And you thought a tuna fish sandwich was just something to eat. Obviously you haven’t lived in a co-op. Catering your building’s Christmas (excuse me, holiday) party would challenge even Martha Stewart because you must appeal not only to residents’ palates, but also their politics. I’m glad the planning ordeal is over and I can eat and greet at our party next week. Read more »

Election season has come and gone at buildings across the City, and most everyone has accepted the results even if they don’t like them, resigned to waiting till next time to unseat those in power. It’s expensive and time consuming to mount a legal challenge, which is why most challengers lick lick their wounds and move on. Not three defeated insurgents at West Village Houses, who recently fired the first legal salvo, seeking to overturn the results of the election just past on the grounds that the process was tainted in multiple ways. Read more »

I get calls all the time from apartment owners complaining that the sponsor is still in control – 10, 20, even 30 years after the building has been converted. How can this happen? Lots of ways. But the real question is what's worse -- a sponsor that won't go or one that won't come? Read more »

That’s the latest requirement for being on the board in some buildings. I wouldn’t have believed it, but for the fact that’s essentially what my friend was told to do at the last board meeting at her Upper East Side co-op. Here's what I mean. Read more »

It’s the latest battleground in the ever-expanding war against objectionable conduct by shareholders. In a decision just handed down, a couple in a Jackson Heights co-op was made to pay the ultimate sacrifice (residentially speaking) for their refusal to repair violations in their apartment or to allow the building access to do so or even to install a new intercom system for everyone. What does it all mean? Read more »