Real estate sales data showed that co-ops seemed to be losing favor since condos are much more flexible with buyers. Well, there's yet another story about how co-op boards wield a lot of power. The board at 320 West End Avenue is reportedly trying to kick out a family because the 19-year-old son has allegedly harassed residents, employees and pedestrians. The family is striking back, asking a judge for an injunction to prevent the board from voting to evict them.
The Post reports the 320 WEA co-op sent a letter to Francis Harvey Jr. and Jean Wilhelm last September detailing their son's various alleged misdoings - which included "brandishing a knife at a doorman, drawing swastikas on storage lockers...pouring water down a freight-elevator shaft onto a building worker while he was moving garbage," and possibly starting fires in the basement. Last month, the co-op board wanted to vote on evicting the family, claiming that "a pellet gun was fired at pedestrians from the family's $2 million apartment" in May.
Harvey and Wilhelm filed for the injunction to stop the board vote and are demanding proof that their son really did do those things (the Post did find building workers who think Alex is nice). The couple claims that if they are kicked out, they may not be able to find another apartment because other co-ops won't want to sell to them. There's a court hearing later this month, but the deck may be stacked against the Harvey-Wilhelm's, as the law allows co-op boards "wide latitude" to eject tenants over "objectionable conduct," according to Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums's president Marc Luxemburg. He told the Post, "There are specific standards of reasonable behavior that are imposed on shareholder."
