NEW YORK CITY

Breaking up may be hard to do. But what happens when a marriage is torn asunder, one of you wants to keep the condo, and the mortgage is in both your names? Well, transferring that loan to your name only may be even harder. This week, Brickunderground.com's Ask an Expert column tries to untangle the issue. Because the bank based its decision on the mortgage on two incomes, two credit scores, and two of everything, explains Brickunderground.com, it may not agree to transfer the loan to just the one person. Doesn't mean it's not worth a try, but the Brickunderground.com experts warn people in this situation to expect to have to qualify all on their own. Those who have an income that satisfies the bank's terms will probably get sole custody of the mortgage. Those who don't may be in for a "Kramer vs. Kramer" scenario, in which case a judge would have the final say on who gets the condo (and the mortgage) in the end.

'Tis the season for Christmas trees, and for elevators, hallways and lobbies to be covered in pine needles. And don't get us started on lighting fixtures in common areas that get knocked about as people drag their trees up to their apartments. They are sure pretty once they are indoors and decorated, but Christmas trees can be a real drag for building staff not only when people first get them, but also (if not more so) when it comes time to throw them away. According to Brickunderground.com's latest Ask an Expert column, one co-op board has come up with a Grinch-like plan: A Christmas tree embargo. Well, so claims the building's superintendent. But is a co-op board legally allowed to issue a building-wide ban on a popular (not to mention religious) symbol? Brickunderground.com experts say the drastic move is not likely to stand up should someone challenge it. Before building residents join in a chorus of "Bah, humbug!" they should first get the policy in writing directly from the board — not via word of mouth from the super. If, in fact, the co-op board intends on playing the role of Scrooge for the holiday, then residents can challenge... and compromise. Rather than ban trees, advises Mark Levine, executive vice president of property management firm Excel Bradshaw Management Group, the board should establish rules for residents to minimize mess and damage. Everybody wins.

John Devall, a managing agent and account executive at Orsid Realty, remembers it well: "There was a lot of discussion — a lot of discussion. Rand, the engineering firm, attended one meeting, and presented all the pros and cons, and we talked about the numbers. Then at that meeting, the board still wasn't decided. It was a tough decision."

The debate Devall remembers was at Kensington House, the 195-unit co-op at 200 West 20th Street. Built in 1937, the Art Deco building, now populated mostly by young professionals, had seen better days. The main problem was a continuous string of leaks over the years, which, admits Devall, baffled the manager and the seven-member board. "We had performed some inspections and we couldn't quite figure out where the problem was," Devall recalls. "We had been doing interior repairs the entire time."

You're a tenant in a rent-stabilized building. You love your apartment. But the building's owner is making noise about wanting to sell. Your first instinct may be to rally all the tenants to see if they are willing and able to join forces, buy the building, and convert it to a co-op or condo. That's what one tenant in a rent-stabilized building in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, would like to do. And the latest "Ask Real Estate" column in The New York Times explains that although, in theory, it's a possibility, in practice, such plans ever really come to fruition. Still, it's not a pipe dream, says the Times column, offering nuggets of advice that includes forming a tenants' association and hiring a lawyer to guide them through the conversion process if the landlord takes a shining to the idea. And if there are enough tenants willing to put their money where there mouth is, who knows? We might see the birth of a co-op or condo.

A READER ASKS: A shareholder in our co-op, fearing for her security, is refusing to give us duplicates of her keys. My fellow board members and I have tried reasoning with her, explaining that we need to be able to access her apartment in an emergency. We are getting nowhere, and the board president is getting fed up. He's considering evicting her for breaching her proprietary lease. Is there any way that we can reach a realistic compromise that satisfies the board and assuages the shareholder's concern for her safety without this getting ugly?

When it comes to apartment renovations, virtually every board and managing agent has a horror story. Remember that time a leaky Jacuzzi was installed directly over a neighbor's bedroom? What about the time a wall was removed even though it contained the wiring for every intercom in the building? Or the time a work crew showed up at a landmarked building and started tearing down walls without either Department of Buildings permits or Landmarks Preservation Commission permission…. 

The estate of Florence Weinbaum had to sell Weinbaum's co-op apartment at 260 West End Avenue. It contracted with a third party and, as is typical in co-ops, the sale was conditioned on the board's approval. The board waited until after the estate and the unit's purchaser had signed the contract to promulgate house rules directly addressed to this unit and the buyer refused to close. 

In 1947, the unit — which was located on the "mezzanine" level and accessibly via the lobby — was leased to Weinbaum's father, a doctor, as a professional office. When the building converted to cooperative ownership in 1980, Dr. and Mrs. Weinbaum purchased the shares and he continued to use the unit as his medical office until his retirement in 1981.

A group of real estate executives recently sat with Gotham magazine to dish some dirt about New York City real estate — and what they had to say is worthy of some serious eyebrow-raising. According to the group, co-ops should be added to the endangered species list. "If you look at the resale as well as new-sell price data on condominiums, they are rising 30 percent over co-ops," said Nikki Field, senior vice president at Sotheby’s International. More scathing was Kirk Henckels, vice chairman of Stribling & Associates, who said: "Poor co-ops! They are stylistically and locationally unpopular; the structure of the deal is unpopular — they don’t have a thing going for them at this point." One piece of advice they offered? Convert co-ops into condos. Don't count the New York co-op out just yet, though. The group focused almost exclusively on a luxury market, but co-ops aren't about the 1 percent. They aren't country clubs; rather, they are communities — a major point the group seems to have missed. Consider also that sellers are going to prefer condos to co-ops; they are easier to sell because there's no board approval process, for starters. For all the stats they seemed to pull out of the air, the group also overlooked a pretty important one. In an economic downturn, co-ops endure. That annoying board approval dismissed as snobbery and "scrutiny [of finances]" puts co-ops on much firmer financial footing than condos, where unit-owners have a greater chance of foreclosing. 

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."

The holidays are here again, and the most wonderful time of the year brings with it the annual rite of holiday tipping. 'Tis the season to show your appreciation to your co-op or condo's building staff.

Here, we guide you through the process, particularly determining how much to give and figuring out any tax consequences.