Denise Rich, the songwriter, philanthropist and Clinton Presidential Library donor, is putting her Fifth Avenue duplex on the market for $65 million, which makes it the most expensive co-op ever. more ›

Even though the city's Department of Finance apologized, Queens co-op owners are still furious that a DOF computer error caused their property values to rise as much as 147%. (Higher property values mean higher property taxes.) The DOF says it'll cap the increases to 50%, but residents think that's BS: Sherry Davis, who lives in Douglaston, told the NY Times, "How it is possible that the values of our properties can go up by more than 100 percent during one of the biggest real estate declines in a generation? This is the last affordable part of New York City — this isn’t Chelsea or the Upper East Side for goodness’ sake — and we risk being priced out of our own neighborhood." more ›

After months of enduring the cigar smoke wafting into his apartment from his elderly neighbor's unit, Upper East Side resident Russell Poses couldn't take it any more. He claims neighbor Harry Lyson had stubbornly refused to give up his cigars, leaving Poses and his wife—who live with their two children on East 79th Street—no choice but to file a $2 million lawsuit against him. But a nasty legal battle came to an end yesterday, and Lyson got off easy with a settlement that will cost him just $2,000 per cigar if the Poses family ever smells smoke. more ›

Today, the Post has an exposé on some New Yorkers abusing a homeownership program meant for low-income New Yorkers (which these days is pretty much everyone). Apparently New Yorkers making less than 165 percent of the average income for New York City can buy one of 25,000 co-op apartments in the boroughs offered at between $250 and $40,000. That means a family of four making $125,400 or less can qualify. Someone get Jimmy McMillan! more ›

As the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complex heads into foreclosure auction later this month, both the NY Times and Wall Street Journal look at how the development, in spite of its problems under Tishman Speyer, remains attractive. People are expecting a war over the property, and one investor group thinks it'll make a lot of money by turning the rental apartments into co-ops. William Ackman, whose Pershing Square Capital Management and Winthrop Realty Trust is one of the parties in the investor group, tells the WSJ, "The value of the property as a co-op is much higher than the value of the property as a rental." If only Tishman knew that four years ago! more ›

So you want to live in a fancy co-op? Well, it's not easy if you have a dog. Thankfully, Brick Underground has a little guide on how to get your dog past the co-op board, which these days can include making sure they pass their "dog interview." And don't worry, there are prep courses for your dog to make sure you get that Central Park view! more ›

New Yorkers may love their pets, but sometimes New York apartment buildings don't like them that much: The Wall Street Journal has some anecdotes of brokers turning down potential buyers of multimillion dollar apartments because the buildings don't allow pets! In fact, some buildings can be especially strict about dogs—sometimes forcing Solomonic choices. more ›

After Monday's march down Park Avenue yielded no deals, the city's building workers are coming even closer to striking. The deadline for a new contract deal between the Realty Advisory Board and 32BJ is April 21st, and a strike of 30,000 workers would affect every borough except the Bronx. 32BJ Executive Vice President Kevin Doyle told NY1, "Unfortunately there's going to be an incredible disruption to the daily lives of the people of New York City. We want to avoid that but it unquestionably would be a disruption." more ›

A Brighton Beach apartment complex is cracking down on dog owners, fining them $100/month and threatening to take away their parking spaces if they don't get rid of their pets. A spokesman for the board of Trump Village—a sprawling three-building development with 1,700 apartments—says it's fed up with tenants who “surreptitiously smuggled in dogs in defiance of the rules and regulations binding them,” but residents smell a cash grab. "I think it's totally ridiculous," Marylyn Langsdorf, who lives with her 6-pound Yorkshire terrier in Trump Village Section 3, told the News. "I think the whole point is to just get money from us." more ›

More proof that NY is just as seen on Seinfeld: Residents of an Upper West Side co-op fought to get a chair for their trusted but tired doorman, and after three months they finally won! The saga began last year when members of the board at 650 West End Avenue got rid of the building’s desk and chair while it was remodeling. It reasoned that the doorman would be quicker and more alert from a standing post, but after months watching him suffer upright, residents protested. "We believe that it is inhumane to require that our doormen must stand during an eight-hour shift without a break," they wrote in a petition. "We do not feel that they would slack off or do their jobs less efficiently." The board acted quickly, saying the doorman didn’t have to stand—however it was too stingy to actually offer him a seat. Funds have yet to be allocated for the purchase of a new stool, reported the NY Post. more ›

One Park Slope family is fretting after losing one of their chickens. According to the Brooklyn Paper, Rebecca Lax and her two daughters just procured two of the feathered friends to provide them with fresh eggs from their backyard on 6th Avenue and 1st Street—but upon getting them home, one flew the coop! more ›

Since it was proposed in 1929, the long-awaited Second Avenue subway line has been knocked off track by two financial crashes and one world war. Now, the massive transit project is facing another formidable adversary: residents of an Upper East Side co-op who have filed suit over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's controversial plan to construct above-ground ventilation structures, which some say will blight the neighborhood and lower property values. more ›

Foot model Christina Ambers and her husband Angel Rotger have officially left the building. The duo caused quite a stir at their Upper East Side co-op after falling in love in 2007, when Rotger was Ambers' doorman there. At first it was reported they were receiving harsh treatment from uppity neighbors who didn't support socializing with the help — Rotger was actually fired when the relationship continued — but later some unsavory stories came out about the couple. more ›

Do you feel ashamed and guilty because you haven't been fulfilling your duties as a member of the Park Slope Food Coop? Have you been missing shifts, drinking bottled water, or purchasing Israeli products? Do you feel like horrible person because of it? Here's a way to repent — wear a t-shirt announcing the fact that you've been "suspended at the Coop." more ›

The hand and foot model suing her UES co-op for $10 million for allegedly ostracizing her because she married a former doorman has been all too happy to tell her story to the tabloids this week—until yesterday, when she suddenly fled the building with a coat over her head. But since Christina Ambers is a famous hand model, the local tabloid photographers immediately recognized her distinctive digits, and some truly hilarious images ensued. "You ruined our lives!" husband Angel Rotger shouted at the shutterbugs as he led his hooded wife along the sidewalk. more ›

The hand and foot model who's suing her co-op for treating her like a pariah for marrying the doorman has a history of romancing the help. Before she fell for bareheaded former doorman Angel Rotger, Christina Ambers had previously cavorted with another doorman at the Upper East Side building, a married Romanian immigrant named John Bradatan. But is it so crazy for a woman whose hands are her livelihood to fall for men who professionally open doors? more ›

Hand and foot model Christina Ambers fell in love with the doorman at her Upper East Side co-op in 2007, but the superintendent forbade Angel Rotger to see her romantically. And yet the romance between doorman and foot lady could not be so easily snuffed out, and the two continued their affair in secret. When they were found out, Rotger was fired—but not before the super's wife allegedly swung her handbag into his groin so hard he suffered a contusion of the testicle. Naturally, their story is on the cover of the Daily News and the Post today. more ›

If it's November, it's time to start dreading the Holiday tipping ritual. How much do you give the super or the doorman or—no joke—the sanitation worker? Well, if you're the board of directors at a tony co-op, the solution is simple: Nothing. A thread on the Urban Baby message board has sparked a vigorous debate about noblesse oblige during a recession, beginning thus:

SANTA CLAUS CAME EARLY!!! Just got a notice from our co-op board: "In response to past complaints about favoritism, and in light of the current recession that has dealt a significant blow to many of our shareholders, the board of directors of (XYZ Building) has implemented a strict "no tipping" policy for the building staff." THANK YOU SANTA!!!

A tenant war broke out recently when one Upper West Side co-op was considering taking a common area and fancifying it into a new playroom for the buildings' kids, nowadays apparently too good to just hide inside the Hamburglar's Head all day. The spat pitted the classic battle of Mommies versus Bodies, the contingent of self-improving residents who wanted to put in a gym. Throw in one crank calling to "get rid of it! It’s a waste of money and it’s taking up storage space that we need," add a touch of winning rhetoric on the parents' part that apparently included an "Obamaesque way of phrasing things," and it sounds like a classic battle in yuppieland. Apparently this kind of madness is becoming more common in the high-stakes world of children's playrooms in buildings, which can cost up to six figures and include amenities such as trapezes(!). more ›

Third quarter real estate data for Manhattan showed that sales for condos and co-ops improved from the second quarter... but sales still trail 2008 third quarter numbers. So, is the glass half full or empty? more ›

A Queens judge ruled that a 45-year-old man can be evicted from the Woodside, Queens co-op his dad has let him live in for 18 years. According to the Daily News, even though Richard Carnivale was allowed to live in the apartment and paid $250,000 in maintenance fees over the two decades—his dad welcomed him to the new pad with a kiss and said, "Here are the keys to your new home"—he never had actual ownership. The judge wrote, "The son's claim of ownership is essentially predicated on the handing over of keys to the co-op apartment. No writing exists to evidence an intention by the father of making the son the owner of the property." Plus, the father and son had a falling out, and Carnivale stopped paying maintenance in 2007. A lawyer for Carnivale's father said his client has health problems, "The father didn't want to do this, but he needs the money. It's a shame that it had to come to this. We're not looking to take the apartment and throw him out in the street." Carnivale may appeal the ruling. more ›

"It's like being raped," 50-year-old Kevin Uhrin tells the Daily News, describing how he felt seeing a piece of paper on his apartment door with the word "fags" written on it. Uhrin says the paper, which was taped up to announce some impending repair work and insult him, was part of an ongoing anti-gay campaign by board members at his Kew Gardens Co-Op. He also heard his floor referred to as the "AIDS floor," because three units on the floor were each owned by a gay couple. So Uhrin and another tenant, Estelle Torino, filed a discrimination lawsuit; Uhrin settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, but Torino's case will go to court next month. She says the trouble started when a busted pipe caused a leak in her apartment, and management refused to repair the damage. Tensions escalated, and in the years since, the board has allegedly turned other hetero tenants against their homosexual neighbors. Now Torino is scared to go downstairs to do her laundry alone, but shouldn't she be more worried about finding an offensive note on her door? more ›

Uh, it's time to rent, maybe? Crain's New York reports that all over the city, "maintenance fees and common charges for co-ops and condos, respectively, are rising at the highest rates in years." more ›

The Post reports that a family is fighting their Chelsea co-op to keep their beloved Mastiff—and that the co-op board secretary, CNN's Soledad O'Brien, is especially critical. Steven Lyons, who bought his 4,000 square-foot apartment in 2003, says, "[O'Brien] told me at a shareholder's meeting that my dog stinks." Ugo, a 150-pound mastiff, arrived in the Lyons household in 2007, but O'Brien noted his "size, slobbering, shedding, drooling, gassiness and odors" in an affidavit (the family gets him groomed three times a month and sprays him with a deodorizer). The co-op allows pets, but Lyons's wife Monica Nelson tells the Post that other board members hold their noses when they share the elevator with her—even when she's without the dog! The co-op board has terminated their lease, and the Lyonses may have to leave their apartment or get rid of Ugo. Interestingly, O'Brien put her apartment on the market last October—you can see it and her cat in this video. more ›

Federal Magistrate Ronald Ellis's decision to allow scammer Bernard Madoff to remain out on bail means that his neighbors at 133 East 64th Street must endure more, most likely, unwelcome attention to their rarefied Upper East Side co-op. The NY Times' Susan Dominus revealed that Madof sent them a note ("printed out on simple white paper, with letterhead formatted by word processor") a few weeks ago:

Dear neighbors, more ›

Just in time for Halloween, there's been some chatter regarding hallway and door decorations in New York apartments. Brownstoner notes that in July, a Clinton Hill co-op board controversially "decided to enforce a house rule: no decorations on any doors, without getting board approval first," since in a co-op you don't have the rights to your door, the decision is out of one's hands. A recent Habitat article breaks it down, but what about those not in co-ops? While stoops, hallway rights, and even smoking rules in buildings are ongoing hot topics, the door often gets ignored. How does your building handle decorations? more ›

A group of social butterflies in Brooklyn – who the Real Deal describes as having careers in "high-paying creative fields" – are banding together to start what would be the city's first "co-housing community." Like co-ops, co-housing communities make group decisions on issues like building maintenance. But here's the twist: while residents live in private homes, they share common areas for dining and cooking. The still-growing group of 25 households is eying a development site in Fort Greene, and expect to collectively spend $15 to $35 million to reside socially. It's a popular lifestyle in groovy Denmark, but will it fly here in individualistic New York? Once the first parent hears that someone fed precious Conner a carrot stick grown with pesticides, it'll surely mean war. [Via Brownstoner.] more ›

The Brooklyn community board that covers Bay Ridge is fed up with the food vendors who clog 86th Street – all three of them. “The issue is cleanliness,” asserts the board’s District Manager Josephine Beckmann, whose husband is a police lieutenant. “It would be best to have no vending at all. It just causes problems.” So the board has unanimously urged the city’s Department of Small Business Services to banish them from the block. more ›

It's not uncommon to hear about animals being housed in New York apartments -- not just cats and dogs, but tigers and monkeys, oh my. The latest animal house can be found in a 50-story luxury condo complex on the East Side. more ›

Colors, the feel-good restaurant on Lafayette Street owned and operated by Windows on the World employees who were spared on 9/11, is reportedly back from the brink of ruin. The fine dining restaurant opened two years ago as one of New York’s few cooperative restaurants, with everyone from busboys to chefs sharing ownership and a menu featuring international cuisine created by the multi-ethnic staff. more ›