Renting in a co-op or condo

Make sure to protect yourself in case of timing problems or an unresponsive board. Make the apartment owner / shareholder do the work - in your rental contract, put in a drop dead date. If your board approval isn't completed by a certain date, make sure you have an automatic out unless you waive it. Make sure that the date is sufficiently early enough that would allow you to find another rental in a rental building. DO NOT WAIVER ON THIS PROVISION. The owner you are renting from should have sufficient comfort with the board's operation and the owner's relationship with the board to feel comfortable providing this provision to you without concern. If the owner is concerned about providing this, you have a big red flag.