MANHATTAN

A five-member panel comprised of a condo-board president, a management-company executive and representatives of Con Edison, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the New York City Mayor's Office last week warned co-ops, condos and other residential buildings that incentives for green upgrading have limited lifespans, and that boards intending to participate in any particular program should do so before that incentive expires.

Is the Nagle Apartments Corps.' financing scheme the new "go to" for co-ops and condos?

Several years ago, the 111-unit co-op in Manhattan's Inwood neighborhood — a three-building complex also known as NaBors Apartments for its locations on Nagle Avenue and Bogardus Place — voted down a proposed flip tax that would have raised much-needed funds for capital repairs. So the board began to charge shareholders a monthly assessment as a way of generating much-needed revenue. This decision stuck, and Nagle's assessment is now essentially permanent.

Negotiations between the co-op and rental sections of London Terrace in Chelsea have come to a complete standstill, according to DNAinfo. The issue at stake is access to the historic complex’s pool and sundeck and how much more the co-op side wants the rental side to pay for the privilege.

The Tribeca Trib reports on how the rental tenants of 22 River Terrace, in Battery Park City, are being forced to move out with only 90 days’ notice. Why? Because new owner Centurion Real Estate is converting the building to a condominium and acting on an unusual clause in most of the units’ leases that unilaterally cancels them.

Brick Underground also reports on the 22 River Terrace condo conversion, including a guide to what a conversion process usually entails.

Previously reporting on this story: the Battery Park City community newspaper The Broadsheet, with its title-says-it-all story "Rental Tenants Facing Eviction for Condo Conversion Allege Bad Faith by Developer."

Want to ensure a quorum at your next annual meeting? Do a lousy job throughout the year.

"That's the irony," notes attorney Phyllis H. Weisberg, a partner at Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads. "When everything is running smoothly and everybody's happy, it's harder to get a quorum."

"People come from far and wide if there are contentious issues," agrees longtime co-op board member Grant Varga, of the 57-unit 17 West 67th Street in Manhattan. "But when everything is going smoothly, people say, ‘What's my motivation to go?' So we work hard to convince them to show up." So how do you ensure that your building has the required quorum to make the annual meeting legit?

A New York State Supreme Court judge reinstated a previous order banning Africa Israel, developer of 15 Broad Street (pictured), from co-op and condo sales in the state. According to TheRealDeal.com, Judge Debra James rejected a bid by Africa Israel to lift the ban. She also left the remainder of the restraining order intact, ordering him to release control of the board to unit-owners.

As regular readers of Board Talk can well attest, that forum is fraught with unhappy co-op / condo residents and board members alike charging dishonest tactics at the annual meeting where shareholders and unit-owners vote to elect a board. How are you going to assure everyone that the election isn't rigged? Although attorneys and managing agents swear fraud is rare, homeowners need assurance that everything is on the up and up. Here are ways to help make that happen.

In a condo on Manhattan's Upper West Side, a resident's practice of renting his apartment to a string of transient visitors has the condo board concerned and even fearful. Given the state of the global economy, the demand for short-term accommodations in New York City isn't likely to slacken, with Europeans in particular flocking here to take advantage of the weak dollar and the bargains it affords on everything from clothes to computers. So what can a condo association — as opposed to a more strictly regulated co-op corporation — do to keep its the building from becoming a de facto hotel?

When a sponsor is in arrears to both a lender and a condominium, can the condominium get some of the money it is owed before the lender does? Usually, you can't — but the condo board at 455 Central Park West made some novel arguments that are worth knowing about.

Mark Andermanis, board president of the subsidized East Midtown Plaza co-op in Manhattan, and his wife Sandra have three kids. Normally that means New York City can't give them a four-bedroom co-op since those are reserved for families of six. But the Andermanis family got one anyway. Not only that but they jumped ahead of another family on the waiting list for a larger apartment. And yet a court decided unanimously that the line-jumper could keep it. What's wrong with this picture?