New York's Cooperative and Condominium Community

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It takes a significant amount of financial mismanagement to land a co-op in foreclosure. Although it's a rare, and very sad, occurrence, it looks like 200 of the 329 co-ops in Community Boards 9, 10, and 11 will need to turn things around to avoid heading toward the dreaded F word. DNAinfo reports that those co-ops owe the city more than $21.2 million in unpaid taxes and water and sewage bills, citing records from the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), and of the 200, 49 of them owe more than $100,000. Most of the mismanaged co-ops in Hamilton Heights, Harlem, and East Harlem started out as "foreclosed properties owned by absentee landlords that the city sold to tenants to give low-income New Yorkers homeownership," according to DNAinfo. One co-op, located at 501 West 143rd Street, has a $3 million debt and at risk of being foreclosed, according to HPD. An HPD spokesperson said in statement that the co-op has been identified both by it and the Department of Finance as a candidate for the Third Party Transfer program. "If placed on the program," writes DNAinfo, "every member of the co-op would lose ownership of their apartment and be forced to become renters. For Ronaldo Kiel, who has spent more than $200,000 to buy and renovate his apartment, [it] would mean a complete loss on his investment."

 

Photo by Nicholas Strini for Property Shark

Want one for the "Who'd have thunk it?" file? A landlord tried to evict a woman from her apartment in Harlem for secretly keeping a dog and thus being in violation of her lease. And lost. Why? Because secret agent pooch was not so secret, explains Brickunderground.com. It turns out that Gertrude Davis, the dog owner in question, not only produced various photos of Dutchess, the dog in question, taken on various dates in the building's common areas, but also had thrown the dog "a birthday party in the building several months prior to the suit." And guess who was at the party? Two points if you said "the landlord." According to the New York Daily News, which first reported the story, months after attending the pup's lavish birthday soiree, "the landlord moved to give [Davis] the boot," but Judge Sabrina Kraus wasn't buying it. According to court documents, reported both Brickunderground.com and the Daily News, "…the party pictures showed the dog was kept in an 'open and notorious' manner for more than three months." So there you have it. Thanks to that birthday party, Davis gets to stay in her home of 20 years.

Here was our situation: The developer of Strivers Gardens, our 170-unit condominium at 300 West 135th Street, wrote the bylaws and gave himself an overwhelming voting majority. By law, that majority is supposed to have diminished over the years, but for various reasons, including our own ignorance, it never did. He had about 27 percent voting majority. We don't have one unit per vote — each of the non-developer other units has less than 0.5 percent, so it takes about 64 of our votes to equal his 27 percent, which has rendered it impossible for us to elect our own condo board members. That is, until we learned of a way to solve our problem.

The smell of oven gas. Every apartment-dweller dreads it. Even the faintest odor can trigger panic among residents who fear a leak will lead to sickness, costly repairs, weeks without heat and hot water or, worse, an explosion like the fatal one in East Harlem earlier this year.

As the city changes the way it copes with gas leaks — in June, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the Fire Department will respond to all gas leaks first instead of the utility company — property managers say it's more important than ever to understand what happens when there's a report of a gas leak.

A BUYER ASKS: Our co-op board documented hundreds of instances of a shareholder and his family doing unspeakable things in the hallways and elevators. Urinating? Hah! As if that were the only way they were relieving themselves in public! Security cameras showed them selling drugs, having sex in the stairwells, you name it. We sent notices and finally had the shareholder appear at a meeting to determine whether to evict him under a Pullman action. He really had no defense for his family's behavior, and so the board voted unanimously to terminate the lease. But they won't leave! What happens now?

Paul Morejon didn’t become board president of his 133-unit Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC) co-op in Harlem because he had an agenda, or wanted to help further a cause, or any of the myriad “standard” reasons a person joins a board. Instead, he fell into it.

“I was asked to serve as secretary, even though I had no experience taking meeting minutes or preparing agendas,” he says.  “I’m actually a web and social media developer and a photographer. I had to catch on quickly. The learning curve has been steep.”

Recent news affecting co-op / condo buyers, sellers, boards and residents. This might be a first: A rich developer is suing shareholders at the City-subsidized, middle-income co-op Madison Park Apartments just for complaining about what they called shoddy construction and repairs, including leaks dating to 2002. Since one of the defendants is a 68-year-old retiree on Social Security, we're guessing developer Donald Capoccia of BFC partners isn't figuring on them mounting an expensive defense. Gag me with a lawsuit.

Plus, a Central Park West condominium extends balloting time for an anti-smoking vote. Should it have? City Council members rail at the Fed for delayed Sandy relief funds. And we've reverse-mortgage realities, Airbnb telling people not to hotel illegally, and how to compile a great co-op board package.

Updated March 13, 2014 — Psst. C'mere. I got a deal for ya. You buy these commercial condo spaces that I'm sellin' as the condominium sponsor and I'll tell ya what: You don't gotta listen to the board. You buy these units, you got veto power over any board decision that affects you. That means you can tell 'em not to raise yer common charges. And it's all perfectly legal. Just sign here on the dotted line. Or I guess these lines aren't dotted anymore. OK — sign here on the plain straight line….

Updated March 13, 2014 — Psst. C'mere. I got a deal for ya. You buy these commercial condo spaces that I'm sellin' as the condominium sponsor and I'll tell ya what: You don't gotta listen to the board. You buy these units, you got veto power over any board decision that affects you. That means you can tell 'em not to raise yer common charges. And it's all perfectly legal. Just sign here on the dotted line. Or I guess these lines aren't dotted anymore. OK — sign here on the plain straight line….

Recent news affecting co-op / condo buyers, sellers, boards and residents. This week, why didn't anyone tell Co-op City's residents there were outbreaks of Legionnaires' Disease? Why did a community board recommend a restaurateur's liquor license over the objections of people living in the same building? And why did a smokers'-rights group butt out of a condo forum? Plus: You can't take your kid's stroller into the passenger elevator? Seriously? 

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