It's time to face the facts. The teal-and-salmon sofa that was purchased for your foyer may not exactly be in  style any more. The window treatments that were chosen in the early 1990s no  longer grace the pages of every design magazine so…

Q We live in a medium-sized co-op in Chelsea with seven apartments per floor. It is clear to me that a woman who lives on our floor is using one or two of her bedrooms as a bed and breakfast (B&B). She must advertise on something lik…

Q In a previous issue of The Cooperator, attorney C. Jaye Berger discusses the matter of allocation of costs by shares for services such as electricity and water, as opposed to person adjusted usage. I do not take issue with her com…

Q My offer on a co-op was accepted and the co-op sent some of the financials to my attorney. I’m told that the building’s financials are “OK,” not terrific and not terrible. My attorney said that the reserves are $140,000 or approxima…

Q We are a small co-op building of 28 units in Jackson Heights, Queens. We would like to know if during an interview of the prospective buyer a seller is allowed to be present, where he/she might intervene during the process favoring…

 As a neighborhood, the South Bronx has struggled for nearly three decades under  the negative connotations of its name as a flash point for violent crime,  drugs, and unchecked urban decay. For many of those who live there, life is  bound…

On the infamous evening of September 11, 2001, Battery Park City resident Hank Wisner was unable to go home to his smoke- and ash-filled apartment across the street from the World Trade Center. As he watched the day’s events play over a…

 Your roof terrace leaked and the neighbor below you sued for damages. The  heating system in your apartment failed to work and the managing agent sent you  the bill for its repair. You bought a dog for your child, and six months later  th…

 While not everyone who serves on his or her co-op or condo board needs to be an  attorney or have an encyclopedic knowledge of the law, it never hurts to be  aware of the important, often precedent-setting legal decisions being handed  do…

It’s amazing how good building owners and managers are at increasing and garnering revenue from residential tenants while at the same time leaving themselves to the will and whim of laundry room operators who impose contracts lasting fo…