By Adam Leitman Bailey Understanding our local real estate market is vital to making current or future housing plans. New York City home prices have slowly been falling. Developers’ betting on the condominium market has turned every inch of property they could buy into condominiums that have expanded the selection of homes. This condominium conversion Full Article…
Enforcing the Contract – Obtaining Down Payment on Specific Performance
By Adam Leitman Bailey and John M. Desiderio At the pinnacle of real estate law, the real estate closing may be the most basic and common real estate experience, but the familiarity ends once a provision of the contract of sale has been breached. Inspired by the number of telephone calls, e-mails, and general correspondence Full Article…
Condominium Conversion Reserve Fund Obligations
By Adam Leitman Bailey While sponsors of new construction condominiums have extensive obligations regarding the physical construction of their projects, Sponsors of condominium conversions really only have one material obligation (other than actually converting the form of ownership) — to provide sufficient funds to create reserves for capital repairs, improvements, and replacements required for the Full Article…
Directors and Officers Discrimination Coverage
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Colin E. Kaufman The Appellate Division decision titled Fletcher v. The Dakota Inc. held that the business judgment ruled does not protect individual condominium and cooperative board members from some personal tort liability. This alarming result has caused real estate and insurance attorneys to review directors and officers policies and the law to try Full Article…
Finding Individual Tort Liability for Board Members
By Adam Leitman Bailey and John M. Desiderio New York Law Journal | October 10, 2012 Recently, the Appellate Division First Department, in Fletcher v. Dakota, Inc.,1 held that the business judgment rule does not protect individual condo and co-op board members from personal tort liability where a board acting in its corporate capacity has Full Article…
Standing to Sue Sham Condo, Co-Op Sponsors Changed, New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and John M. Desiderio Kramer v. W10Z/515 Real Estate Ltd. Partnership, 1 a recent decision of the Appellate Division, First Department, is a case of great importance to purchasers of new condominium and cooperative apartment units. In a sweeping opinion, the court completely overhauled, if not expressly overruled, a line of Full Article…
The Newly Constructed or Converted Condominium, The Cooperator
By Adam Leitman Bailey and John M. Desiderio At the height of the housing boom, some builders attempted to recapture profits lost in the price they paid for their properties by cutting costs spent on labor and materials, and many others could not find good contractors or obtain low prices for building materials. At the Full Article…
Legal Quandries and How They Were Resolved, Habitat Magazine
“AVOID LAWSUITS BEYOND ALL THINGS; they pervert your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate your property.” Said French writer Jean De La Bruyere in the 1670s, and his statement holds true today. Nothing is more irksome than a long, drawn-out, complicated, and expensive legal battle. Sound legal advice can be a saving grace. That’s why Full Article…