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Orienting New Owners  Getting Smart About Condo   & Co-op Life  BY A J SIDRANSKY  Removals, Ejections, &    Evictions in Condos & Co-ops  When an Owner Has to Go  BY A. J. SIDRANSKY  June 2022                                        NEWENGLANDCONDO.COM  205 Lexington Avenue, NY, NY 10016 • CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED  THE CONDO, HOA & CO-OP RESOURCE  CONDOMINIUM  NEW ENGLAND  In a rental building, the landlord has certain rights under certain circumstances to   remove a tenant from his property before the expiration of their lease. In a private home   setting, the only real path to removing an owner is through foreclosure—usually due   to a mortgage default. But what about in a multifamily setting like a condominium or a   co-op? In short, it’s complicated.  To start off, in the legal world, the word   eviction   has a very specific meaning, differ-  ent from how most non-lawyers understand the term. Attorneys often prefer to use the   term ‘remove’ or ‘eject’ when speaking about forcibly getting a condo owner or co-op   shareholder out of an association or building. For the purposes of this article, however,   we will use the colloquial ‘evict’ and ‘eviction’ to keep things simple.   Can an Owner be Evicted?  According to Scott Piekarsky, an attorney with Phillips Nizer, a law firm located in   Hackensack, New Jersey, “You can eject a shareholder from a co-op—but you can’t evict   a condo owner from his or her unit.” That said, removal can occur for monetary or non-  monetary reasons. In the case of monetary default, which is the more common reason,   “an association can put a lien on the unit for outstanding common charges, and then   foreclose on that lien,” Piekarsky says. “The lien has a priority over the first mortgage   and tax liens. The association can pursue a foreclosure, and then a sheriff’s sale subject   to the lien. In the end, if the foreclosure and sale are successful, the association gets the   unit and the owner is out.” So, the process is not an eviction per se—but a means of   removing a non-paying association member and recouping the monies owed.   William McCracken, a partner with the law firm of Ganfer Shore Leeds & Zauderer   in New York City, explains that in New York, understanding the difference in ownership   Loss, Insurance,    & Claims  A Primer  BY COOPER SMITH  For many, the topic of insurance can   be a bit overwhelming. Even the terms we   use as insurance purchasers differ sub-  stantially from the terms industry profes-  sionals use when discussing and settling   claims—which can leave laymen feeling   like we need a translator to make sense of   what exactly we’re paying for, what’s cov-  ered, and (even more importantly) what’s   not.   For example, take the expression ‘to-  tal loss.’ The average policyholder likely   takes it to mean that there’s no hope of   repairing the asset in question, whatever   that may be. To an insurance profession-  al, however, ‘total loss’ means something   else. Replacement isn’t really the issue. It’s   more a matter of numbers; are the pro-  ceeds from the claim enough to repair the   asset to its prior state? And in the world   of insurance, that’s only the beginning—  so  it’s  incumbent  on  boards,  managers,   and even individual owners and share-  holders to better understand what’s cov-  ered, what’s not, and how a claim is made.  Types of Loss  Loss—of property, possessions, even   of life—is the basis of the entire insurance   business, and therefore the industry has   as many words for loss as the Inuit have   for snow. That said, the basic terms most   of us need to be familiar with are direct   loss, indirect loss, partial loss, and cata-  strophic loss.   According to Insuranceopedia.com,   these different losses can be defined as   follows:   Direct loss refers to physical or finan-  cial loss or injury resulting directly from   an unbroken chain of events, or a proxi-  mate cause that led to a risk covered by   an insurance policy. The latter refers to   First-time buyers in condo associa-  tions, co-ops, and other multifamily resi-  dential communities are often surprised—  and a bit confused—by the way their new   building or HOA operates. Whether they   are coming from a rental background or   a single-family home experience, condo/  co-op  living,  and  its  administrative  and   governance structure, differs dramatically   from both. Understanding how and why   —before a problem arises—is an impor-  tant part of being an engaged community   member.   Renter Mentality  “People who move from single-family   homes into multifamily dwellings often   have some trouble adapting to their new   environment,” says Daniel Wollman, CEO   of Gumley Haft, a management firm based   in  New  York  City.  “They  often  don’t  im-  mediately grasp that there are reasons it’s   called ‘cooperative living.’”  Scott Wolf, CEO of BRIGS, LLC, a Bos-  ton-based management company, agrees.   “As renters,’’ he says, “everything was done   for them, and this is how they often con-  tinue to think. They don’t realize they are   now responsible for the interiors and inte-  rior equipment in their units.  When a dis-  posal is clogged, they think the association   will pay to repair it.”   And by extension, Wolf continues,   “New owners often think the management   company is the decision maker \\\[in the   building or HOA\\\], when really, we’re the   enforcer of decisions made by the board of   directors or trustees.  A lot of owners don’t   realize that the board makes policy and we   then administer their decisions.”    Co-op and condo communities have   rules and regulations that govern every-  thing from behavior in common areas to   construction or alterations in individual   units. These rules can sometimes be an   issue for newcomers, notes Wolf. “When   coming from a private home, owners don’t   know what they can’t do,” he says. “They   can’t change their front door without per-  mission. They don’t realize that changes to   the exterior of their unit needs prior board   approval—and might not be approved.   They often also have issues with where   continued on page 8   continued on page 6   rights is key to understanding evictions in co-ops and condos.   “Condo unit owners own their units,” he says. “The condo board   has no standing. Because a co-op shareholder has a tenant-land-  lord relationship with the board under a proprietary lease, for   purposes of eviction, they’re in the same boat as a renter. The   co-op owns the unit, so if they follow the appropriate rules, \\\[the   board\\\] can remove the shareholder, evict him or her, recover   continued on page 6


































































































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