New York's Cooperative and Condominium Community

Habitat Magazine Insider Guide

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Recent news affecting co-op / condo buyers, sellers, boards and residents. New York City Controller John Liu wants to hear from co-ops, condos and others who suspect the Department of Finance overvalued your building for tax purposes. Plus, a Queens co-op is putting up signs to try to prevent people parking legally on a public street, the Attorney General gives developers an extra six months to digitize their offering plans, and a co-op board goes after a widow and widower. And speaking of boards, a lawyer tells how to collect arrears by cutting off amenities.

April 18, 2012 — Hurricane Irene brought a day of reckoning to The Seville, a 270-unit co-op complex in Bayside, Queens, last August. With leaks in six of 18 semi-attached townhouses, it was clear their 40-year-old roofs were living on borrowed time. “The question was whether you continue to put bandages on things, or looked to do something that is more life-sustaining,” says Felicia Chapman Jenkins, board secretary and a townhouse resident herself.

But the estimate for replacing all nine roofs at once before winter set in was nearly a quarter of a million dollars. Was there another way? Read more >>

... a court rules against a Queens co-op that tried to evict an elderly couple when the asthmatic, severely allergic wife needed a disallowed air conditioner in order to, you know, breathe and live. Also: How to prep an apartment for sale, what to expect from brokers in 2012, and how condos are becoming like co-ops when it comes to admissions.

... they're buying Brooklyn, some co-ops dig dogs, a building thinks a name will bring cachet, and 2 East 67th Street says, "Name? Who needs a name when our co-ops sell for $30 million?!"

... it's deja vu all over in Queens as co-opers prepare for another year's tax revolt. A new state law allows digital offering plans, condo prices are up in the outer boroughs, and why is New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez no longer safe at home at The Rushmore?

... a tax revolt grows in Queens (again), a condo developer must return $16 million in down payments and Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei (at right) thinks filmmaker John Waters is all wet. Or, well, she's made him that way. And for board members: Why your confidential e-mails may be anything but.

Read all the latest co-op /condo news for buyers, sellers and board members in Habitat's weekly Monday News Roundup. Also included: Permanent archival links. If a link ever goes dead, you'll still be able to read the backup at WebCitation.org.

... co-op residents on Park Avenue win a victory over liquor sales, a new high-end condo is offering income-restricted apartments via lottery, co-op boards may be becoming more open to hardship sublets, and is Susan Sarandon your new neighbor in Brooklyn?

... a co-op board appears to renege on staff promises that new buyers can install a washer, a frustrated mom sues to evict her 58-year-old son from a Sutton Place co-op, and read what some deluded sellers are asking for their apartments.

... some Queens co-ops and condos are getting double or triple their usual water bills after automated meter readers go in, New York State Assemblyman Edward C. Braunstein demands tax fairness, and State Senator Tony Avella wants to know why New York City repairs sidewalks damaged by trees at all types of homes except co-ops and condos.

...crazy co-op neighbors, real estate license violations are now available online and condos are cool in Queens. And for co-op boards and condo associations, we've news of new tax-reform bills in Albany and more.

Read all the latest co-op / condo news for buyers, sellers and board members in Habitat's weekly Monday News Roundup. Also included: Permanent archival links. If a link ever goes dead, you'll still be able to read the backup at WebCitation.org.

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