Beginning on May 15th and lasting until June 25th, the NYC Department of Buildings will be inspecting decks and retaining walls for free, for property owners who request this service. During the assessment, inspectors will check both decks and retaining walls, if applicable, for potentially dangerous conditions, such as cracking, rotting, bulging, leaning and other warning signs that they note can lead to potential structural failure.

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As per NYC Law any building that was constructed prior to January 1, 1978 is required to send out Lead Paint Notices to occupants each January. Should a child reside in the unit who is under the age of six (6) years old, the building is required to inspect that particular unit at least one (1) time per year, at any time in the year.

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Interior repairs in cooperative or condominium apartments aren’t as cut and dry as in a rental property. Unlike a rental, where most repairs would fall onto the landlord, there is a clear delineation of responsibilities for a shareholder / unit owner and the building.

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Buildings suffer through a lot of wear and tear during move-ins and move-outs. For each move, there are always two sets of people who are coming and going and elevators, common spaces and the building staff are all taxed during this time. In addition, residents are sometimes disturbed as their elevators are either taken out completely or are under limited use while the movers reserve and utilize them during this time period. It’s for this reason that many buildings charge something in order to offset the costs that they are absorbing. These charges can be by way of a deposit, fee or both. Depending on your building, it may be prudent to charge both to protect the asset under your care.

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Flip Taxes are a tool in Cooperative buildings all throughout New York City. Essentially, they’re a tax (or a fee) that the Cooperative collects at the closing of an apartment that is transferring hands between outgoing and incoming Shareholders.

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Local Law 47 of 2015 was put into place in October 2015 for one specific purpose; to ensure that building owners and landlords were advising their tenants of any upcoming outages of hot water, electricity, gas or heat that will have a duration of more than two hours.

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New York City just introduced Neighborhoods.nyc, a website that is devoted to bringing together the communities that make up the boroughs of the City and hosting a place where people can organize, communicate and learn more about their area.

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When purchasing a property or refinancing a mortgage, a lending bank will do a Title Search on the property in question. Often, if there are outstanding violations on file for the subject property, the bank will ask the Agent for an Indemnification and Hold Harmless letter stating that the Condominium Association, Cooperative Corporation and/or Managing Agent will indemnify them for all claims and damages as a result of these violations.

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Effective September 3, 2015, New York City will have amended their City Human Rights Law (N.Y. City Admin Code Sec. 8-107(24)) to preclude employers from utilizing consumer credit reports and credit history as a basis for hiring decisions. Essentially, most employers will no longer be allowed to run credit reports or obtain credit history from applicants. Employers can also not use this information, if received, as a basis for hiring or not hiring an applicant.

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More often than not, switching Managing Agents is a daunting task for the existing Board. The Board / Manager relationship is one that is intertwined (almost as intimate as a marriage) and although some are switching after a short period of time, many are leaving behind 10+ years of hand-in-hand relationships.

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