FAQs About House Rules (the Final Chapter)

Boards should be reasonable and take circumstances into account, advises attorney Peter Livingston, a partner in the firm Rosen, Livingston & Cholst. “There are times when you want to overlook a certain situation,” says Livingston. “When you’ve got young kids, for example, you may have some type of policy where you can’t decorate the hall, but the kid has a birthday party. For that day or that week, there’s a cardboard construction on the door or a painting with a birthday cake and the words ‘Happy birthday’ on it, or something like that. That’s part of the joy of living in New York, and you don’t want to take that away from people, either. If somebody comes home from the war, and they have that yellow ribbon on the door, you just overlook it.”

How does a board enforce house rules?

You threaten the offender with eviction because he or she has disobeyed the rules in his or her proprietary lease. “A breach of the house rules constitutes a default under the proprietary lease,” says attorney Ron Sher, a partner in Himmelfarb & Sher. “Therefore, a violation of the house rules generally can be treated as any other breach.” In short, the co-op board can threaten to break the lease and evict the shareholder.

This may seem extreme, like using a bazooka to kill a fly, so the co-op may want to try a handful of other options. “There are different levels,” says Livingston. “A friendly visit very often can be the way to go. Secondarily, it could be a letter from the management company. If that doesn’t work, you should send a letter from the attorneys citing those provisions of the governing documents which cover the type of behavior the person is engaged in.”

The board can also insist on mediation or deny the shareholder use of amenities, such as a pool, health club, or community room.

Can a board impose fines on people who break house rules?

This is a tricky question. Some attorneys report that boards often set up fines that have no grounding in the governing documents. “Co-op boards think they have the right to fine,” says attorney James Samson, a partner in the firm Samson, Fink & Dubow. “They don’t, unless it’s in the proprietary lease. If the board says, ‘We’re giving ourselves the right to fine,’ they can’t do that. You have to amend the proprietary lease, and that requires a shareholder vote.”

Others agree that, if possible, co-ops should obtain the right to fine. “I do not discourage boards from imposing fines,” says attorney Abbey Goldstein, a partner in Goldstein & Greenlaw. “It is a practical way to deter violations and to enforce the rules in a manner which is less aggressive and radical than bringing an eviction proceeding.”

But be careful. Livingston notes that fines cannot be confiscatory, punitive, or arbitrary, and they must be the same for every offender. Above all else, they must be reasonable. “Sometimes boards will run amok and they’ll say, ‘You left your carriage in the hall, we’ll impose a $2,500 fine,’ ” says Goldstein. “Some boards are nuts, and they’ll get challenged in court.”