Queens co-op & condo inspections: where your ownership stops
Buying an apartment is not buying a house with fewer rooms. Much of what determines whether it is a good purchase sits on the other side of a wall you will never own.
What can be looked at, and what cannot
Inside the apartment there is plenty to inspect properly: the visible plumbing, the electrical panel and outlets, heating and cooling equipment that serves the unit, windows, finishes, and the evidence of leaks from above or beside.
What generally cannot be observed is the part that costs the most: the building's roof, its boiler and risers, its facade and its structure. Those belong to the corporation, they are usually not accessible during a unit inspection, and their condition arrives in your life as an assessment rather than a repair bill.
This is where New York's rule earns its keep. Under 19 NYCRR 197-5.3(c), a system or major component that was not observed has to be listed in the report as not observed, together with the reasons. In a co-op that list is long — and it is the most useful page in the report, because it tells you exactly which questions to take to the managing agent, the board minutes and your attorney.
An inspector cannot tell you whether the reserve fund is healthy or whether an assessment is coming. He can tell you which parts of the building he was never able to see, which is what makes those questions answerable.
The other Queens question: is the second unit legal?
If the house you are buying has a second kitchen somewhere, whether that arrangement is a legal two-family — and whether the certificate of occupancy agrees with what is actually there — changes what the property is worth and what a lender will do.
A home inspection reports on condition, not on legality — New York is explicit that an inspector may not determine compliance with codes, laws or ordinances (19 NYCRR 197-4.4(d)). What Lou can do is describe accurately what is there, so that the mismatch, if there is one, is visible to you and your attorney before closing rather than after.
Under contract on an apartment?
A report that tells you what could not be seen, and why, is what turns the rest into questions you can actually put to the managing agent.
Not sure yet? Read what New York requires of your inspector or see a real report.
Photographs from real inspections
Real photographs from Lou's own inspections, chosen because they show a building component and nothing that identifies a property or an owner.
Where Lou works
Long Island, the five boroughs and Westchester. The seven areas below each have their own page, because a house in Levittown and a brownstone in Brooklyn fail in completely different ways.
Locator diagram, not a survey. The dark marker is Wantagh, where Lou is based.
- Levittown & MassapequaLevitt-era slabs and expansion attics
- Long Beach & Island ParkFlood zone, elevation and drainage
- Garden City & Rockville CentrePre-war houses and original systems
- Huntington & NorthportSeptic, well and north shore grades
- Queens co-ops & condosShared systems and board access
- Brooklyn brownstonesCentury-old party walls and cellars
- WestchesterOlder housing stock, larger lots