“He is one of the best attorneys in town to go after boards when shareholder’s rights are adversely affected.”
Hello XXX,
Thank you for reaching out and I am sorry for the delay. I am just getting back from closings.
Indeed this is a bit of a problem as coops have a very wide latitude to perform alterations and renovations at their discretion, and particularly when claiming they are attempting to comport to “code.” The building’s department as you may know is fairly strict , and I think that perhaps the coop is afraid that if an audit is done, and/or final “sign-off” inspection does not pass, they will fail the whole cycle.
You said the board stated you could present them with a report from a code expert/engineer and they would see what it said … I will assume that because the person you consulted said that technically the board is correct, you would not want to submit that to the Board?
Understand that I am not a litigation attorney, nor am I permitted by policy to sue or file motions against coop boards – there is an inherent conflict there since we represent buyers and sellers in Manhattan coops. However it seems to me that you’re arguing the board is unnecessarily devaluing your apartment, and if you could prove that current code does NOT require the installation of the railing, you may have a case.
At the risk of seeming like I am just passing you along, I do want to refer you to a Real Estate litigation specialist, who may be able to get some kind of temporary injunction of sorts, and he is one of the best attorneys in town to go after boards when shareholder’s rights are adversely affected. His name is Adam Leitman Bailey and he can be reached at alb@alblawfirm.com. Truly one of the best for this kin of work. If the code does in fact require the heightened railing. I don’t know what the success ill be, but it may be worth a try.
All my best,
XXX