Roof rights?

Are you serious? You get what you pay for. Read your contract.

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 4:49 PM

They are not "assigned" to the top floor apts, but are often sold to them. If they are not currently held by a particular apt., approach the board about buying them. Generally shares are reallocated for this and maintenance goes up accordingly.

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 5:58 PM

in a coop, the roof rights are either assigned or they are maintained as common space. in our building, the 4th floor unit was recently sold (and roof rights are not assinged). there was some discussion about selling them, but it must be a unanimous decision by the board members to do so. it is not assumed, not by a long shot. it was not unanimous in our building's case, and the roof is still common space.

Posted by: guest at December 20, 2007 5:40 PM

As 5:40's post indicates, you should never buy a coop assuming that you can change anything. Something you may think everybody would want to change if someone just took the initiative to get it done, since the coop has the funds (get the loose asbestos out of the common space in the basement, for example) is often very hard, if not impossible, to change, due to some board members' having quite different ideas and priorities. If you are shopping, only buy a coop where the roof rights are yours already, or where the seller agrees to have the coop make the change BEFORE you close, if the roof is a dealbreaker for you. But then, they still have to approve your deck-building plans, so expect the coop to take the money for selling the roof rights and then hang you up for two or three years, while getting yout to present different architects' drawings and engineers' opinions drawings of various plans to suit them. Or it could be easy - problem is, you can never predict.

Posted by: guest at December 22, 2007 5:08 PM

I live in a small condo building where the 2 top owners have roof rights and they built decks. One deck is very large and takes up half the roof. I asked the owner if he got weight specifications and he said no. We had a roofer on the roof who said the deck was too heavy. I am worried that the decks were built incorrectly and may cause structural problems but the owner of one deck seem unwilling to listen. The owner of the deck also placed a lock on the door of the roof without notifying anyone. The door will open if you push the handle but an alarm will go off until it is shut with the key. The owner refuses to provide the key to anyone and claims he doesn’t want people on the roof. What are my alternatives with this situation.

Posted by: guest at December 22, 2007 10:45 PM

If any holes or structural damage to the roof occur because of the decks, 10:45, those with the roof rights who built the decks should be solely responsible for paying for it. Get confirmation of that, tell them that's the case, then see if they are more willing to listen and alter the decks. If not, try calling the insurance company the condo building uses to insure the exterior of the building and the roof, and tell them decks were built and not to code.

Posted by: guest at December 23, 2007 12:40 AM

Thank you 12:40. Another question do Roof decks need a building permit. From my research it appears they do and Im pretty sure the roof decks do not have a permit.

Posted by: guest at December 23, 2007 11:31 AM