Q: Garages in co-op buildings in the Bronx take up much less space than apartments and are very popular. I’ve lived in that building for 19 years and got my own space 10 years ago. Stockholders who own the Spot were recently sent an 18-page lease agreement to sign. We have a new management company, but this new contract was handed to us without any explanation. Most of the clauses appear to be fair, with the exception of clauses that allow the building to revoke shareholder status for any reason or no reason at all. This seems outrageous! Is it legal? What can you do?
A: Don’t sign anything yet. First, check your building’s existing governing documents to find out what your rights are regarding garage space.
Carefully read the co-op’s own lease, offering plan, bylaws, and any parking agreements in place prior to this new agreement. Has the process for acquiring garage space or keeping garage space been outlined? Do you have rights under these documents and can the co-op negotiate with you to change the terms? Must be. You cannot change the contract at will during the contract.
However, the document may not outline your parking rights.
“It’s not unusual for a co-op to say it’s a license, not a lease, and we’re free to terminate it,” said Manhattan tenant attorney Katherine Grado. (When it comes to parking, Gladd said, rent-stabilized tenants have protections that co-op shareholders don’t have.)
Adam Reitman Bailey, a Manhattan real estate attorney, said if the existing agreement is actually a license, the building manager may have the right to replace it. However, this right applies only if the co-op board approves the measure by resolution and if the articles of incorporation permit the board to do so without a shareholder vote. (Although you didn’t mention the use of accessible parking spaces, there are laws that require apartment complex managers to make these spaces available to people with disabilities.)
Read the new contract to ensure that the management company is not acting outside the scope of its authority or that the co-op board has not improperly transferred any of its authority to the management company.
“If so, there may be grounds to challenge management’s right to act without appropriate authority from the co-op’s shareholders as a whole,” Mr Bailey said.
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