BarbriSFCourseDetails
  • videocam Live Webinar with Live Q&A
  • calendar_month April 30, 2026 @ 1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT
  • signal_cellular_alt Intermediate
  • card_travel Real Property - Transactions
  • schedule 90 minutes

Deconversion of Condominium Units: Developer and Owner Risks, Board Liability Issues, Legal Process

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About the Course

Introduction

The CLE webinar will address the deconversion of condominium units into multifamily rental units and the risks and benefits of this process. The panel will discuss the issues for developers and condominium owners, the legal process, and the liability of condo board members who conduct a deconversion.

Description

Condominium deconversion may offer developers and unit owners lucrative opportunities, especially where restrictions or prohibitions on leasing condominium units make it difficult for a non-occupying owner to generate income to pay the unit's ownership costs until the unit can be sold. However, converting condominium buildings into rental properties can be more time-consuming and labor-intensive than acquiring an existing apartment building.

While investors can profit from a conversion, especially in developments where most units have failed to sell, owners who wish to stay can be at a loss. The legal process for deconversion is typically a combination of state law and the condominium's CC&Rs.

A condo board contemplating such a sale should consider the issues when hold-out owners bring suit to stop the process. Boards act as fiduciaries for all owners and must avoid self-dealing, lack of full disclosure or candor or conspiratorial conduct with the deconverter, and act with good faith and loyalty to all condo owners.

Listen as our authoritative panel discusses the deconversion of condominiums, the pros and cons for developers and owners, and how a board attempting this process must act to avoid liability.

Presented By

Robert M. Diamond
Senior Counsel
Reed Smith

Mr. Diamond concentrates on real property law, with special emphasis on the planning and development of condominiums, mixed-use projects and planned unit developments, preparing community association documents for developers and builders. His practice includes risk management for developers/builders, ensuring compliance with secondary mortgage market requirements (FNMA, FHLMC, VA, FHA, VHDA), negotiation of warranty and construction defect claims, and general representation of community associations. More recently, Mr. Diamond has worked on a number of commercial, hotel and continuing care retirement condominiums as well as litigating association-related issues in state and federal court. His clients include condominium and homeowners associations; developers of new and conversion residential, office and mixed-use condominium and PUD projects; lenders providing construction and permanent financing and assessment-based loans for condominiums and planned communities; and management companies and insurance companies working with community associations. Mr. Diamond has been active in the development of legislation concerning condominiums and planned communities for over 35 years. In that time, he has significant and notable accomplishments, including serving as one of four drafters of the Uniform Condominium Act for the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (which is now the Uniform Laws Commission).

Stuart M. Saft
Partner, New York Real Estate Practice Group Leader, Co-Chair of Condominium Development and Conversion Team
Holland & Knight LLP

Mr. Saft has extensive experience in the development, financing, leasing, conversion-to-condominium and cooperative ownership, exchange, syndication, sale-leaseback, timeshare, restructuring, acquisition and sale of residential, commercial and hospitality property throughout the United States. He also represents borrowers and lending institutions in mortgage lending and workouts. Mr. Saft is the former chair of the board of directors of the National Cooperative Bank and the New York City Workforce Investment Board. He has written 44 books on Commercial Real Estate and more than 100 articles on real estate, economics and finance.

Credit Information
  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.


  • Live Online


    On Demand

Date + Time

  • event

    Thursday, April 30, 2026

  • schedule

    1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT

I.  Introduction

II. Deconversion of condominiums to apartments 

A. Developer issues

B. Owner issues 

1. Hold-outs

C. Legal process 

D. Condominium board liabilities

E. Other best practices and considerations

III. Practitioner takeaways


The panel will address these and other key issues:

  • When should a condominium association consider a deconversion offer?
  • What can hold-out owners do to prevent a deconversion?
  • What liabilities does a condo board face when attempting a deconversion to apartments?