an unrelated case. He was arrested last month for an alleged role in a widespread bribery scandal involving city inspectors." In an exclusive interview Thursday, Kukic told DNAinfo New York "that he and the son of the [building's] owner had just opened the basement door to check a gas odor when the room blew up, knocking them off their feet and sending debris raining down on them." Kukic added that he carried Michael Hrynenko, who was seriously injured, outside. Kukic suffered burns and was treated for smoke inhalation. His firm reportedly had finished plumbing and partition wall work at 121 Second Avenue six months ago, but Kukic added that his firm hadn't worked on the basement. When DNAinfo asked him in a second interview about his arrest February, Kukic reportedly hung up the phone. 

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It's a nightmare scenario. An explosion and fire yesterday in the East Village leveled three buildings. Brickunderground.com has compiled some helpful information for New Yorkers who want to know how they can keep something like this from happening in their homes, if possible, and what to do if it does. First and foremost, it stressed Mayor Bill de Blasio's message from yesterday's press conference: if you smell gas, call 911 or Con Ed immediately. Brickunderground.com also reminds everyone to not overload their outlets, urges people to call 311 if their fire escapes look suspiciously rickety, and offers some information about apartment insurance. For more information on what happens when a building reports a gas leak, check out our coverage of last year's fatal explosion in East Harlem.

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When it comes to making capital improvements, co-op and condo boards understand perhaps better than anyone else that timing is everything. A major project, such as replacing the elevators — especially when you have only one — requires a lot of planning, a lot of coordination, a lot of money, and a lot of damage control. When a building's elevator is out of service, residents complain — and rightfully so. But when you have to not only spend a lot of money that might make shareholders and unit-owners feel a little nervous and take the elevator offline so that work can begin… well, residents are probably going to complain some more.

There are steps a board can take, however, to reduce inconvenience and keep tempers from flaring up too much.

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Neighbor-to-neighbor noise complaints are almost always tricky for co-op and condo boards. Ideally, boards have to find a way to resolve the problem without resorting to time-consuming and expensive litigation. Not all noise complaints, however, are created equal.

When the neighbor making noise is clomping up and down the apartment in heavy shoes at midnight, the solution can be as simple as enforcing existing rules. Most co-ops have a rule that a certain percentage of floor space outside of kitchens, closets, and bathrooms — typically 80 percent — must be covered with rugs, carpets, or other materials that reduce noise. When the neighbor making noise has made it a habit of playing loud music at 3 A.M., the board can also point to house rules and encourage compromise.

But what happens when the neighbor who's made the complaint works from home, and the neighbor making noise is simply practicing the piano (or other musical instrument)?

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If you're looking to buy a condo in Dumbo, then boy have we got some good news for you. The Landmarks Preservation Commission has given architecture firm ODA's design for 10 Jay Street a thumbs up. DNAinfo reports that by the end of this month, the last commercial tenant left in the building will bid the space farewell so the space can be converted to condos. The commission was reportedly won over by the design "because it honors the building's history as a sugar refinery" by using "oddly shaped glass pieces in the façade to represent the crystal-like shine of sugar" as well as brick and steel, which echoes the building's manufacturing past. How sweet it is! Crews begin demolition and renovation in May and the condos should be ready by middle of next year, so start saving those pennies.

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Early last week, we introduced you to two people who represent a new breed of board member. The first is Josh Fox, who has been on the board of the 206-unit condominium at 340 East 23rd Street for the entire seven-year life of the building, and president for the last three. The second is Michael Herzog, who is president of the 68-unit co-op at 257-291 Cedarhurst Avenue in Cedarhurst, and has been actively involved in the affairs of the garden apartment house for more than three decades. Fox and Herzog are take-charge guys who have made money-saving into an art form. But how? 

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They call it foreclosure, but for condo associations, it's more like "threeclosure" — you're third in line to receive money from the sale of an apartment, after the mortgage and property taxes are paid. This often makes a board reticent about foreclosing on a unit in severe arrears, since it costs money to take legal action. If you'll never recoup unpaid common charges, let alone attorney fees, you might well wonder, why spend more?

But veteran real estate attorney Marc H. Schneider, a partner at Schneider Mitola, argues that "it is too expensive to do nothing." First, a condo association loses income every month while waiting for the bank to foreclose and get common charges and assessments flowing again. But less obviously and more importantly, condo associations have legal advantages over a lender that open up two significant options for not only stanching the loss of income from the unit, but even for recouping arrears and collecting late fees and legal costs.

How?  

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The stakes are high in the dog-eat-dog world of New York City real estate, and competition is fierce enough as it is. You still have to play by the rules, though; and according to the Corcoran Group, a reportedly well-funded real estate tech startup company isn't playing fair. According to the Daily News, the real estate behemoth says that startup Compass is "aggressively poaching its agents and stealing valuable information from its proprietary databases." Oh, yes. Corcoran is suing, saying Compass has "coordinated [a] multi-front assault of unfair competition on two of its most profitable offices over the last year." Corcoran also claims that "some of the defecting agents have hijacked its proprietary systems, including its 'Cadillac of listings databases.'" Both sides told the Daily News that they could not comment on ongoing litigation. Only in New York.

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A defensive board might be tempted to write off an angry disruption at the annual meeting as an aberration — especially when a dissident claims that board members are getting paid off by someone. It shouldn't. The disruption may be a warning sign of a more serious problem and, like all warning signs, it is not meant to make a board stop everything it is doing but, rather, to slow down, take note, and investigate. 

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Regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum, most (if not all) New Yorkers can agree on one thing: the cost of living here is too high. And late last week, the Republican-led Senate did something about it. According to Capital, it approved legislation to set a two percent cap on property tax increases in the five boroughs, similar to the statewide two percent cap that exempts New York City. The bill was sponsored by Republican Senator Andrew Lanza of Staten Island, who said, "We're driving families away [at] unprecedented rates [with] unbridled increases in the property tax rate, especially when you add that together with the New York City income tax and the taxes that are imposed on just about everything that moves, breathes or exists in the city of New York."

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