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Is this correct? (from NYT Q & A): Can a coop charge for storage?
Our proprietary lease states, ''If the lessor shall furnish to the lessee any storage bins or space . . . the same shall be deemed to have been furnished gratuitously by the lessor and under a revocable license.'' Is the board's decision to charge selectively for storing bicycles legal? . . . Gail B. Kraushar, Manhattan.
A -- Mary L. Kosmark, a Manhattan co-op lawyer, said that the clause referred to by the letter writer is a fairly typical proprietary lease clause governing storage space. ''The language was probably intended to limit the co-op's responsibility for items stored on the co-op's property by specifying that the co-op is merely allowing the shareholder to use the space free of charge,'' Ms. Kosmark said. ''Under such an arrangement, the co-op generally would not have a duty to take steps to protect the items being stored.''But regardless of the underlying reason for the clause, she said, shareholders are entitled to interpret the ''plain language'' of the words used in the lease.
''In other words, if the proprietary lease states that the space is being furnished 'gratuitously,' the co-op would not be entitled to charge a storage fee without amending the clause in the proprietary lease to allow for one,'' Ms. Kosmark said. She added that an amendment to the proprietary lease typically requires approval by two-thirds or three-quarters of the shareholders.
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It appears that there's an easy way around this. The lease states that the storage space is furnished "under a revocable license." The board should say that all licenses will be revoked unless the lease is amended to allow the coop to charge for use of storage space. This should be done in a straightforward, common-sense manner: "Given our ever-rising costs and the high premium on storage space in New York City, the coop cannot afford to offer this amenity at no charge. We must either charge for storage space - which will require a supermajority vote of shareholders to amend the Proprietary Lease - or we must convert the area presently used for storage to another use." Done properly, this should ruffle no feathers except those of the people who thought they'd found a sly trick to get free storage lockers forever.
As for bike storage, the same "amend it or lose it" approach would work, but bicycle storage is less space-intensive. In our building, we charge for lockers but offer free bike storage since much less space is involved per person. We're not stuck with a "furnished gratuitously" clause so that works fine for us.
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