Is It Dirty Pool to Charge a Fee for In-Unit Washing Machines?

Jan. 29, 2016 — A co-op shareholder in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn has what appears to be a legit beef. When he bought into the co-op nine years ago, he installed a clothes washer and dryer in his apartment. The co-op board recently instituted a monthly $25 surcharge for units with washers, saying that the machines deprive the corporation of revenue from the communal laundry room and also use more water. Can the board do this?

It certainly can, according to the Ask Real Estate column in the New York Times. Many co-op boards have the right to prohibit in-unit washers and dryers entirely. If this is the case, then the board has the power to charge the fee, says real estate lawyer Adam Finkelstein.

However, since the Bay Ridge shareholder has had the washer for nearly a decade, he might have grounds to object to the new fee. He can write the board a letter challenging the charge. He could file a lawsuit, though the cost would almost surely outweigh the fee. Or he could simply fail to pay it and hope for the best.

“Many times the building will not press it,” Finkelstein says. Some boards will “let the charge sit on the account until the apartment is transferred or the (shareholder) needs something from the board.”