NEW YORK CITY

The New York state legislature decreed that, beginning with the 2012-2013 tax year, only primary residents of co-op and condo apartments are eligible for tax abatements. The change complicated bookkeeping for individuals, boards and property managers, especially in buildings where an assessment was levied that equaled the tax abatements. Here are three simple steps that can help your building untangle the mess of primary residency, abatements, and assessments:

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.

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.

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.

This month, Habitat Weekly is looking into a quartet of problems that bedevil co-op and condo boards. This week: disruptive residents.

It seems that every co-op and condo building has at least one: the bad apple, the shareholder or unit-owner who turns life sour for everyone else. Co-op boards have a powerful weapon in the battle against problem shareholders – eviction for objectionable conduct – but before going nuclear, boards should take three simple steps: study the problem, communicate their concerns, and document their actions.

The bylaws of many condominiums authorize the board of managers to impose fines for violations of the rules and regula­tions, and also authorize the collection of late fees for failure to pay the common charges on time. However, recent court cases have set limits on the amount of these fines and late fees, even refusing to enforce such a penalty if it is “confiscatory in nature.” Although there is no explicit law that defines the limits of what a board may charge, a board’s authority to determine the extent of the fines and late fees would seem to be governed by the Business Judgment Rule and not by a “reasonableness” standard.

Yet in the most recent decisions, courts have looked to the Criminal Usury Statute, Penal Law Section 190.40, which makes an interest charge of more than 25% per year a criminal offense.

As New York City grows ever-wealthier, long-time renters in many co-ops are feeling pinched by ever-stricter house rules. One is a rent-stabilized tenant on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, who is put out by new rules that bar residents from socializing with doormen; designate hallways and outside sidewalks as “quiet areas”; and even forbid residents from feeding birds.

In the Ask Real Estate column in the New York Times, this rent-stabilized tenant wonders: Do such draconian rules apply to renters as well as shareholders?
Yours is “a very typical scenario in the evolution of New York City,” replies Andrew Scherer, director of the Impact Center for Public Interest Law at New York Law School. If you owned your apartment, you would have no choice but to follow the co-op’s rules. But as a renter, you must follow the terms of your lease, the rent stabilization law and other housing laws. The only co-op rules binding on renters are the ones that protect health and safety, or enforce laws.

But is feeding the birds worth a potential fight – and nuisance lawsuit – with the co-op board? Scherer advises: “You might want to weigh whether the friction with neighbors that would be caused by violating the rules is worth it.”

As baby boomers slip into middle age – and beyond – many co-op and condo boards are facing a huge challenge. Even if your building is not yet officially a Naturally Occurring Retirement Community – that is, a building where more than 45 percent of the residents are over the age of 60 – it’s time to start thinking about the future. Your first thought should be: safety first. Here are four tips for dealing with senior citizens:

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.

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.”