HABITAT
NYC co-ops and condos face legal and financial challenges that have to be solved. Whether it's a question of how to raise more money, how to deal with angry owners, or the best ways to work with a building's accountant or lawyer, co-op and condo board directors have to make decisions. The collection of articles here will help your co-op or condo board navigate these waters.
Deed Deal Reaps Millions – and Sparks an Outcry
March 24, 2016
Nursing facility sold on the sly to luxury condo developers.
The Billionaire Upstairs
March 23, 2016
Lawsuit seeks $2.5 million from David Geffen over gut reno.
Why Property Tax Reform Keeps Stalling
Written by Ruth Ford on March 22, 2016
“It’s just too political.”
The Bad Penny of Co-op Living
March 21, 2016
Do illegal sublets mean your board is asleep at the wheel?
A New Condo Tax Abatement Headache
Written by Jennifer V. Hughes on March 18, 2016
New rules would treat co-ops and condos alike.
Is Your Boiler Burning Used Motor Oil?
March 18, 2016
Lawsuits over adulterated heating oil get a new life.
Do You Need a Social Media Policy?
Written by Lisa Prevost on March 17, 2016
Self-protection and self-expression can co-exist on your building’s social media platforms. Here’s how.
Branding Fever Hits Dizzy New Low
March 16, 2016
Brookfield Property Partners plays Goliath in this tale. The four-story, 31-room Manhattan West Hotel plays David.
Why Real Estate Taxes Are a Tangled Mess
March 15, 2016
There are many reasons why New York real estate taxes are out of whack. One of the biggest is the caps on annual increases, which let rapidly appreciating homes escape taxes while less valuable homes pay.
Once again, the rich get richer.
Millionaires Living in "Middle-Income" Housing
March 14, 2016
Two recent developments highlight the maddening difficulty of preserving affordable housing in New York City.
Last week the City Council’s Affordable Housing Preservation Task Force introduced three bills to tighten requirements on low-income HDFC co-ops, in an effort to keep them affordable. The bills would require HDFCs to report on shareholder income, resale prices, monthly maintenance and tax arrears. Since some HDFC apartments have recently sold for more than $1 million, a cap on resale prices may also be in the works.
On the heels of that development, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has come out with an audit showing that there were 230 tenants earning $250,000 a year or more in the city’s subsidized “middle-income” Mitchell-Lama co-ops in 2012, the New York Post reports. One resident earned $1.4 million, another earned $1.1 million. The Mitchell-Lama program was inaugurated in 1955 to provide housing for people who didn’t qualify for public housing but couldn’t afford market rates.
Some Mitchell-Lama residents who initially met income limits have seen their incomes rise sharply over the years. Vickie Been, the department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) commissioner, notes that Mitchell-Lamas provide affordable homes for 100,000 New Yorkers, and she insists that the number of residents earning more than $250,000 is “quite small.”
But large enough to illustrate why it’s so difficult to find affordable housing in New York City.
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