Q I live in a condo with indoor parking facilities. The board recently sent a notice informing residents with current parking that the identity of each vehicle would be kept in order to ensure that owners do now allow unauthorized u…
Q Our board is thinking of instituting move-in fees. What is a fair move-in fee? How could we implement this policy without a shareholder vote? What could we do with the money we collect? Could it go into the reserve fund or would it ha…
Q I am a shareholder at a co-op. A radiator (which is located in my wall) was leaking water to the apartment below. I was not aware of it. The super came and fixed a valve and replaced the radiator (which had a hole in it) with a new o…
Q What happens if board members consistently miss meetings, or don’t attend, messing up the voting process for a board? What recourse do we have? —Attentive Board Member A “Removal of a member of the board of…
Are homeowner association's governmental or quasi-governmental entities? Until last year, most attorneys who practice community association law would have said the answer was clearly, and appropriately, no. But a New Jersey appeals court…
Sobering studies published last month by the International Energy Association and the National Petroleum Center suggest that the supply of traditional energy sources may not meet demand by 2015, strong evidence yet again that electric co…
The vast majority of co-ops and condos that are put on the market are not in picture-perfect shape for a rapid and high-priced sale. Prospective buyers, who view those apartments, often cannot see beyond the superficial defects and so fa…
Prior to 1999, New Yorkers had to buy their electric and natural gas from the public utility company that serviced their area. Operating as regulated monopolies, the utilities weren't able to offer customers competitive pricing or custom…
Green is the buzzword of the decade, with everyone from automotive manufacturers to professional sports teams rolling out high-profile environmentally-conscious initiatives. But board members, property managers, shareholders and owners h…
Whether trees are categorically lovelier than poems, as Joyce Kilmer famously suggested, is a matter of debate. If pressed, I'll take Ode on a Grecian Urn over Charlie Brown's Yuletide entry any day of the week. New Yorkers will agree, h…