Fair Housing Act can trip up unwary co-op boards

Part 1 of 2

Grossman, 210 E. 36th St., and Thandrayen. (Source: The Real Deal)

It is up to the courts to decide whether a prospective buyer’s claim of discrimination is valid in a $1 million lawsuit.

But the case brought by an African whose application to a seven-member co-op board was rejected highlights the treacherous terrain of anti-discrimination laws.

According to the Real Deal last week, Goldwyn Thandrayen, a native of Mauritius, contended in a complaint amended two weeks ago that the board of 210 E. 36th St. in the Murray Hill neighborhood discriminated against him on the basis of national origin.

Out and About: Bad karma exacts heavy price

Another unit in the same line of a Murray Hill condo that has been stigmatized by suicide.

The one-bedroom condo in Murray Hill was originally listed last August for $699,000.  Monthly common charges are $525 and real estate taxes $397.

The asking price was cut, pointlessly, to $690,000 in October and then two weeks later, to $679,000.

In early December, the apartment was taken off the market and now is back.

Before I bring you up to date on the reason for the gap,

Weekly Roundup: New Yorkers see little change in 2012, a slugger scores, new-home sales slip

You may want to “like” Service You Can Trust on Facebook if you haven’t yet and find much information not in daily posts.

Bank moratorium leads to sharp drop in foreclosures citywide, swooning to lowest number in last seven years

Apartment values increase 3.6 percent in five boroughs, including rental buildings

Map shows younger singles looking for a mate or date where to live

With growing pessimism, surveyed New Yorkers expect real estate market to remain virtually unchanged over the year

Plethora of studios and one-bedrooms forces price cutting from Murray Hill to the Upper East Side

Report shows that things are not quite so sunny in paradise

Millionaire hoopster takes 58 percent loss on sale of North Bergen condo

Slugger scores with Rushmore flip

She seems drawn to sex

Weekly Roundup: Q4 sales tumble in the Big Apple, U.S. sales slide, rates match record low

Sales down in Q4, prices about even

Can any other condo top this?

Board turndowns become all the rage

Yes! You can suffocate the bug(gers), but at a cost

The Financial District is up and Murray Hill is down

Inflexible dog policy can bite co-ops back

While NYC residential lending is loosening in some corners, the industry is moving slowly in its recovery

Four renovation surprises that can cost a bundle

Region’s foreclosure rates leap in October

Taxes on property sales dropped to $982 million in 2010 from $3.3 billion in 2007

The Times answers questions about co-op sponsors, smoking and the sale of common areas

Weight-loss guru trims price of southern California home for kin

Bunny is hopping off her private Cape Cod island

Former NFL chief

Nothing sells like charm, especially if priced well

Not only do buyers glom onto glam in an apartment and long for light, but the charm of original details as varied as dentil molding and pocket doors may well appeal to many of them.

Pomander Walk

Although such characteristics often can’t hold a candle to the allure of a particularly lovely Manhattan block, the aura of an enclave such as ones that come to mind near Washington Square Park, on Murray Hill or on the Upper West Side can trump an ordinary block’s charm in the opinion of many buyers.

The attached homes in those areas generally have rooms of small proportions and carry assorted other burdens. But so powerful is the draw of their scale and ambiance that many buyers are happy to accept any tradeoffs necessitated by coveted Old World features in such enclaves.

So few are the properties and so infrequently do dwellings in a mews come on the market that open houses for them tend to be jammed.  That was the case recently for an open house on a rainy Sunday in what is known as Pomander Walk, which runs between 94^th and 95^th streets and West End Avenue and Broadway on the Upper West Side.

Passing through an iron gate below the stone arch there is like treading into the past and a garden of earthly delights.