"But in the majority of co-op apartment transfers by estates," Ms. Cummins said, "possession is subject to the same board approval process as any other transfer".
When the mother died, another daughter abruptly took possession of the apartment and transferred ownership to her son.
So, he said, if the portion of the apartment being transferred to a shareholder constitutes, say, 50percentt of the apartment and the apartment has 100 shares allocated to it, then the purchasing shareholder's total share allocation should increase by 50 shares.
For example, boards can't unreasonably withhold consent to requests by shareholders to make improvements to their apartments or to transfer an apartment to a family member.
"Because so many more smaller apartments are transferring," Mr. Miller said, "they pull the overall prices down so that a reader of the statistics may not fully appreciate how much prices have actually increased".
On March 8, 2007, the former Georgia State University Village apartments were transferred to Georgia Tech.
The system is entrenching inequality.Rich parents are able to pass on the wealth they have accumulated to their children, whereas poorer people rely on their HDB apartment, and thus transfer less wealth to their kids.
Buyers of apartments pay a transfer tax of 1.6percenttothethe Finnish government, while buyers of single-family homes pay a transfer tax of 4percentt, according to Ms. Kalliala.
For Williamsburg's Northside, that means illegal apartments, proposed garbage transfer stations and rising rents, as well as the more mundane stuff of life like baby sitters and phone service.
Brokers said Firyal would need the co-op board's approval to transfer the apartment, and it was not clear whether the bitter disputes with Mr. Pincus's sons would undermine her chances for approval.
