NEW YORK STATE

State regulators cracking down on title insurers’ “unscrupulous” fees.

Solar energy output has increased eightfold in the past five years.

Dog bites man, man sues board. Are you adequately insured?

Co-op advocates describe proposal as “the start of a slippery slope.”

Lobbying by co-op advocates avoids a trip down a “slippery slope.”

Now is the time to show your swimming pool some love.

A New York State law that went into effect Dec. 3, requiring all residential leases to contain a notice about the building's sprinkler system, appears to mandate that even co-op proprietary leases must be amended to reflect the language change. The new law also impacts leases offered by condominium homeowners renting their apartments as well as subleases offered by rental tenants and by co-op shareholders.

Condominiums continue to use the lion's share of the 421a tax exemption, with very few co-ops participating in the program that along with the popular J-51 exemption is set to expire in June, panelists said Wednesday in a housing symposium. Participants also revealed proposals for affordable homes and predicted the fates of "poor doors" and a new, related wrinkle, "poor fences."

May 8, 2014 — Now you have another six months.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced a further six-month extension for superstorm Sandy victims who carry the federal government's Standard Flood Insurance Policy. The deadline for filing an updated "proof of loss" form — a statement on the amount a co-op or condo apartment owner is claiming under his or her flood-insurance policy — was already extended once to April 28, 2014, and has now been extended to October 29, 2014. The extension applies to losses from Sandy flood damage that occurred between October 25 and November 6, 2012.

Co-op and and condo boards that work with union staff, do check your contract and speak with your attorney before proceeding. As for everyone else, you probably want to know the National Labor Relations Board has just upheld a ruling that says employees on Facebook who discuss plans for insubordination, neglecting rules and undermining leadership are creating grounds for dismissal. As two attorneys write at Lexology.com, the employees in this case described their planned action "in such detail that a reasonable employer would reasonably refuse to take the risk of waiting to see whether the employees would act on the conduct they so artfully advocated."

The lawyers caution there's no guarantee the NLRB will always agree with the employer in such cases — but it's notable that this particular employer supplied the NLRB with screengrabs of the conversations. When, oh, when, will people learn that Facebook isn't private. Why, I think we should tweet about that right now....