Co-ops and Condominiums

In an action by condominium owner seeking to recover from neighboring subunit owners for the cost of constructing the interior of its unit, the neighboring subunit owners appealed from Supreme Court's denial of their motion to dismiss. The Appellate Division reversed, holding that the obligation to construct the interior did not run with the land.

The condominium declaration provided that the rights and obligations of any unit owner would be binding upon any successor or assign of the unit owner. The declaration also required the unit 2 owner to construct the interior of unit 1, the unit owned by plaintiff owner in this case. An amendment to the declaration did not delete that provision, but stated that the initially planned alterations had been completed, and the interior buildout of Unit 1 shall be the sole responsibility of the developer. The developer subsequently sold subunits of Unit 2 to various subunit owners. The owner of Unit1 then brought this action to enforce the obligation to construct the interior of Unit 1. Supreme Court denied the subunit owners' summary judgment motion, and they appealed.