Do Ground-Floor Co-op Apartments Really Have to Carpet Their Floors?

Carpeting rules are common. But housing laws protect residents with disabilities, to a point.

Q: My mother has bad allergies and had to remove all of the carpets from her home many years ago. Now she’s looking to downsize, and we found a ground-floor apartment in a co-op in Nassau County. But the house rules require wall-to-wall carpeting, with padding, in every room except bathrooms and kitchens — even in ground-floor units, where no one lives below you. We put a deposit on the apartment, which has beautiful hardwood floors that had never been carpeted, and we know of at least two other apartments that also don’t have carpet. There’s a $500 monthly fine for noncompliance. We’re afraid that if we raise the issue, they will deny us the apartment. What should we do?

Click here to read the full article and answer to this question on the nytimes.com.