When you have a problem with the Board of your condominium or coop, you want a lawyer who can read — and understand — the rules governing the Board. For a condominium, the rules are in the recorded declaration of condominium and by-laws, which must comply with the New York Condominium Act. For a cooperative, the rules are in the corporation by-laws and the proprietary lease with each shareholder/apartment owner, which must comply with the New York Business Corporation Law.
All too often, everyone, the Board, the managing agent, and you, the apartment owner, thinks that the rules are also in the sponsor’s offering plan according to which it sold the apartments in the first place.
But that is only half true. It’s true that the sponsor is bound by the promises it made in the offering plan to the Board and the apartment owners. When the sponsor sells the apartments, those promises are part of the contract enforceable against the sponsor. But that contract does not govern the Board in dealing with the apartment owners. The Board is governed by the condominium declaration and by-laws or the cooperative by-laws and proprietary lease.
That is why you need a lawyer who knows which rules apply when.
If you have problems with your condo or coop Board, call me, your NY condo/coop lawyer when you have problems with your Board.
From the desk of Andrew Weltchek 