With a worldwide fiscal crisis in full swing and many New Yorkers more stressed than usual over lost jobs, pay cuts, and dwindling assets, the last thing any co-op or condo community needs is the additional expense and acrimony of a la…

At the height of the housing boom, some builders attempted to recapture profits lost in the price they paid for their properties by cutting costs spent on labor and materials, and many others could not find good contractors or obtain l…

 Sometimes our neighbors can be our best friends. They’re the people we turn to for emergency babysitting help, or for a cup of sugar,  or for that friendly chat in the elevator. Sometimes, though, the people we  live in close proximity to…

 Consider the (fictional) couple, Mr. and Mrs. Smith. They love their co-op  apartment, and have lived in their comfortable and convenient New York City  neighborhood for the last seven years, moving in when Mr. Smith took a job as  editor…

As the legislative session in Albany winds down for the year and the New York City Council continues to address legislation, as always, there are several measures in play with serious implications for the condo and co-op community. …

Those who handle the management of any kind of residential building deal with contractors and contracts regularly—but they aren’t the only ones who should know about the process. It’s not necessarily an arcane topic—whether the project i…

Right to Inherit Q What are the laws in New York City regarding domestic partners who are technically the tenants of a co-op owner? My domestic partner and I have been living in my Jackson Heights co-op for over five-years. H…

Board Resisting Removal Q A group of majority unit owners in our Manhattan condominium are trying to remove our current board of managers for failing to operate the building in compliance with our bylaws. This group signed a pet…

 How many times have you seen a property that’s a mess and visually unappealing with so much furniture and furnishings that it  is impossible to see anything? There are cracks that need spackling, walls that  need cleaning, and floors that…

 Few things annoy an apartment homeowner more than persistent low water pressure,  be it at the shower, the kitchen sink or the toilet. So common the problem, one  wonders what New Yorker hasn’t suffered from it and what property manager h…