There Is a Cure for Those New Construction Blues

Small, self-managed condominiums are proliferating in New York City, especially in Red Hook, Park Slope, Greenpoint, and Harlem. With homeownership come new and sometimes bewildering responsibilities – setting up a functioning condo board, for starters, then tackling budgeting and governance, and dealing with the inevitable defects in the building’s construction.

“A lot of these eight-unit, full-floor condos are having problems with faulty construction and repairs three or four years later,” Rebecca Poole, who teaches a course for self-managed buildings at the New York chapter of the Community Associations Institute (CAI), tells DNAinfo.

To help these fledgling board members, Big Apple CAI is hosting a seminar today from 7 to 9 P.M. at the Pierhouse in Brooklyn Bridge Park entitled “Avoid New Construction Blues.” Here are tips from some of the experts participating in the event:

“It’s inevitable there are going to be construction defects,” says Stephen Lasser, an attorney from the Lasser Law Group. “It’s just the nature of the business. You need to act quickly if there’s a problem. Usually the warranties are time-limited. So, if you don’t address the issue sooner than later, you may be out of luck.”

Developers retain control of a building until a certain percentage of units are sold, whether it’s 75 percent or sometimes even 100 percent, explains attorney Kenneth Jacobs, a partner at Smith, Buss & Jacobs.

“Sooner or later, there will be a transition to the board and the developer will give up control,” he explained. “Unfortunately, [developers] are colonialists: They don’t make it a point to educate the new board. They just say, ‘Here are the keys.’”

New boards – filled with volunteer unit-owners – have to make policies on everything from leasing rules to noise and pets. It’s a “condo myth” that residents don’t need to be involved or abide by rules, Jacobs says. “People think, ‘I bought a condo and I can do whatever I want.’ That’s not true. You’re a member of the community and a partner with everyone else. You can’t have loud parties, make any alterations [you want to], lease to whoever you want. There are rules.”