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March 26, 2000, Sunday
NEW YORK TIMES
Real Estate Desk

POSTINGS: Filling in the Long-Form Questionnaire; Census Form Omits Co-ops

Co-op shareholders who received the long-form version of the year 2000 census questionnaire may be understandably perplexed when trying to complete it.
Mary Ann Rothman, executive director of the Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums, said that the form does not specify how, or even whether, co-op shareholders should indicate their ownership interests in their apartments and their payments on share loans, property taxes and insurance. ''This is unfortunate,'' she said , ''as it could prevent the government from receiving an accurate count of homeowners in multiple dwellings across the nation.''

Leonard Norry, assistant division chief of housing characteristics for the Bureau of the Census, said that while there was no separate category on the form for co-op or condominium apartments, shareholders and unit owners who live in their apartments should respond in the same manner as any other homeowner.
Accordingly, he said, co-op and condominium owners who live in their units should answer questions 47, 48, 49, 50 and 51 -- which deal with mortgage payments, equity loans, property taxes, insurance and the value of the property -- rather than question 46, which should be answered only by rental tenants. Mr. Norry added that question 52, which deals with condominium common charges, should only be answered by condominium owners who live in their units.