Challenging a Share Allocation in a Coop
I have an apartment that on the offering plan had the roof rights, but the roof rights were then given up shortly after the building went coop (in the 1980s) but the shares were never reallocated. As a result I have one more share then other apartments the same size, which is a 10% more…
I have an apartment that on the offering plan had the roof rights, but the roof rights were then given up shortly after the building went coop (in the 1980s) but the shares were never reallocated. As a result I have one more share then other apartments the same size, which is a 10% more on the maintainence and assessments. Is there any way at this point to protest/challenge this legally and what would it entail? Does anyone have any thoughts. I don’t see the board responding without some sort of challenge (its an old board that has been sitting in the same position for ages in a small coop building). Any advice
I’d get legal advice before stating anything to the board. They aren’t going to like you for challenging the status quo. They may have to pay for the coop to get legal advice – though they probably won’t and will just ignore you if you ask without an attorney. If you state a position to them when you have absolutely no rights, they will, even moreso, consider you a royal pain (and with good reason in that case.)
I’d focus first on finding out whether the transfer of roof rights was legally done. Your attorney told you it was, but you don’t trust the advice because that attorney was involved in the transfer somehow, by representing the sponsor when the rights were transferred.
If you don’t trust your attorney’s advice for this or any reason, ask another attorney, one who wasn’t involved.
If the rights were legally transferred, then ask your attorney whether you have any legal right to a share allocation based on what you own. It is my impression, from things I’ve read here and elsewhere, that coop shareholders don’t generally have any right to equitable allocation. But get legal advice on this about what happened in the case of your specific apartment.
If the rights weren’t legally transferred to the coop, ask for advice on whether you now own them. If you do, stop focusing on your maintenance for a minute. The rights you own may be more valuable, in the long run, when you sell even if you never use them, than your increased mainteance costs you now. Get advice on how to get the coop to acknowledge that you own them. Then decide if it is worth it to you to get your ownership clearly established. It will cost both you and the coop legal fees. It may involve a drawn out legal battle. No one may buy your apartment while the battle is on. No one may buy your neighbors’ apartments while the battle is on. Your neighbors won’t like you. And you may not win even if your attorney thinks you should. Get good advice on how to proceed.
Know that even if you do own the rights, the coop may have absolutely no interest in purchasing them from you or reallocating the shares, even if they were interested in owning them decades ago. So you may end up paying the higher maintenance anyway. And if you decide you want to build a deck up there, the coop has to approve your plans anyway, before you can do anything.
You don’t need a neighborhood attorney. Though you can find many recommended by people in other posts here. You can also get a referral to an attorney who knows about coops by calling the lawyer referral service of the city bar association – abcny.org – and you can get a consultation with an referred attorney for a very modest fee.
If you don’t own the rights, and have no legal right to any reallocation (which is basically what your current attorney told you, I think, but you seem to want confirmation that this is true), you can always ask for a reallocation based on fairness. Unlikely to happen, but it may not hurt to ask. Get to know your neighbors first. Be a good coop neighbor. Serve on the board if you have any talents to offer and are willing to do the work. And when you ask, ask the entire building, not just the board. Know it would be a huge favor to you. Everybody would be agreeing to voluntarily raise their maintenance for you. And it will cost the coop legal fees to do the reallocation. If you do it as a demand, or with an attorney, the coop board will have to get legal advice, and will definitely be against you. And, before you ask, consider whether your neighbors may turn against you just for asking.
You need to start by sending a letter to the Board stating your position and asking them to respond, in writing. You also need to find an attorney. You might try calling the New York Council on Co-ops/Condos to locate one. You should also probably call the Attorney General’s office; they might be able to give you some info. I think, depending on when you purchased, you might have a case. On the other hand, you might not, because it’s unclear how much knowledge of the situation you had when you purchased. Without evaluating all of your documents, I don’t think anyone on this blog can give you really good advice.
thank you. Broklin, I did read the advice previously and the question is slightly different in fact as I did some more research and did speak to my lawyer who did the sale. Before I was not sure that the there were ever documents relating to transfer that made it official. I found the documents, its a letter, amended to the proprietary lease dating back to the 80s. The rights were transfered but no money was changed hands nor shares reallocated and its unclear why not. In essence the lawyer said the sponsors shafted the buyer. Who knows.. The lawyer i spoke to told me not to bother, but really didn’t explain if I had a legal case or not, but for very complicated reasons, Im not convinced in his assessment as it turns out he was actually the lawyer for the sponsors (small world). Before I consult another lawyer I am trying to see if there was more knowledge here on coop law. If you can recommend a good coop lawyer in the neighborhood that would be helpful. Thanks
And why are you asking again when you just asked and got good advice a few months ago? Do you just want to vent but are too lazy to actually do anything?
How were the roof rights given up? Were they given up by you or a previous owner? If by a previous owner, how do you know if thry were legally transferred? Doesn’t it seem obvious that you need to have an attorney look at the documents purporting to give up these rights and advise you on what your options are?