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Please Help, Neighbor and Co-Op board won't leave us alone!!

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LAgirlneedshelp

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York City

Hi everyone, I'm posting this for my mom in New York City. She has a medium sized dog (a Pointer, weighs about 60 lbs) living in her apartment since 2004. In 2005, the co-op board sued her because pets aren't allowed in the apartment. My mom won the lawsuit because she already had a cat for about 10 years before the dog. This dog is old (12 years old), is going blind in one eye, has arthritis so he doesn't hop around too much, and is going partially deaf. Obviously she can't give the dog away. In 2008, a guy moved in downstairs from her. He immediately filed a complaint against the dog with the co-op board. The board sent her a notice of termination. She followed all the rules, installed carpets with padding but did not remove the dog because the prior lawsuit stated she could have it.

The co-op board stopped taking her payments for the apartment. This has been going on for a year. They took her to court in December and dropped the case. She went to mediation with the downstairs neighbor to try to work something out. The guy ranted and raved and said the only solution was to get rid of the dog because it makes too much noise. He suggested putting the dog down. The woman mediating the meeting was visibly disturbed and said there was nothing she could do. My mom went around to all her other neighbors, who signed a petition saying the dog doesn't make any noise. She presented this to the co-op board. They never responded. They also rarely call her lawyer back, forcing him to keep contacting them over and over again and thereby causing my mom to pay for more billable hours.

Now they've sent her another court notice and my mother has been reduced to tears. It looks like their plan is to keep suing, dropping the case and doing that over and over again. The first time they sued for excessive noise, now they're suing for lack of payment (even though she keeps all of her check stubs and has kept her payments in the bank in a lump sum since they don't take them). She doesn't know what to do to make all this stop and why this neighbor has become such a nightmare. Please, can anyone offer any advice?
 


drewguy

Member
There it that.

I'm not sure why it's such a burden if she (a) has the order regarding the dog and (b) has her check stubs. Tell the lawyer not to keep pursuing the board. Eviction in NYC is pretty difficult as it is. Let the board make its case in court, and go into the court when needed to show the "harassment".
 

You Are Guilty

Senior Member
This is an easy one.

First, mom was allowed to keep the dog, not because she had a cat, but because the co-op only has 90 days to file suit to remove it once they learned she had it. If the dog was there for years, clearly, the suit to remove the dog was untimely. (Note: the 90-day time limit resets if this dog dies and she gets a new one).

Now, although she is now permitted to keep her dog, this doesn't absolve her from complying with the remainder of the House Rules, one of which I am sure is that she will not make or permit any "disturbing noises". (Apparently, there is also a carpeting rule which she has complied with). What this means is that if it is, in fact, the dog which is making the noises complained about, the co-op can get her for a breach of the Proprietary Lease, despite the fact that it is past the 90 day limit. That is because they are not suing her to remove the dog, they are suing to cancel/foreclose her shares for the noise. Of course, the neighbor still has to prove the noise exists, but if he does, mom may be in trouble.

As for the payment issue, I'm going to guess that the co-op placed a fine on her maintenance account for the (alleged) breach of the House Rules about noise? And Mom only paid the maintenance fees and not the fine? (Because that is the most common "lack of payment" dispute seen in co-ops). On the other hand, if Mom attempted to pay her maintenance account in full (including all charges, however "unfair" they may be), and the co-op is still claiming non-payment, then Mom has a solid defense.

Hope that clears some things up. Good luck.
 

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