I'm very sorry for your loss. I'm assuming you're asking about a standard market-rate co-op unit, so the first questions are, what was your relationship to the deceased, how was the stock certificate titled, and did the deceased have a will. If *any* questions come up about your needing to clean out or vacate the deceased's apartment, they should be referred immediately to the attorney handling the estate.

Very broadly, the answer is, there is no time limit. Depending on a lot of factors, the deceased's ownership of the stock (full or shared), usually passes to a spouse, or the deceased's estate and ultimately to the beneficiaries. As long as monthly financial and habitability obligations are met, things can and should continue pretty much as they were for a very long time.

If there are immediate environmental and health issues like the deceased was a hoarder, maintained more than one or two pets, or there are other sanitary concerns, then correcting those issues take precedence and the board has an obligation towards the rest of the shareholders.

If you could describe in more detail the circumstances behind your question, it would help narrow down responses.

--- Steve

[I am not an attorney and nothing I write is to be considered legal advice. My wife practiced Trust & Estates law and regularly dealt with these issues.]

Thank you Steve424, I am sorry I was not very clear regarding my question. This is not a high rise comunity, rather garden apartments. The members died 2 and 3 years ago. There is a will leaving the co-op to family members. There are no issues with anyone contesting the will. I had spoken to the family at the time of their loss. They said they needed time to mourn. Since then the family has not removed anything from the unit. The other members are concerned about living in a building with an unmaintained apartment. The concern is not that the unit is uninhabited but rather unkept. We have noticed water bugs in the hallway and the member below hears scratching sounds. Just wanted to know before approaching management again, does the beneficiary who the shares were transferred to, have a time frame to clean out the unit. Our rules do state the co-op can go in once a year to check that the apartments are well maintained although this has never been done since I live here.

Hi NYC - Thanks for the explanation. As far as I'm aware, there is no time limit in any co-op governing documents (proprietary lease, bylaws, house rules, etc). The shares are owned by some entity, either the decease's estate or the beneficiary if the probate is complete and the shares have been distributed. The new owner has all the privileges and responsibilities of your deceased friend.

What the family needs to be *very* concerned about is the apartment's sanitary condition. If other shareholders complain to the board or board members notice for themselves bugs, vermin, foul odors, etc, the PL should grant them the emergency right to enter the apartment at any time to ascertain its condition. This is in addition to the annual cleanliness check.

If the board discovers any unsafe and/or unsanitary conditions, the board has the right to take whatever actions are required to eliminate the conditions. It can also impose a very short time limit if the conditions are serious. At worst, and if the current shareholder is unresponsive, the board can start a proceeding (called a Pullman Proceeding) to terminate the lease and then evict your friend. That's very messy and your friends can lose everything.

Something else to be concerned about is if there is someone living in the apartment and they are not the share owner or immediate family, the arrangement can be considered an illegal sublet with it's own bag of problems.

It's more complicated than this, and I am not a lawyer, so my advice to you is to contact the attorney who handled the estate and probate, and make them aware of what you wrote above. You can also contact the family, but it sounds like they have their head in the sand

Best of luck.

Hi Steve424, we don't want to cause the family any problems. I know how difficult it is to remove a loved ones possessions. We, the others living in the building, have agreed to wrote a letter, signed by all of us, to the management company and the B.O.D., requesting they do a walk through, to make sure there no dangerous conditions or vermin taking up residence. :-(. Hopefully the beneficiary will be emotionally ready to clean out the unit and sell. Co-Op's sell very quickly here. Thanks again for the great advice. :-)

Wouldn't it be nice of all of you to volunteer to help the family. Why don't you slip a note under the door offering your help if needed to clean the apartment.
If it was me I'd tell you guys to MYOB How would you feel in that families place? You all have some nerve. How do you sleep at night? Good Luck

I sleep very well thank you but I might suggest you take a chill pill.

This is a sensitive topic, and there are lot's of thoughts about it. The forum is designed to help other board directors, so we ask that personal thoughts on board actions be voiced in the privacy of your space, but not written here.

Whatever actions you and/or the other family and friends decided to take, I recommend you do it sooner than later. Anyone in the building can lodge an anonymous complaint to 311 or the Dept of Health. If that happens, your friends will have lost control of the situation and will be subject to the whims of government.

Steve424- I will share your good advice with the others in the building and take immediate action. None of us want that to happen. Regards, NYC, BTW, so glad Carol put a report field up :-)

I hope this all works out to everyone's satisfaction.

RE: Report Field. I use it extensively on that poor soul who's forever trying to convince us to use his friend to recover all our lost cryptocurrency.