Land Trusts and COOP apartments

General Real Estate Investing
1

Hi everyone, I’m new on the site and looking forward to chatting with you all.

I have a very particular conundrum and would greatly appreciate any knowledgeable input!

I own a COOP apartment in Manhattan, NYC, and everything I’ve heard about Land Trust is about transferring the property deed into the trust. However, with a COOP I own a Certificate of Shares in the corporation that owns the building, and presumably the corporation is listed as the building owner in the county clerk’s records. THE QUESTION is: “can I transfer the Certificate of Shares into the land trust, and will the bank allow the transfer, and even more importantly will the COOP Board allow the transfer?”

So far the 2 NY attorneys I’ve talked to say that the COOP Board will not likely allow it. Also, one of them said only an irrevocable trust has any strength in protecting the property. As a land trust is a revocable trust this suggests it would not be effective protection against any law suits and judgements.

Can anyone help with any authoratative information or recommend a real estate/asset protection attorney who really knows this stuff?

Many thanks! Alex

2

The attorney is right in that the Corp probably won’t allow it, but wrong about only an irrevocable trust providing asset protection. There are so many attorneys who like to appear like they know everything. Very few know ANYTHING about land trusts. It’s really fun educating them.

Da Wiz

3

I just talked with a rep at one of my local investor clubs. She said because I own shares i the corporation and not a deed, that I can’t use a land trust. Can you or anyone verify this?

She did say I might be able to use another type trust, however. Does you know the best alternative to a land trust?

Also, am I likely to have the same type of resistance from the COOP Board whatever type of trust I use.

Any input is much appreciated!

Alex