In addition, at the annual Cooperative Housing Conference he presents a workshop on significant legal decisions of the year. CNYC frequently takes advocacy positions on key legal issues in briefs of amicus curiae. If your building is involved in a legal action that you think is significant to other buildings, please be sure to keep CNYC informed of the status of the case. Mr. Luxemburg revisited the important issue of the right of family members to occupy a cooperative apartment in the absence of the named shareholder. The court found that the purpose of the occupancy clause in the lease was to ensure occupancy by the named shareholder as a prerequisite to keypunch by other members of the shareholder's family.
Sublet fees are another issue of significance to boards of directors.
The bylaws of a cooperative will typically authorize the board to charge a fee to cover the actual expenses of the cooperative with respect to transfers of apartments, and some bylaws extend the same authority to sublets of apartments. The court interpreted this clause to be a limitation on the powers of the board, finding that if the sublet fee could not be justified on the basis of the actual expenses with respect to the subleasing, the fee would be illegal. The lesson of these two cases is that the directors should carefully check the language in the proprietary lease and bylaws before enacting any fees. Mr. Luxemburg also reviewed the rights of a board in cases involving the exercise of board discretion covered by the business judgment rule. T. 1st Dept.