After Hiring Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., Shareholder Earns Right to Sublet Apartment
The clients came to Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. after receiving an alarming and threatening letter from the Board of the Manhattan Cooperative, in which the clients owned shares and held leases for two units. They had been allowing members of their extended families to use the units since the pandemic. They did not have written leases and were essentially charging only enough rent to cover their costs but not to make profits.
As this was a family arrangement, the clients assumed, mistakenly, that they did not need the consent of the coop, which they had not obtained. They were also unaware that the co-op had adopted a sublet fee equal to 10% of the rents obtained by the subletting shareholder.
Because there were no written leases for these unconsented sublets, the coop took the position that the clients owed 10% of market value rent for each of the leases. Additionally, the coop believed that the apartments had been sublet since approximately 2018. As a result, the coop was seeking six figures from the clients for the unpaid sublet fees, plus significant legal fees.
By virtue of their negotiating skills as well as their thorough knowledge of co-op law, the attorneys at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. were able to raise questions about whether the co-op’s procedures were followed in adopting the sublet fees, and were also able to convince the co-op’s attorneys that the terms of the rentals were much shorter than the co-op had alleged, and that the rents to the clients’ tenant/family members were well below the market. As a result of these negotiations, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. was able to obtain a settlement for the clients for significantly less than the co-op had initially sought, and was also able to negotiate significant savings on the co-op legal fees payable by the clients.
As a result of their deep knowledge of co-op law and their negotiating skills, the lawyers at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. were able to obtain a result that saved the clients tens of thousands of dollars and allowed them to retain ownership of the co-op units.
The matter was handled by Adam Leitman Bailey and Laurence Sklaw