NEW YORK CITY

Window-mounted air conditioners generally aren't considered a serious safety issue in New York City, probably because there haven't yet been any high-profile cases of a falling A/C unit injuring or killing someone. But a poorly installed air conditioner can pose as much of a danger to pedestrians as unsafe façade conditions, so co-op / condo owners must make sure their window units are adequately secured.

Both The New York Times and BrickUnderground.com offer suggestions on how to spruce up your co-op or condo building’s unimpressive lobbies. The Times speaks with residents about temporary fixes like cleaning doors and walls and adding potted plants to brighten up a dark space when you can’t physically renovate. Brick Underground, on the other hand, chronicles one apartment-dweller's adventure painting and adding decals to an inner hallway to give it a vibrant new feel.

No matter how vigilant your co-op or condo board is — or thinks it is — it can still fall victim to theft. The good news is that there are several simple ways to minimize the chances.

Sublet fees, flip taxes…. Owning a co-op or condo is a complicated process, and sometimes there’s no way to know which fees are necessary and when you’re being taken for a ride. Ronda Kaysen discusses such fees — and when you might want to question them — in this installment of The New York Times’ “Ask Real Estate” column. Scroll down to “Paying to be a Landlord” and “A Flip Tax By Another Name.”

I’ve fallen in love with this fabulous, light-filled apartment, but my attorney is concerned about the building’s finances. Why should I care?
 

HABITAT SAYS: Buying an apartment is more than the home you hope to live in, it’s an investment in a vertical city. And like most cities, it has an operating budget that must cover its expenses. If your attorney is concerned about the building’s finances, you should ask the following questions.

In Brick Underground’s "Buy Curious" column, Mike Malul of City Connections offers strategies for keeping your monthly co-op maintenance or condo common charges to a minimum. The most obvious? Make sure the building you’re buying into is financially sound. He tells you how and offers four less-readily apparent ideas there as well.

Almost all condominium bylaws allow boards to exercise their rights of first refusal. That typically means the condo board must call a unit-owners' meeting and get approval from a majority of within a fairly short period of time. Following that, the board can purchase an apartment on the same terms and conditions offered to the purchaser. It is not an easy procedure; nor is it often used.But many bylaws also allow the board's "designee" to exercise the board's right of first refusal, i.e., to purchase. How does that work? And what's in it for the board?

As part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's new initiatives, Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD) Commissioner Vicki Been has announced that one goal for a more economically diverse New York City is to build 80,000 new units of affordable housing — placing apartments for low-income households in middle-class neighborhoods and moderate-income housing in poorer areas. The Daily News reports that exact locations have yet to be chosen, and that de Blasio has increased HPD's budget from $1.2 billion to $3.1 billion to help fund this large-scale project.

An annual rite of spring in New York City has been the often-contentious debate over the setting of the rate homeowners, including co-op and condo buildings, will pay for the city's water and sewer system in the coming fiscal year. Rising costs have led the Water Board to increase the water and sewer rate every year since 1995, sometimes in excess of 10 percent. Over the past decade, the rate has increased by 135 percent — with the current rate of $9.27 per 100 cubic feet of water working out to 1.2 cents per gallon used.

Mayor Bill de Blasio's Administration recently made its first water-rate proposal, calling for an increase of 3.35 percent. This rise to $9.58 per 100 cubic feet averages out to an annual cost of $666 per co-op or condo unit, up from $644. Beginning next week, the Water Board will hold a series of public hearings on this year's rate proposal. What points should co-op and condominium board members attending these hearings bring up?

The practice of turning apartments into hotel rooms or bed-and-breakfasts has become so common that it has attracted the attention of legislators, the State's bar association and the State attorney general. Co-op and condo board members, as well as apartment-owners concerned about non-vetted, non-background-checked strangers roaming halls and stairwells, should know what's going on, in order to keep the pressure on elected representatives.