Ask Real Estate is a weekly column that answers questions from across the New York region. Submit yours to realestateqa@nytimes.com.  I live on the top floor of a rental building that shares a chimney with the neighboring building, which is a self-managed co-op. I share a wall with a neighbor in the co-op who has a working fireplace. Every time he lights a fire, smoke seeps through my closet wall, damaging my clothes and making it unbearable for me to stay. Last year, I called 911 when the smoke filled my apartment. My neighbor was hostile when I knocked on his door to express my concern. My landlord, however, was sympathetic and helped pay for some of my dry cleaning. A year later, this happened again, and I was forced to pull out the contents of my closet and seek refuge elsewhere. What should I do, as good apartments are hard to come by?  Your apartment is not an ashtray for your neighbor, who has no right to rebuff your legitimate concerns. Your landlord, meanwhile, should do more than lend a sympathetic ear and pay for a few dry-cleaning bills.  “This is a very hazardous condition. Clearly the fireplace flue has become compromised and flue products are seeping into this resident’s apartment,” said Peter Varsalona, a principal of RAND Engineering and Architecture. Now is the time to sound the alarms. Report the situation to the Department of Buildings, the Fire Department and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. You could call 311 to file the complaints. The agencies should send out their inspectors to look at both your building and the one next door. If the inspectors find code violations, they could issue fines and require the responsible party (or parties) to correct the problem.  As a tenant, “You have a right to demand that your apartment is fit for human habitation,” said Jennifer Addonizio Rozen, a lawyer who represents tenants. “More specifically, that means you have a right to demand that your apartment is free from conditions that could adversely affect your health and safety.”  Good apartments are hard to come by, but an apartment that fills with smoke does not meet my definition of a gem. Demand that your landlord, the neighbor and/or the co-op repair this problem immediately.  I have lived in a rent-stabilized studio for 18 years. If my landlord sells the building and the new owners decide to demolish it, do the owners have to buy me out or must I leave without any protection? I am nervous because the market rate for apartments is way above my budget.  Although landlords are not required to offer tenants a buyout in this kind of situation, they frequently do because the alternative is a bureaucratic rabbit hole.  Submit your questions, share your stories and tell us what topics interest you most. Post a comment or email us at realestateqa@nytimes.com.  In order to demolish a building with rent-stabilized apartments, the owner must apply to the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, which reviews such issues. The owner must prove that the Department of Buildings and other relevant agencies have approved the plans. He must also show that he has sufficient funds available to pay for the project. The affected tenants would have opportunities to appeal the application during this lengthy process, according to William J. Gribben, a lawyer who represents tenants.  Assuming the owner eventually gets approval to take down the building, the owner would have to pay rent-stabilized tenants moving expenses and a stipend. The sum varies, but would not amount to true compensation for losing a rent-stabilized apartment, Mr. Gribben said. The stipend would ease the blow, but in the end you would have lost a valuable asset.  Time is certainly in your favor. “This is the major bargaining tool for the rent-stabilized tenant,” Mr. Gribben said. “The owner cannot wait years for the process to play out. In a true demolish situation the owner will offer the tenant a significant sum of money to vacate.”  On the other hand, just filing an application to demolish the building could have a chilling effect on tenants, frightening them into leaving unnecessarily. After all, landlords have been known to do things that would encourage rent-stabilized tenants to leave. If the owner files paperwork to demolish the building, you and your neighbors might want to consider forming a tenants association to hire a lawyer versed in these matters.  No Copies for Board Minutes  My co-op board and the building’s managing agent refuse to let me copy the minutes from board meetings. They said that I could review the minutes at the managing agent’s office, but I would not be allowed to copy the documents and take them with me. The board claims that there is no statutory authority allowing me, a co-op shareholder, to make a photocopy of the documents. Is this true?  I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the managing agent and the board are correct. You probably cannot copy those minutes. In theory, the board could prohibit you from even reviewing the board meeting minutes, although that scenario is unlikely to actually happen. Unless your building’s bylaws expressly say otherwise, shareholders have the right to review minutes from a shareholder meeting, but not a board meeting, a rule dictated by the business corporation law, said Robert Braverman, a lawyer who represents co-ops and condominiums.  Although some boards are lenient about minutes, posting them on the building’s website or distributing them to shareholders, others want to control the flow of information. If shareholders can make copies of the minutes, they can just as easily distribute that information to a much wider audience — like the Internet. “As soon as you post the minutes on someone’s website, they are free game for the entire world,” Mr. Braverman said. “What if someone is in arrears? Is that something you want the universe to know about?”  Submit your questions to realestateqa@nytimes.com  A version of this article appears in print on February 22, 2015, on page RE11 of the New York edition with the headline: When Smoke Gets in Your Closet. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
A wall shared with a neighbor leads to a smoke-filled closet; a rent-stabilized tenant worries about the landlord selling; and a co-op board withholds copies of meeting minutes.