After several years of work, a new alteration agreement form for condo units has been approved by both the New York City and New York State Bar Associations. Alteration agreements are used by boards to regulate and oversee any renovations…
Q. “Since I can remember, my co-op has applied every increase in maintenance, shares, etc. based on whether a unit is one bedroom or two bedrooms. Currently, the treasurer wants to change that rule based on the size of the apartment. If i…
Q. I live in a gated community where the manager seems to be controlling the board, rather than vice versa. She has filled vacant board seats without an election—in fact, some new residents don’t even know that we’re supposed to hold elec…
For many people, the defining characteristic of a co‑op building is the board’s power to approve or reject prospective buyers at will. That approval power—unique among housing models in the U.S.—has often been the subject of critique, and d…
As we head into 2026, Manhattan remains expensive by virtually any standard. According to market-watchers, the median sale price for both co-ops and condos on the island still hovers around $1.1 million, with all-cash purchases accounting f…
New York City co-op and condo boards are facing a more complex, regulated, and expensive property management landscape. Rising operating costs, evolving local laws, insurance challenges, and residents’ expectations mean that “business as us…
The call came in the middle of an extreme cold snap: the boiler at condo building in Queens had gone down and the building had no heat and no hot water. This property runs on a dual-fuel boiler system that can operate on either natural gas …
Spring cleaning in a multifamily building is as much about protecting value, reducing liability, and showing residents that their building is well cared for as it is about simply tidying up after months of slush and salt. For managers and b…
Increasing residents’ monthly fees is never popular, but with insurance, labor, materials, utilities, code compliance and other operational costs rising across the board, your building’s cash inflow needs to reflect economic realities in or…
Transparency is touted as a cornerstone of good board governance. Shareholders and unit owners want—and have the right—to see what goes on behind the curtain at board meetings and better understand why certain decisions are made. Residents …