Effective August 2, 2004, a new lead-based paint regulation will force New York City property owners to change the way they deal with lead based paint in their properties. "Local Law 1 of 2004," overseen by the Department of Housing Prese…

The primary function of a board of a co-op or condo is to operate, maintain, repair and preserve the common property. The board also has a responsibility to maintain the value of the property. Most boards develop an annual operating b…

Say the words "80/20 rule" to a New York City co-op board, and you may be met with groans and furrowed brows. A provision in Section 216 of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax code, the 80/20 rule limits the amount of commercial revenu…

With today's uncertain economy and the prices of everything from gas to insurance on the rise, maintenance increases may be on the horizon for thousands more co-op and condo owners this year. Shelling out money is never a pleasure, but tho…

New York City has been in the midst of a real estate boom for the last several years. Even with the economy in recession and the lingering effects of 9/11, homeowners have seen their apartments double, even triple in value in as little as …

Cooperative buildings should be run like businesses, with prudent investing and organized budgeting practices in place. As many buildings that have been on the brink of financial disaster can tell you, if you ignore these aspects of runnin…

In this and in future columns, I will be examining decisions of interest to co-ops and condo boards and suggesting what valuable lessons can be learned from these legal decisions. Recently, there were several interesting court decisi…

A Brooklyn condominium board learned a painful lesson recently when a jury awarded $55,000 in punitive damages to a unit owner who lived with a leaking roof for 11 years. The verdict in the case Board of Managers of Sterling Condomi…

Many co-op and condo board members know the difficulty of working to resolve arguments between residents. In mixed-use buildings, the problems may be greater. With both commercial and residential unit owners or shareholders in a building, …

The entire real estate industry - from owners and developers to contractors and architects - has been focused on the issue of mold contamination during the past year. However, no segment of industry has been more watchful than cooperative …