A&O has a substantial cooperative and condominium law practice, representing dozens of Boards of directors and managers as both corporate and litigation counsel, as well as shareholders and unit owners in disputes with buildings. We handle sophisticated transactions and litigations, in addition to advising boards on the full range of ordinary course of business matters.

Our firm has developed an expertise in dealing with and representing condominiums and cooperatives beset by crises – problems threatening the underlying economic viability of the apartments and units in a cooperative/condominium. Our representation – and crisis management – has included buildings with the following problems:

--Three separate cooperatives (hundreds of units each, in both Manhattan and Queens) where sponsors placed overwhelming mortgages on buildings, and our firm subsequently sued the lenders and, ultimately, obtained concessions from the lenders ranging from five to seven million dollars in each instance.

--Cooperative where a contractor negligently caused asbestos to be released in the garage during a renovation project and onto the adjoining major street.

--Ultra-luxury condominium building with substantial mold-related problem.

--Condominium and homeowners association, located in Westchester County, where six of the condominiums were seemingly in danger of sliding into a ravine as a result of a defectively constructed, several hundred foot, underground steel retaining wall.

--Numerous cooperatives where we negotiated substantial workouts with sponsors involving hundreds of sponsor-owned apartments and millions of dollars of concessions.

Our firm provides the full range of advice on all matters involving and relating to general corporate governance. We also bring to bear in our advice, the wealth of our litigation experience. Some of the many issues involving condominium/co-ops that we handle include:

--Litigations/proxy fights regarding control of boards of directors and managers;

--Litigations/workouts with both defaulting sponsors and lenders;

--Litigations/claims relating to alleged Board failures to approve sales of cooperatives apartments;

--Construction disputes at condominiums and cooperatives involving contractors, engineers, architects, developers and sponsors, including claims for construction defects and problems, building collapses, and engineering and architectural malpractice;

--Enforcement of non-payment of maintenance and common charges claims including landlord/tenant litigation, and sales of defaulting shareholders’ shares and proprietary leases;

--Fraud claims and litigations against sponsors and others relating in the conversion process of cooperatives and condominiums;

--Commercial landlord/tenant litigation relating to space located within residential cooperatives and condominiums, including litigation relating to laundry room agreements, garage contracts, retail stores, restaurants, food service establishments and other commercial uses;

--Claims against boards and/or board members who have acted improperly;

--Claims regarding parking space easements and rights; and

--Managing agent disputes.