NEW YORK CITY

In large co-op and condo complexes with several fulltime staff members such as supers and porters, it is quite common for those employees to pick up extra income on the side by doing work for shareholders. While this has its benefits, such making for a happier staff and giving residents easy access to reasonably priced labor that they can trust, it can lead to trouble if it is not properly monitored and supervised.

A READER ASKS: It's really beyond time for our board to enact a pet policy. We've been putting it off, but buyers are asking questions. We know it's going to be a hard road. What can we expect?

HABITAT ANSWERS: Few things are more contentious for a board than balancing the needs of pet owners and their non-pet neighbors. On the one side, animal lovers speak of their dogs — and that is universally the issue (cats, fish and often birds are essentially given a pass) — with almost religious fervor, mentioning unconditional love, emotional support, and lifelong bonds. The other side is usually filled with words like "property values" "bite," "dog crap" and "the constant smell of urine."

One of our most popular articles — believe it or not — is "Window Air Conditioners: An Engineer's and an Architect's Guidelines … and Warnings." It mostly addresses installation. And as we now ease into the cooler months, BrickUnderground.com offers this handy feature on removing your window a/c for the season. Among the tips: Get someone to help you, watch out for splashing water and don't expect your insurance to cover your liability if you drop it on someone on purpose....

A lot of folks who used to work for me still stay in touch, and not long ago, my pal Nate e-mailed me with a real puzzler. A building at which he was working was converting from steam heat to hydronic (forced hot water) heat. A hydronic heating system has the potential to cut a building's heat and hot water consumption in half — or better — if the existing system is steam.

But there is that little matter of correct execution. To achieve its full savings potential, a hydronic heating system generally must include four things: a low-water-content boiler or boilers; the ability to vary boiler output over the full range of the heating load; variable speed pumps; and room-by-room heat control.

It was May, and my friend Benny the super was catching heat from the residents of his building. Despite the mild weather, the radiators in the apartments were frying everyone to a crisp, and no one knew why.

Benny ventured down to the sweltering boiler room and soon found the cause: The heating hot-water circulator was pumping full blast even though the heating season was virtually over. Problem solved: Shut off the pump.

Initially, all seemed well, but within a day the complaints began anew.

You are a volunteer. You have limited time. You've just taken on the treasurer's job, making you legally responsible for control of your co-op or condo's funds. If you shirk the task of reviewing each expense and verifying that it is accurate, reasonable and proper, sooner or later you will find trouble. What follows are my suggestions for making sure everything runs smoothly.

If it were a movie, you might call it The Case of the Never-Ending Meeting, or maybe The Indecisive Board. Whatever its title, it could be playing at your boardroom already. Managers and other professionals — and many exhausted board members — agree and there are a variety of common remedies, from setting an agenda to limiting the discussion.

So you're moving out of town and you've got approval to rent your condo or sublet your co-op. The rental income is sweet, but what's your tax situation going to be? Should you report your rent as personal income, or should you form a limited-liability corporation (LLC)? For most of us, the answer will be the former, writes Leigh Kamping-Carder in BrickUnderground.com's "Ask the Expert" column. They whys and wherefores have to do with passive vs. active income. Either way, there's a lot of stuff you can be active about in deducting.

Some co-op boards, to say nothing of residents, are wary of reverse mortgages, a type of loan that lets elder homeowners have money to live on by borrowing against the value of a home, to be paid back from the proceeds of a home sale after the borrower's death. Habitat, since 2006, has published articles explaining reverse mortgages and examining them in detail for boards. Now The New York Times, in a survey of the latest economic research on the subject, suggests that after some growing pains and unscrupulous lending, reverse mortgages may be a highly useful tool in specific situations — and that even some early naysayers are converting.

Dot that "i," cross that "t" and make sure that when your condo or co-op board takes an action, it does so in accordance with its governing documents and law.

The plaintiff is the board of managers of Clermont Greene Condominium. The condo was formed by the sponsor, defendant Vanderbilt Mansions, and the board is made up of seven members, three of whom are affiliated with the sponsor. The condo board began this action because of claimed construction defects, building code violations and hazardous conditions. It retained Howard L. Zimmerman Architects (HLZA) to investigate the building conditions, and HLZA issued a report identifying several defects.