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As winter approaches, heat and hot water complaints probably will be the most common type of service complaint you will face. A tenant may complain to the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) of a problem in his apartment. Or a group of tenants may organize and file a building-wide complaint with the DHCR.

After last year's two unfortunate crane accidents, the New York City's Department of Buildings (DOB) is making increased efforts to better manage its resources and increase the supervision of its inspectors. Now, the DOB has begun a program in which all of the DOB's crane and elevator inspectors are tracked using GPS technology in their department-issued cell phones.

Asbestos exposure has long been linked to an increase risk of cancer, particularly for workers in construction jobs involving the use of asbestos materials. Asbestos was used as a fire-retardant insulation in the construction of buildings long before it was known to pose severe environmental and health hazards. As a result, buildings built before the mid-1970s often contain asbestos insulation around heating systems, plumbing lines, and in ceilings and other areas. And until 1981, asbestos was also widely used in many other building materials, such as vinyl flooring and tiles.

Hot temperatures during summer and early fall months make it tempting for tenants to go up on the roof and sunbathe, barbecue, or just cool off from their hot apartments. Unfortunately, allowing tenants on the roof of your building can cause you many problems, such as code violation citations and liability for property damage and injuries.

Earlier this year, the Department of Buildings (DOB) issued final rules on façade inspections that owners are required to conduct on their buildings that are greater than six stories high. The rules implement Local Law 38 of 2007 that staggered façade inspection and reporting deadlines to make it easier for owners to comply with the new requirements.

Preferably, an owner wants to rent to a tenant who will stay in an apartment for at least the entire term of the lease. However, you will encounter tenants who, for various reasons, will want to leave temporarily before their lease ends and sublet their apartment. A sublet is a rental arrangement in which your tenant agrees to rent his apartment for a specific time period to another person, called a subtenant. Under this arrangement, your original tenant keeps the right to return and reoccupy the apartment when the arrangement ends.

Owners must be careful about where they keep the money residents give them as security deposits. A security deposit is not in the same category as a rent check or other type of payment an owner may receive from a resident. Technically, the security deposit belongs to the resident. Although you hold it while the resident lives in your building, it is not your money unless and until the resident moves out leaving unpaid rent or damage to the apartment.

Because of the limited supply of rent-stabilized and rent-controlled apartments, state law requires rent-regulated tenants to use them as a primary residence. Oftentimes, tenants will try to hold onto rent-stabilized or rent-controlled apartments they no longer live in. These tenants may be trying to hold onto the apartments for occasional residences or as places for friends to stay. Fortunately, you can evict tenants who don't use their apartment as their primary residence.

The most common tenant complaints deal with loud and disruptive neighbors. Your tenants may constantly be complaining of a neighbor's loud music, shouting and arguments, or barking dogs. And sooner or later, if asking the noisy tenant to stop does not work, you may have to start eviction proceedings. It's that, or risk the continuing anger of other tenants in your building.

In these challenging economic times, owners are stretched to think of new ways to generate revenue. Installing storage lockers for rental and providing advertising space are two ways to boost revenue, but the proliferation of cell phones, broadband, paging, wireless Web, and related technologies makes leasing rooftop space for antenna installation another highly profitable option.