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Can condo's ban topless females common areas? The NYS courts rules females can be nude in public.
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I'd imagine you'd have to have the same rules for men as for women. You couldn't allow men to be barechested in the common areas either.
Just how much of an issue is this in your building?
We have a new owner that is demanding we allow this for them.
Public area dress codes should be part of house rules, no bare feet, swim clothes, bathrobes, pj's or nighties in halls or common areas. Is this an over 55/seniors- type Coop or a young Coop? Obviously not a naturist specialty coop...
Too many rules. As for the bare breasts, I guess it all depends on what shape they are in.
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm very doubtful you could ban topless females in common areas, as that would be discriminatory. However, I'm pretty confident you could ban topless *people* if you wanted to do so. See the concurrence in the key case in the topless area (ahem), People v. Santorelli (1992): "Although protecting public sensibilities is a generally legitimate goal for legislation, it is a tenuous basis for justifying a legislative classification that is based on gender, race or any other grouping that is associated with a history of social prejudice."
You don't need to go crazy with this. If you really want to pass such a rule, make it short and simple: "No topless people are allowed in common areas." You don't need to come up with a whole dress code - well, unless your next problem is some crazy guy wandering the lobby in an undershirt and jockey shorts screaming, "I'm not topless! I'm not topless!"
As a Part owner, You can attach a rider to your building policy. All you need to do is to present the issue at your next anuall meeting of all share holders and put on table for a vote
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I'm not a lawyer, but NY seems to support rules and regulations created by condo's and coop's under the business judgement rule. Whereas NYS may declare it legal, it's not in good taste for women to be topless in common areas where members of the public and children would be present. If I were on the board, I would push to amend the House Rules to that affect. Generally, the corporate bylaws charge the board with promulgating rules and regulations for operation of the corporation, so no owner approvals should be required.
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