"Forgetful Shareholder"

The New York Time's Sunday Real Estate Section (yes, I get that on Saturday: my powers are without limit) had a fine article on what do to when a co-op unit owner can no longer take care of him or herself.

Above and beyond neighborly concern for the elderly unit owner, the other unit owners also would prefer to not wake up to a building full of smoke when the senior tenant forgets to turn off a flame on their range, or worse still, come home to a building that is no longer there because the gas was left on long after it should have been turned off.

Real and sad concerns for any City dweller.

The Times article suggests, reluctantly, that if the tenant is causing or creating a dangerous situation, an eviction action should be commenced.

I would like to briefly elaborate on how that could play out.

A co-op unit owner, who cannot remember to use a shower curtain and floods out the tenant downstairs, or who goes to sleep with a chicken in the oven, necessitating periodic visits by the fire
department, has most likely violated a clause in the lease and or behaved in a manner that could be denominated as a "nuisance," which would give the Co-op the right to commence an eviction action.

Such an action can and does often settle when a family member comes to court and or contacts the board, and offers to remove the unit owner and arrange to have the unit sold.

If the unit owner on his or her own, or with counsel, contests the action, then it will play out in the courts.  Not every fear of the Co-op Board is justified, and not every assertion of fact raised by the Board is correct.  The unit owner may well get the case dismissed.

If, however, it becomes abundantly clear to the Judge and or the attorneys involved that the unit owner cannot take care of themselves, the Court can appoint a Guardian Ad Litem.  (I remember that a party who wished to have a guardian appointed had to move the court for this relief, but it has been many years since I have seen this: a Judge will often take this upon themselves and appoint the guardian.)

More often than not, this guardian (referred to as a GAL), at least in the co-op context, has limited powers.  (If the tenant is indigent and residing in a rental apartment, the GAL will often be instrumental in assisting the tenant in obtaining rent payments from various City and State and or charitable organizations.)  An aggressive GAL may be able to assist the co-op unit owner in modifying their behavior and mollifying the Board, but once a GAL is in, in this context, there is almost always one more step.

At some point, what is commonly called an Article 81 action will be commenced in Supreme Court, seeking the appointment of a full time guardian of the person of the co-op unit owner.

This action will almost always stay the housing court proceeding, and can take anywhere from a few months to well over a year, depending on whether the unit owner chooses to contest the proceeding.

The end result of this proceeding, almost always, is that the guardian will arrange for the sale of the unit and the relocation of the unit owner, unless the unit owner's family steps in and assists.

During all this, it is to be hoped, that the unit owner will use his or her shower curtain, and stop cooking entirely.