Dennis Greenstein Quoted in The New York Times
“Removing a Deck to Repair the Roof”

Dennis Greenstein was quoted in the real estate Q&A column of The New York Times on Sunday, September 6, 2009. The letter writer wanted to know who should be responsible for the removal and reinstallation of their deck. According to the writer, the co-op needs to remove their deck in order to fix a roof leak involving another unit. The writer was asked by the co-op to cover the cost of the removal and reinstallation of the entire deck, even though they did not cause the leak and do not benefit from the repair.

Dennis responded to the writer that the proprietary lease spells out the obligations of the co-op and its shareholders in repairing and maintaining the building and the apartments. He explained, “Typically, proprietary leases state that for repairs of common areas, like the roof, the co-op is responsible for the costs and that if there are structures erected by a shareholder, like decks, the shareholder must pay for their removal and reinstallation.” Dennis further noted that most co-ops require shareholders to execute an alteration agreement as a condition of performing improvements. He concluded, “Such an agreement typically states that the shareholder will be responsible for the cost of removing and reinstalling any improvements.”