NEW YORK CITY

Following up on this week's announcement that Governor Andrew Cuomo would be proposing a tax credit to homeowners whose property taxes make up more than 6 percent of their income, a spokesperson for the governor has clarified that yes, co-op and condo owners are included. "Condos and co-ops are included, exactly the same as if you own a home. [They have] a different rate structure, but that doesn't impact the fact that they still pay property taxes," said Morris Peters, a spokesman for the governor's budget office. The property tax credit, which will affect more than 1.3 million homeowners and 1 million renters, will be included in the governor's proposed budget next week. The goal is to aid households whose income is less than $250,000 annually and whose property taxes are at least 6 percent of that income. Outside of New York City, homeowners who fit the financial qualifications will only be eligible if their communities keep their property tax increase under that cap. As far as renters are concerned, the terms to qualify are slightly different: renters must have an income of less than $150,000 and the portion of their rent attributed to property taxes must be more than 6 percent. According the governor's office, "the total taxpayer benefit from this new proposal will reach as high as $1.66 billion on an annual basis" after four years. 

Why shouldn't boards defer maintenance? If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? Who can blame boards for not spending money where it's not imperative for them to do so? Gas, oil, and insurance are expensive. Don't get us started on taxes. Certainly, when budgets are tight, it truly is difficult to justify seemingly unnecessary expenses. As for raising maintenance or passing on yet another special assessment, many boards are understandably reluctant to go those routes. Unfortunately, however, when co-ops and condos defer maintenance, they open themselves up to a host of problems — from leaky roofs to bursting pipes — in the long term.

Some key areas where boards tend to defer are plumbing, roofs, and boilers.

What happens when a co-op or condo resident dies, leaving no heirs? Well, for starters, it can leave cooperative and condominium boards in the lurch. We're talking estates that get passed on to the courts and the judges who run them. And if money needed to pay maintenance and usage fees get tied up, solvent units end up in arrears.

So how can boards protect themselves? 

Mayor Bill De Blasio is serious about affordable housing — which is good news for middle- and working-class folks who feel like they are getting pushed out of the increasingly expensive city. But it looks like the mayor's affordable housing plan has ruffled a few feathers. DNAinfo reports that, according to community advocates, "at least 15 community gardens on city-owned property could be bulldozed to make way for new buildings under the de Blasio administration's affordable housing plan." The affected gardens include nine in Brooklyn and six in Manhattan — they were on the list of city-owned sites published by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development this week "that housing developers can apply to build on." At the end of the day these community gardens sit on HPD-owned land, so it shouldn't — and doesn't — come as a surprise that the city needs its property back. But some residents told DNAinfo that what irks them is that HPD has other vacant lots that don't have gardens planted in them that could be used. In fact, one community garden on Saratoga Avenue found itself on the list, "while a vacant site a block away wasn't."

Will co-ops and condos be included?

It's a fair question. Earlier this week, as part of his proposed budget, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a property tax credit that will affect more than 1 million homeowners and 1 million renters — but was worryingly quiet on whether co-op and condo owners would be affected. 

We're halfway through January, temperatures have dropped, and baby, it's cold outside. It's time to talk about carbon monoxide and Local Law 75.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, most accidental carbon monoxide poisonings happen in January (the second most happen in December). That makes it a good time for co-op and condo boards to remind residents to test their detectors and change the batteries, if need be.

A few weeks ago, my pal Manny, a contractor, came to me with a frustrating problem. A client's co-op was using a lot of boiler makeup water and did not know why. The co-op had already found one leak underneath a first-floor apartment. Then Manny noticed the water meter on the boiler feed line was running backward and recommended the co-op install a new one.

The new meter showed that the leak was still about 70 gallons per day — it should have been more like 70 gallons a year. The number-one suspect was the condensate return pipe that ran under the beautiful lobby floor. 

They would have preferred to have new windows before they got a boiler upgrade, but the seven professionals who were sitting on the board of the 95-unit co-op were not fools about fuel: getting something for nothing trumps a room with a view (even through new windows). Every time.

The saga started when the manager of 51 Fifth Avenue, Ellen Kornfeld, a vice president at the Lovett Group, alerted the board to a program Con Edison offers through its Oil to Gas Conversion Group. Simply put, as long as the building (1) is a qualified property converting from oil to natural gas; and (2) is requesting a "firm" (i.e., the building only burns natural gas) gas connection, the utility will bring in gas from the street to "the point of entry" (essentially, where the pipe connects with the building). All this depends on another factor, as well: whether the pipes in your area have sufficient capacity.

New York State is not kidding around when it comes to clean air. Neither is New York City. The real estate on which smokers can light up has been steadily shrinking in the last few years. That doesn't stop some of them from lighting up anyway. Take the patrons of a restaurant in Chelsea, located adjacent to a co-op building. They frequent the restaurant's small outdoor space, which is not used for seating, to smoke, says one of the co-op's tenants to Ronda Kaysen in the latest "Ask Real Estate" column in The New York Times. And — you guessed it — the smoke seeps into the co-op’s public foyer. The co-op tenant asks whether there any regulations in place for restaurants and bars that require smokers to stand a certain distance from the building. You bet there are. Kaysen explains that the restaurant next door (take note, bars and other public establishments) is supposed to make sure patrons smoke only in the designated areas — and those areas are very much regulated by both city and state smoking laws. "The State Liquor Authority, which grants and denies liquor licenses, could enforce smoking rules and strip the restaurant of its liquor license for failing to rein in its customers," says Kaysen. She recommends that the co-op or its managing agent file a "complaint with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene" as well as "with the State Liquor Authority." So if you're tired of smoke getting in your apartment, there's hope that you can stub out those cigarettes for good. 

Some proprietary leases have provisions stating that when a shareholder has died, the apartment can be assigned to a member of the family who is financially responsible, and when considering such an assignment, the board "shall not unreasonably withhold" its consent.

But what does that really mean? And how much input can a court have into the board's determination under such a standard? 

The issue was addressed in Estate of Helen Del Terzo, Michael Del Terzo and Julius Robert Del Terzo v. 33 Fifth Avenue Owners Corp.