New Sheriff in Town

Published: Aug. 20, 2012, midnight

When you own an apartment, your home is not your castle – especially when it comes to matters of renovation and alteration. Alteration agreements restricting when and how apartment owners can have work done on their units are commonplace in co-ops and condos in New York. But if a condo unit-owner goes rogue and builds something unauthorized or even illegal in his or her unit, and the board turns a blind eye to the transgression, can a future board reassert its authority without getting in legal trouble? That’s the question posed to our panel this week. On this episode we cover the basics of alterations: how co-ops and condos can and should enforce their alteration agreements (or how to enact them if they aren’t already on the books), the dangers of unauthorized construction, and the best way a new board can lay down the law in areas where unit-owners are used to getting away with murder. On the panel this week: Alan Turek of Turek Roth Mester and Geoffrey Mazel of Hankin & Mazel. Music: Michael Chapman and the Woodpiles, “Goodwill Cowboys Ride Again” (http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Michael_Chapman__The_Woodpiles/NATCH_7/05_Goodwill_Cowboys_Ride_Again)