Effective December 3, 2014, all residential leases in New York State now require a notice to residential tenants about the presence of absence of sprinkler systems in the “leased premises.” The new law, however, while defining what a…
Any New York building of significant size needs a professional building manager in order to function from day-to-day, and even smaller buildings often need some help from a management company. Before any management company is hired, howeve…
Bad neighbors are something that everyone living with shared walls fears—and not without cause; co-op or condo, small or large, chances are there's at least one chronically objectionable person who seems to do his or her level best to anno…
Condos and homeowner associations have made headlines over the years for passing all kinds of overreaching and downright silly rules and regulations—everything from forbidding the flying of the American flag to having prohibitions about ha…
The “Dream Team” label is often used to describe a perfect combination of highly-skilled people drawn together for a particular purpose. The 1992 U.S. mens' Olympic basketball team is probably the most famous example, but 'dream teams' hav…
In a dense urban or sprawling suburban environment, people can still feel isolated. While high-rise residential buildings and suburban subdivisions put many people and families in very close proximity to one another, living side-by-side do…
When electing board members to serve on behalf of your condo or co-op community, you expect them to act as crusaders for prosperity, considering the needs of the building and the people who live there to be paramount when making their deci…
The candidates. The issues. The campaigns. Excitement and suspense are built into just about every election, including those of co-op and condo board members. In fact, those elections can stir even more emotion given the impact they may ha…
Mayor Bill de Blasio says that New York has “a crisis of affordability.” According to the mayor’s ten-year housing plan, his administration is committed to “build or preserve nearly 200,000 affordable units” throughout the five boroughs. M…
From the Magna Carta to the U.S. Constitution, written documents have helped shape the way people live and interact with one another for centuries. The fundamental documents that establish co-ops and condos have that same importance in bui…