Q Can we have a superintendent on the board of directors although he is not a shareholder? Is this a conflict of interest? What are the pros and cons of an employee being on the board? —Confused & Conflicted A “There is no pro…

Q I am on the board of a cooperative building in New York City. We have recently received two requests from shareholders looking to borrow additional funds by taking out a second loan, (in each case an equity line of credit arrangement) t…

Q We have a number of apartments in our condominium where owners have not paid maintenance for a few months. As our condo is in the process of legal action and collection against these owners, can we stop their access to the apartment unt…

Q Our board of managers want to replace the terraces in our condominium without the consent of the unit owners that have them. If you look at Real Property Law, Article 9-b of the Condominium Act, Section 339-i, Common Elements, u…

New building codes went into effect on July 1, 2008 that have completely revamped the inspection and testing procedures for elevators, escalators and other vertical transportation equipment in buildings. The new and more stringent elevat…

One impact of climate change is being felt as natural disasters of increasing frequency and strength are causing extensive damage to homes and businesses. The four hurricanes of 2005—Katrina, Rita, Wilma and Dennis—caused more than $57 b…

On July 1, 2008 the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) put into effect a new plumbing code. It is the first major revision of the code since 1968 and it puts a new focus on backflow prevention—the reverse flow of contaminated wa…

Like it or not, e-mail is a permanent fixture of contemporary business communications. In real estate, board members and property managers use e-mail to discuss the most official and the most personal matters of their lives, from schedul…

It is an annual rite of passage for owners of co-ops and condos. Once a year or thereabouts, they gather in a common area—in my co-op in Astoria it was the basement, right off the washers and dryers—and vote for next year’s board. Someti…

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