Cooperatives Archives

Jun 11, 2021

Good News for Cooperatives from the NY Legislature Regarding the Removal of Restrictions on Cooperatives Imposed in 2019

We are pleased to report that legislation (Senate Bill S5105) has passed both houses of the NY State Legislature relieving cooperatives of a number of restrictions that were applied to them along with conventional rental landlords when the Legislature enacted new tenant protection provisions as part of the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019. In particular, the current bill, which is now pending signature by the Governor, would remove or substantially modify the restrictions that had been imposed on cooperatives regarding (i) late charges, (ii) the ability to require security deposits as a condition of the approval of… Read more

Mar 26, 2020

Annual Meetings and COVID-19

We have received a number of COVID-19 related inquiries from cooperative and condominium boards asking about how to deal with annual shareholder and unit owner meetings that their bylaws state should be held in the next few months. There are a number of options: The simplest, most straightforward option is to postpone holding the meeting until conditions improve and “social distancing” is no longer an issue. The NY Business Corporation Law contemplates that a corporation may fail to hold an annual meeting when required under its bylaws, and provides that, except in very special circumstances, doing so is without consequence…. Read more

Sep 19, 2019

Statutory Changes Affecting Cooperatives and Condominium Unit Owners — Update

https://www.sgrlaw.com/statutory-changes-affecting-cooperatives-and-condominium-unit-owners/)

Last month, we distributed a bulletin describing recent New York State legislation affecting cooperatives and condominium unit owners. One of the items we noted was a change to the New York Real Property Law imposing a $20 limitation on the fees that may be charged to applicants for leases. In light of this change, we suggested that cooperatives charge such fees to the sellers of apartments rather than the applicant/purchasers. (The bulletin we issued is available here.) On September 13, 2019, the New York State Department of State issued official Guidance stating that the $20 limitation does not apply to… Read more