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Q. & A.: 'Friends' Staying In a Co-op
Q. Two of the half-dozen co-op shareholders in our building allow the use of their apartments, when they are not in occupancy, by ''friends'' who may stay for a day or so and sometimes even longer. This practice has been going on for many years now. These ''friends'' are from all over the country, and sometimes from other countries, indicating that perhaps some agency is involved. Our lease specifically states that the owner must be ''in occupancy'' when ''friends'' are staying in an apartment. From what I understand, the paragraph that spells out this ruling was for the purpose of keeping shareholders from using their apartments as bed-and-breakfast-type operations. What can be done? . . . Ralph R. Call, Manhattan.
A. Stuart M. Saft, a Manhattan lawyer who is also chairman of the Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums, said that according to most proprietary leases, if a shareholder is in residence simultaneously with a friend, the friend is a guest and can stay for up to 30 days without board approval.
''But if the shareholder is not in residence during a friend's
visit,'' Mr. Saft said, ''the friend would be considered a subtenant,
even if there is no sublease, and the consent of the board would
be required.''
He added that a sublease without the board's consent would be
a violation of the proprietary lease and could result in the termination
of the lease and the eviction of the offending shareholders. It
is also possible, he said, that some proprietary leases could
allow the board to impose a fine for an improper sublet, making
it possible to encourage compliance with the lease without having
to take the extreme remedy of evicting a shareholder.
Accordingly, Mr. Saft said, the letter writer should make the
board and building management aware of the apparent violation
of the proprietary lease by the two shareholders who allow their
friends to visit in their absence. If the board does not take
appropriate action, he said, the only recourse for the four shareholders
in the building who do not engage in the activity would be to
vote in a board that will enforce the proprietary lease.