There's a Sex Offender in the Building

A new shareholder moved into a Long Beach co-op, into a choice apartment with a view of the pool. Soon her boyfriend moved in with her – and it became known, through notices posted by the police, that he’s a registered sex offender. What can shareholders do to get the man off the premises?

Tread carefully, advises the Ask Real Estate column in the New York Times. In New York state, urinating in public can land you on a sex-offender registry along with rapists and pedophiles. “There are a lot of people on those registries,” says Dr. Cynthia Calkins, an associate professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, adding that 95 percent of all sex crimes are committed by people who are not registered prior offenders.

Instead of panicking, boards should search state and federal registries to find out the person’s crime. Can the board then force the shareholder to sell?

“No,” says attorney Steven Sladkus, a partner at Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg Atlas. “You’re allowed to have roommates, girlfriends, boyfriends, whatever you want.”

But the board can amend the proprietary lease to bar sex offenders from living in the building, effective retroactively. The change might require the approval of a two-thirds “super-majority” of shareholders, depending on co-op rules. It probably won’t be a tough sell.