Whether you are in the market to buy, sell or refinance property that you own, it is possible that you can save money by way of a Consolidation, Extension & Modification Agreement – commonly known as a “CEMA”. If there is an existing mortgage recorded against the property and the lenders cooperate with an assignment of mortgage, you can use a CEMA to save money on the mortgage recording tax.

Under a traditional mortgage, borrowers...

In response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the New York State Courts have drastically changed the way that eviction proceedings are processed. These changes have been made more difficult as the Courts have been required to keep pace with the plethora of Executive Orders issued by Governor Andrew Cuomo, and laws which have been passed by the New York State legislature since the pandemic began in March 2020.

For instance, recently, by...

In order for the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) to issue a permit allowing for alteration, construction or partial demolition work to occur in a building containing one or more occupied dwelling units, the owner or applicant for the work must first submit a Tenant Protection Plan (TPP) to DOB. The TPP must provide specific details as to how the health and safety of occupants will be safeguarded, what hours and days the work may...

If you and your spouse took ownership of a cooperative apartment prior to January 1, 1996, you may want to check your stock certificate. If your stock certificate does not state that your shares are held as “joint tenants with rights of survivorship” or as “husband and wife” then it’s possible that your shares (and effectively ownership of the apartment) will be treated as “tenants in common” by the coop’s transfer agent upon a sale of the...

You spent a lot of time and effort looking for the perfect piece of real estate. When you found it, you made a fair offer -- and the seller readily accepted.

Now, the seller wants to back out.

This is frustrating for many reasons. First, you've likely paid for the property inspection and had the title search completed, and you've...

New York residents are all too familiar with the expensive nature of moving to a new apartment. While the physical cost of moving (hiring a company, using gas, renting trucks, buying new furniture) is high enough, we are talking about the massive payments a new tenant must make to secure a new apartment: first and last month's rent, plus a security deposit, are common requests made by landlords.

The security deposit can be particularly...

New York City residents are very familiar with the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, the largest apartment complex in Manhattan. In fact, some of our readers may have even applied for an apartment there in the past few years. Given a recent story, and depending on how that application turned out, you may be thrilled you didn't get that apartment; or cursing that you did.

The Stuyvesant informed more than 1,000 of their tenants...