Daily News from New York, New York • 268

iiF ALWVM COURT HZAyC fl 1 1 ties, rented out," he says. "Anyway, I haven't lived in the same place for more than three months in some time. I'm not going to move out." Amid the judicial jumble, the tenants have raised an ethical question involving Louis Nizer's position in the co-op plan. Nizer is a senior partner in the law firm of Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin, Krim and Ballon, who are the attorneys for the co-op. (At first, Nizer indicated to members of the tenant association that he wasn't interested in buying his apartment.

Later, however, his name was listed as a buyer, paying SI 12,000 for his penthouse.) The tenants claim there's a conflict; Nizer refuses to comment. The saga of Alwyn Court, no matter what the final outcome, will not ultimately prove whether co-ops are good or bad investments. But if it proves anything, it's that there's more involved than the price of the apartment and the maintenance usually quoted in the Sunday classifieds. Says Bob Kimball, a theatrical historian and teacher and Alwyn resident, "I'm one of the few people in this building who've already lived in a co-op, so I have an idea of how they work. I used to go to the meetings, and you don't have any say in how the building is run.

The sponsor makes the decisions. People just don't understand the assessments, the expenses, the hidden costs of co-opping." The Attorney General's office concedes that the current co-op laws are woefully outdated, and the office has limited power in terms of regulating the real-estate industry. The statutes are now being reworked. Robert Rob-bins, assistant attorney general in charge of the Bureau of Real Estate Finance, expects new regulations to be reviewed next month. "For example, 30 days is just not enough time for a tenant to review a prospectus and decide whether to buy," he says.

"Also, I hope to get some plainer English into co-op language." If and when a co-op plan is slipped under your door, you'll need a real-estate lawyer to decipher it. And if it looks like a good deal, you'll still have obstacles to clear. There's the cash down payment, sometimes of the purchase price. And you'll have to go shopping for a mortgage at today's high interest rates. Says Max Drazen, an auctioneer who lives in Alwyn, "During the early going, I thought, 'Great, I want to own my own apartment My father lives in the San Remo, and he's had astronomical offers for his place, especially after my mother died.

The speculators descended like vultures. But where is he going to move? For that matter, where am I'm 33 years old, and my business is in New York. Where the hell am I going?" i TS I i r. court claim for SS million in damages. Walentas has countersued for $2 million, charging that the tenants have obstructed his right to sell co-op apartments.

That was thrown out, but it's now on appeal. "We'll get jerked around in the courts for another year," says Walentas. And grimly he adds: "I can wait." Says Laura Gold, a rent-stabilized tenant facing almost inevitable eviction: "If he wants to go to nine courts. Til make it 10. He can harass me, curse me, call me in the middle of the night.

I'm not budging." Darren McGavin moved into his rent-controlled apartment in the Alwyn in 1968, paying $168 per month. Walentas is trying to evict him on a little-used city law that allows a landlord to take an action against a tenant who doesn't use his apartment as a primary residence. McGavin admits to owning three homes in Beverly Hills. "But those are all investment proper Walentas engineer's report suggested that rninimal building repairs were necessary. Subsequently, the tenants' engineer reported that more than $600,000 in work was needed.

As a result, affidavits and depositions from both sides began flooding the courts; suits and -motions were filed; tenants, landlord and lawyers testified. Says Dick Levenson, partner in Levenson, Ule and Jaffe, the firm representing the tenants, "There's enough work to keep an attorney busy full time." The tenants have raised $20,000 for legal fees already accrued, and that doesn't include the tenants' individual attorney's fees, incurred when Walentas filed 23. separate eviction suits. Grounds ranged from alleging a tenant to be a squatter (he took his mother's apartment) and illegally harboring a dog. Nearly all have been thrown out of court.

In response, the tenants filed an harassment proceeding with the city Rent Commission and a non-evict; meaning that those rent-controlled tenants who chose not to buy could remain in the building. Stuart Steinbrink, a Gulf Western attorney who has lived in the building for nine years, carefully read the co-op plan. "I've represented more landlords than tenants," he says. "I believe in the concept of lazjd ownership. In fact, I don't like tenant groups who feel that all landlords are greedy and not entitled to make a profit.

I would have liked to buy my apartment, but as soon as I read the prospectus, I saw the flaws." When Walentas took title to Alwyn, he reduced the maintenance staff by a third, and the co-op plan hadn't made any provision to restore the laid-off help. What bothered Steinbrink more, however, was the fact that the owner had underestimated the cost of building repairs by about 30, a mistake that could raise tenants' maintenance charges considerably. ILLUSTRATION BY BILL KHESSE 3 1 I.