—Keeping it Accessible

“Sponsors of newly constructed condominiums are responsible for creating the condominium as a legal entity and for constructing the physical premises of the condominium, including the parking facility,” according to attorneys Adam Leitman Bailey and John M. Desidero of the law firm of Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., which has offices in Manhattan. “Sponsors normally treat all parking spaces in the condominium’s parking facility as sponsor-owned properties. The sponsors then separately offer the parking spaces for sale to purchasers of the condominium’s residential units. However, the condominium parking facility is nevertheless required to contain the requisite number of handicapped parking spaces that the law otherwise requires for the particular parking facility.

“As part of the sponsor’s responsibilities, the sponsor must provide the condominium with common elements, such as a roof, hallways, and elevators that the law requires to be included in the premises. The law’s requirement for providing handicapped parking spaces in the condominium parking facility is no less mandatory than the requirements for its roof, hallways, and elevators.

“Accordingly, the requisite handicapped parking spaces provided in the condominium parking facility should also be deemed common elements that are part of the condominium at its inception. They should not be subject to sale by the sponsor to individual purchasers or to the condominium upon termination of sponsor control of the condominium board. This is a legal issue that has yet to be decided by any court.”