SECTION 55-454. Termination of cooperative ownership  

A. Except in the case of a taking of all the units by eminent domain or in the case of foreclosure of a security interest against the entire cooperative which has priority over the declaration, cooperative ownership may be terminated only by agreement of proprietary lessees of cooperative interests to which at least four-fifths of the votes in the association are allocated or any larger percentage the declaration specifies. The declaration may specify a smaller percentage only if all of the units in the cooperative are restricted exclusively to nonresidential uses.

B. An agreement to terminate must be evidenced by the execution of a termination agreement or ratification thereof in the same manner as a deed by the requisite number of proprietary lessees. The termination agreement must specify a date after which the agreement will be void unless it is recorded before that date. A termination agreement and all ratifications thereof must be recorded in every city or county in which a portion of the cooperative is situated and is effective only upon recordation.

C. The association, on behalf of the proprietary lessees, may contract for the sale of real estate in the cooperative, but the contract is not binding until approved pursuant to subsections A and B. Thereafter, the association has all powers necessary and appropriate to effect the sale. Until the sale has been concluded and the proceeds thereof distributed, the association continues in existence with all powers it had before termination. Except to the extent that any provisions in the declaration limit the amount that may be received by a proprietary lessee upon termination, as set forth in subdivision A 12 of § 55-442 , proceeds of the sale must be distributed to holders of liens against the association and, against the cooperative interests and to proprietary lessees, all as their interests may appear, in accordance with subsections D and E. Unless otherwise specified in the termination agreement, as long as the association holds title to the real estate, each proprietary lessee and his successors in interest have an exclusive right to occupancy of the portion of the real estate that formerly constituted his unit. During the period of that occupancy, each proprietary lessee and his successors in interest remain liable for all assessments and other obligations imposed on proprietary lessees by this chapter or the declaration.

D. Following termination of the cooperative, the proceeds of any sale of real estate, together with the assets of the association, are held by the association as trustee for proprietary lessees and holders of liens against the association and the cooperative interests, as their interests may appear. The declaration may provide that all creditors of the association have priority over any interests of proprietary lessees and creditors of proprietary lessees. In that event, following termination, creditors of the association holding liens on the cooperative which were recorded or docketed before termination may enforce their liens in the same manner as any lienholder, and all other creditors of the association are to be treated as if they had perfected liens against the cooperative immediately before termination. Unless the declaration provides that all creditors of the association have such priority:

1. The lien of each creditor of the association, which was perfected against the association before termination, becomes a lien against each cooperative interest upon termination as of the date the lien was perfected;

2. All other creditors of the association are to be treated as if they had perfected liens against the cooperative interests immediately before termination;

3. The amounts of the liens of the association's creditors described in paragraphs 1 and 2 above against each of the cooperative interests must be proportionate to the ratio which that cooperative interest's common expense liability bears to the common expense liability of all the cooperative interests;

4. The lien of each creditor of each proprietary lessee which was perfected before termination continues as a lien against that proprietary lessee's cooperative interest as of the date the lien was perfected; and

5. The assets of the association shall be distributed to all proprietary lessees and all lienholders against their cooperative interests as their interests may appear in the order described above, and creditors of the association are not entitled to payment from any proprietary lessee in excess of the amount of the creditor's lien against that proprietary lessee's cooperative interest.

E. The respective interests of proprietary lessees referred to in subsections C and D are as follows:

1. Except as provided in paragraph 2, the respective interests of proprietary lessees are the fair market values of their cooperative interests immediately before the termination, as determined by one or more independent appraisers selected by the association. Appraisers selected shall hold a designation awarded by a major, nation-wide testing or certifying professional appraisal society or association. The decision of the independent appraisers shall be distributed to the proprietary lessees and becomes final unless disapproved within thirty days after distribution by proprietary lessees of cooperative interests to which twenty-five percent of the votes in the association are allocated. The proportion of any proprietary lessee's interest to that of all proprietary lessees is determined by dividing the fair market value of that proprietary lessee's cooperative interest by the total fair market values of all the cooperative interests.

2. If any unit or any limited common element is destroyed to the extent that an appraisal of the fair market value thereof before destruction cannot be made, the interests of all proprietary lessees are their respective ownership interests in the association immediately before the termination.

1982, c. 277; 1983, c. 96.