There are painters and then …there are painters. Although you may have painted a room or two, most of us don’t have the time, energy and skills to do a professional job. However, it can be difficult to choose the right painting contractor for your project, even with a personal reference. Half the battle is knowing the right questions to ask. Following are some simple guidelines, to help you appreciate why one estimate may be significantly different in price from another: Read more »

And the board is helping him. That’s what a couple in an Upper East Side co-op claimed. And we’re not gonna take it. So what did they do – sue the board, the building, the management company, and the super, alleging a laundry list of wrongs -- breach of contract, fraud, prima facie tort, breach of fiduciary duty, and more. All this over a couple of hundred bucks. So what happened? Read more »

“I’m selling my apartment,” Mr. X said.

“But you just bought it.”

“I don’t care. All I want to do is fix up the kitchen and we haven’t even begun and the whole thing is becoming such a production and looks like it’s going to cost so much that it’s not worth it."

So is it possible to renovate a co-op iin the City without losing your sanity and without getting into battles with the boars? Read more »

Maybe you don’t know it, but right now in addition to all the other promises you have to make and amounts you have to pay before commencing renovations, most alteration agreements require you to indemnify your co-op and its directors and shareholders (among others) against any damage or claims resulting from the work you did. It’s just part of the price of having an apartment worthy of Architectural Digest. Say someone got injured and they sue you and the building, the building can sue you right back under the indemnity for the amounts claimed – and you’d likely be on the hook. Or would you? Read more »

Now that you know the problems of renovating, it’s time to take a look at the proposed solutions and what they mean for you. The new Alteration Agreement imposes few new restraints on the types of work owners can do, but it vests boards with considerably more control over the process by empowering them to use advance cost shifting as well as stringent monetary and other sanctions. But does the punishment fit the crime? Read more »