A difficult issue for boards can be how to best respond to apartment owner violations of occupancy provisions in co-op leases and condominium bylaws. This column addresses one such violation: nonresidential use of a residential apartment. Such violations manifest themselves in different ways and to varying degrees. They may be seemingly innocuous, insignificant and transient, or be more permanent, pervasive and obtrusive. The non-residential use may, or may not, impair or interfere with the enjoyment and use of their apartments by other owners.
In seeking to maintain peaceful coexistence among occupants, boards may be faced with the dilemma of how swift or measured their responses to such violations should be. Owners are clearly required to comply with lease and bylaw provisions prohibiting nonresidential use, and courts will enforce such provisions.1 However, for a board trying to maintain a harmonious environment, a more apt response may appear to be a muted one or none at all, especially when the owner community is indifferent to such non-residential use. Under such circumstances, with seemingly no detrimental effects, boards may turn a blind eye and allow such violations to go unabated, sometimes for extended periods of time.
