Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York

sorry my caps key is broken...

if a co-op owner allows a relative to live in his cooperative apartment and the relative knowingly infests the co-op with bed bugs, leaves and does not report it to the board of directors or management, and is no where to be reached (same for co-op owner father who also could not be reached).....as a result a total of 5 co-op units became massively bed bug infested due to the negligence of this co-op owner and his son, and we never had any bed bug infestations before this negligent infestation happened.

the cooperative board took the owner to court and the door was forcibly removed and the infested unit was treated for a large massive bed bug infestation, and inspections for the other 4 neighboring units were done, and they too were massively infected and treated.

now the board of directors is holding the co-op owner responsible for all bed bug treatments, for the bed bug has-mat professional removal of all bed bug and bed bug chemically treated contents of the negligent owners co-op apt., and negligence.

my question is can i also ask the co-op board of directors to also include that i also get financially reimbursed for all my cooperative apartments bed infested bed bug losses, relative to cleaning and removal of infested wood, wall to wall carpeting, expensive custom made hand beaded needle-points with expensive gold leaf custom wooden frames, expensive hand painted velvet large wall painting also wooden custom framed, religious icons encased in wood, wall to wall carpeting, electronics, electrical items, medicines, canned goods, photographs, photo albums, shoes, hand bags, and all other items which cannot be completely bed bug and bed bug egg eradicated, treated and saved, since this is a negligence action of the co-op owner's relative which he allowed to live in his cooperative apartment, and therefore the co-op owner is legally liable?

the co-op owner plans to sell the apartment and i wish to recoup all of my financial losses from the sale of his cooperative apartment, since i was bed bug infested due to the co-op owners negligence, because his son who lived there knew he brought in a bed bug infestation, and left for months without alerting the board of directors or management, and both he and his parent who owns the co-op could never be reached to allow bed bug treatment before the neighboring units all became massively infested..

i plan to take pictures of everything which has to be trashed and cannot be saved. medical conditions we suffer from are cardiac, respiratory compromised immune systems, asthma, extensive allergies to bug stings and bites, diabetes, neuropathy, discongenics disease, high blood pressure, bleeding ulcers, and my mother is multiply disabled and elderly cannot be present in any environment which can have chemicals residues present, or harborages of bed bugs and eggs present.

which would be the best way to handle this so it becomes legally enforceable, and i thank you in advance.


Asked on 4/25/10, 12:14 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Arnold Nager Arnold H. Nager, Esquire

You should discuss your case with an attorney who specialized in litigating housing cases.

In any event, you would need a judgment before you can collect any money from the proceeds of a potential sale.

In examining this response, please note that we are not entering into an attorney/client relationship, that this is to be taken as informative, and not as legal advice, that it is always best to speak to a lawyer in your area and/or in the area where the transaction and/or events occurred, and that my answer is necessarily limited by the fact that I have not seen the documentation or had an opportunity to go over the matters with you in detail.

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Answered on 5/01/10, 12:36 pm


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