Nestled by the water on the south end of Babylon, a town in Suffolk County, is the Village of Babylon, a two-square mile incorporated entity that is home to a little over 12,000 residents. Babylon Village isn’t very large, but it is hom…
For the majority of co-op or condo owners, their apartment is their largest asset. That apartment should be viewed as an investment and one that makes fiscal sense. But that approach is impossible if unit owners are missing important p…
Given recent headlines, cooperative and condominium associations could be forgiven for thinking they need to put an armed guard and razor wire around the petty cash box. A wave of fraud appears to be hitting properties from New York to…
Not everybody on a co-op or condo's board is an accountant (or can even balance their own checkbook, for that matter.) Handling the money for an entire building is a big responsibility, however, and residents rely upon their board to ma…
Tighter lending requirements for Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed mortgages for condos have put financial and administrative pressure on condos all over the country at a time when many are ill prepared for any new challenges…
Almost everyone is under pressure these days to save money however they can—and co-op and condo buildings are no exception. Even those associations who are financially solvent and have money socked away for a rainy-day capital improveme…
Q A front desk position in my building is about to become available. Our board wants to hire the son of our current janitor. I am not in favor of hiring relatives and our bylaws state that in such an instance, the board must noti…
Q I’ve had a long existing leak in my full bathroom since the shareholders above me moved in. It so happens that the shareholders’ son runs a bath for as long as two hours at a time, blasting the water at full force. Over time this h…
Q I am a non-resident owner in a 10-unit co-op in Manhattan. I have been renting out my unit for the past 7 years. Recently, while I was away from the country on work, my son inadvertently rented my apartment to a tenant without firs…