NEW YORK CITY

It's no secret that some co-op boards tend to have bad reputations — too nosey, too bossy, too draconian. Certainly, sometimes boards do have a tendency to go too far. In recent weeks, for example, one board made headlines for asking to interview a potential buyer's child and another for instituting a policy requiring tenants to submit their pets to DNA tests to screen out undesirable breeds.

But as we've said before, along with bylaws and proprietary leases, house rules allow boards to keep their buildings running harmoniously. With the official start of summer right around the corner, now is a good time for boards to remind building residents of some of those rules — particularly regarding roof and pool access and grilling.

A READER ASKS: I'm on the board of a small co-op in Brooklyn. We are considering revising our pet policy. We went from no dogs to accepting dogs that are ten pounds or smaller. However, I've pointed out to my fellow board members that larger dogs, especially when they are older, can actually be a lot quieter than smaller, sometimes yippy, ones. I think there are compromises that can be made so that shareholders can have canine companions without disturbing their neighbors' peace of mind. Do you have any tips on how we can accomplish a fairer, more inclusive policy? Do you think it's even possible? What advice can you offer us? 

This week we meet the third and final baron of the boiler room, Avdi Rexhepi. He's the superintendent of Skyview-on-the-Hudson, a co-op in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. "If you keep the boiler room clean, you won't have any problems," predicts Rexhepi. "The boiler is like a car. The way you maintain it is the way it is going to run." Makes perfect sense, especially once you take a look at the pristine boiler room.

Rexhepi's regular ritual includes checking the boilers daily for any potential problems, cleaning the strainers every week and the tubes twice a year, as well as painting the boiler room annually and sweeping the floor continuously. It's at least five hours' worth of attention every week. And then a company comes in to clean and insulate the doors, usually at the start of the heating season.

Chances are that, if you live in a co-op or condo, you've heard far more about the 421a tax exemption in recent news than you have about the J-51 program. The latter tax abatement program can potentially help buildings save thousands of dollars, and expires this month. It's not received the same amount of press coverage as 421a, but State Senator Anthony Avella is working to change that. On June 3, Senator Avella introduced a J-51 extender bill, and is working on a companion bill in the New York State Assembly.

How can you ensure your building's energy bill comes in at budget? Lock in a price with your supplier for the next year right now. That's bold but confident advice from Jeff Cohn, president of Boro Energy, a Brooklyn company that has supplied energy to New York City buildings since 1929. Cohn says current prices are so low the only way is up. That means management companies and boards should take advantage of market prices and ink in budgets today. "It is a great time right now to lock in a fixed rate for oil and gas," says Cohn, whose grandfather founded Boro Energy, bought by Approved Oil in late 2012. "The low rates do not have anything to do with summer. It is just where prices are."

Say "doorman," and immediately everyone gets the same picture: black suit, white gloves, epaulets, probably some gold braid or a chauffeur-like cap. Stuffy. Traditional. What if it didn't have to be that way? For a certain subset of co-op and condo residents, it isn't. They're thinking outside the box and ushering in a new trend in doorman uniforms. Take the Butterfield House, a Greenwich Village co-op on 12th Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues. In 2014, a water main broke outside the building and flooded the basement, lobby, and the parking garage. On top of the massive renovations now required, the building had lost all of its doormen's uniforms.

A READER ASKS: Two of our newer board members want to start the ball rolling on revisiting our admissions process. I personally feel that it shouldn't be high on our priorities list, but the newer members feel times are changing. Admittedly, the procedure can do with a bit of streamlining, but it's time-consuming work that we really need to tread carefully with to avoid opening ourselves up to potential discrimination lawsuits. With the board's limited resources, do you think we should proceed and is there any advice you can give us to avoid trouble?

It's a tale as old as time: residents of New York City rentals often have to put up with a lot grief and aggravation. But going to court is expensive, and withholding rent until serious problems are resolved can backfire tremendously. Very rarely do you hear about residents scoring a victory, let alone a major one. Sometimes, however, shady landlords mess with the wrong tenants. Meet Marjorie Magid. She is a retired real estate agent, who has lived in the same rent-stabilized one-bedroom at The Evelyn at 101 West 78th Street since 1973. You won't be surprised, upon registering the address, that the building is being converted into a condominium. The problem, as it turns out, is not the conversion, but rather how the landlord tried to go about it. And Magid wasn't about to stay quiet about it.

Earth Day may have come and gone, but the green agenda is very much alive and well in New York. Reducing the state's energy consumption, for example, is an important part of Governor Andrew Cuomo's comprehensive energy strategy. Mayor Bill de Blasio, meanwhile, has laid out his goals and targets for a sustainable and equitable city in the OneNYC plan. Going green includes everything from going solar, to developing innovative ways to reduce energy consumption and costs — and everything in between.

Your building can incorporate environmentally friendly practices by doing three relatively simple things:

1. Selecting recycled and/or recyclable green replacement materials;
2. Using paints, cleaners, and solvents that are low in toxicity; and
3. Recycling construction debris.

Here, we present a sampling of some of the green choices that your cooperative may wish to consider as it undertakes its repair and upgrade project.

The 162-unit Tracy Towers at 245 East 24th Street isn't the only co-op that boasts a pristine boiler room. The Columbia, on the Upper West Side, also has a squeaky-clean boiler room, thanks to resident manager Michael Smart.

"It's easy to say, 'Let's worry about how the boiler room looks later,' but if such a simple room is a mess imagine what else you are going to encounter," says Smart, who tends to the building's two boilers. The boilers date back to 1983 and provide heat for 302 units.