Madonna has been in and out of litigation with her co-op board at 41 Central Park west on more than one occasion. The co-op board apparently had changed the rules requiring a shareholder to be present in the apartment while other family members or domestic help are there as well. There goes the idea of using her Harperley Hall upper west side cooperative as a place for her domestic help to stay while she slums it in her Upper East side mansion or tours. The judge hearing her suit will rule in the coming days but denied to give her any special treatment.
This points to the idea of how a co-op works. They change the rules and then as a shareholder,(even if you are Madonna) you have to abide by the rules or they can evict you and terminate your proprietary lease. The relationship that you have with your co-op board is more like a landlord(them) tenant(you) one than in a condo. In a condo, it’s much more difficult to remove an owner who may be ignoring the rules.