NEW YORK CITY

The owner of a Union Square condominium was having his apartment renovated when the contractor’s men accidentally scratched the elevator door with a ladder. The contractor admitted responsibility for the damage, but the building’s property manager told the contractor not to pay the building any money – because the building was taking $600 out of the unit-owner’s damage deposit to cover the repair. Did the manager do the right thing?
 
A condo has a relationship with unit-owners, not with the contractors or subcontractors they hire, says the Ask Real Estate column in the New York Times. So if the building is damaged by a contractor, the board will seek compensation from the unit-owner who hired the contractor. Smart boards require unit-owners to sign an agreement before renovation work begins.
 
“These agreements make crystal clear that the condominium owner and not the contractor is liable for any damage to building property, which includes the elevator,” says real estate attorney Adam Leitman Bailey.
 
Most buildings also require contractors to take out an insurance policy that names the condominium and the unit-owner as additional insureds. It’s also possible to file a suit against the contractor in Small Claims Court for up to $5,000.

When more than 45 percent of the people in your community are over the age of 60, then you’re living in what social scientists call a “Naturally Occurring Retirement Community,” or NORC. Your building may not be there yet, but now is the time to start preparing for a future that will inevitably be grayer as the population ages. One strategy is for your board to partner with private organizations.

No city can have too many billionaires. So the world of high-end New York City real estate is understandably aflutter that new federal rules are scaring away buyers of super-luxe Manhattan condos.

Beginning on March 1, the U.S. Treasury Department is requiring that title companies disclose the true names of people who pay more than $3 million in cash for Manhattan condos, and more than $1 million in Miami. Such purchases were traditionally made by faceless Limited Liability Companies, or LLCs, which fed governmental fears that rich international buyers were laundering ill-gotten gains in high-dollar American real estate.

Shivers are already being felt along West 57th Street, Billionaires’ Row, according to Curbed. “Additional regulation is the last thing we need to hurt potential business that really creates jobs for American workers,” says Gary Barnett, president of Extell, a prime developer on Billionaires’ Row. “This is another layer of difficulty that is going to potentially hurt further development.”

There is good news for all those poor rich people: the federal disclosure rule runs only until August 27. Which led Jonathan Miller, president of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel, to make a prediction: “A wealthy individual isn’t going to risk ending up on a list somewhere. They can wait six months.”

During February, Habitat Weekly is advising boards on how to deal with a quartet of vexing complaints that bedevil every building. This week: noise.

Noise complaints are the migraine of the headaches besetting co-op and condo boards. They come without warning, they tend to be brutal, and there’s no simple cure. Worst of all, they can come from almost any source – stereos, TVs, musical instruments, renovation work, appliances, parties, children, footfalls, even the noise people make when they make love.

Boards need to address them. Forcefully.

Today we take our third and final look at some of the most frequently asked questions about house rules.

How strict should a board be about enforcing house rules?

Yesterday, today and tomorrow, we’re answering some of the most frequently asked questions about that misunderstood topic, house rules. If properly written – and firmly, fairly enforced – house rules can turn your building from a living hell into a bit of heaven. Rules on noise, smoking, pets, enforcement techniques and many other issues are some of the most important – and controversial – documents in any co-op or condo.

Here are two more FAQs:

Today’s New York Post carries a story about a unit owner in a luxury Upper East Side condo who has sued his upstairs neighbors for allowing their kids to play floor hockey in the hallway, sometimes as early at 6:30 in the morning. The games produce “sounds of jumping up and down...banging, thumping, running, heavy footsteps and commotion.” As for sleeping past 7 a.m. on weekends? “Forget it,” the lawsuit says.

What we have here is a failure of the upstairs resident to obey the house rules – and a failure by the board to enforce those rules.

New York State’s School Tax Relief Program, or STAR, is designed to give a rebate on school taxes to homeowners who make $500,000 or less a year, and to senior citizen homeowners who makes less than $84,550. Many co-op boards have treated the STAR rebates the same way they treat abatements under the Cooperative and Condominium Tax Abatement Program – that is, they levy an assessment on shareholders equal to the rebate and abatement. Other boards pool the STAR rebates, distribute the benefits to all shareholders, then assess that amount. The shareholders suffer no pain (or gain), while the co-op gets a valuable revenue infusion.

But boards who snatch the STAR rebates are over-reaching, attorney Steve Wagner, a partner in the firm Wagner Berkow, tells Brick Underground. “The law mandates the cooperative and/or its managing agent to administer the tax rebate and to credit the STAR tax exemption only to those tenant shareholders who qualify for the exemption,” Wagner says.

Only shareholders who use the apartment as their primary residence qualify for STAR rebates and the abatements. The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance has strict rules on how co-ops should handle STAR rebates.

Make sure your board isn't practicing fuzzy math.

Thinking of raising money by turning your building into a set for a movie, TV show or commercial? The Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting offers guidelines to co-op and condo boards. Here's a vital to-do list:

Many superintendents in co-op and condo buildings do minor repair and maintenance jobs on the side for shareholders and unit-owners. It’s a common practice that’s loaded with uncommon perils – ones that boards should consider carefully before they get into deep, and costly, trouble.