An article by Craig Karmin Saturday at wsj.com said that "some recent condominium buyers at Manhattan's famed Apthorp building are looking to rent their newly purchased apartments, a move that may conflict with their signed declarations to use the apartments as their own residencies."

"The effort by some owners to rent out their condos," it continued, "could spark additional scrutiny from the New York attorney general into the Apthorp, the financially challenged Upper West Side building famous for celebrity residents and its grand architecture."

In May, the article noted, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office accepted the Apthorp's plan to convert 163 apartments to condos and that approval was based on at least 15% of the units, or 25 apartments, being in contract.

"According to state law, the sales only count if the buyer or an immediate family member intends to live at least part time there. So far, about 20 sales have closed and about 16 are in contract. When the units sold, the Apthorp developers, a group lead by Africa Israel USA, required buyers to sign a declaration that they or a family member would occupy the units as a residence, a customary process with such conversions, according to people with the matter. But at least three of the units have now been listed for rent on broker websites," according to the article.

"One new owner," the article noted, "Joanne Sacks, closed on an 11th floor apartment at the Apthorp last week for about $4.4 million, according to public records. This week, she is offering to rent the unit at $23,000-a-month, according to the website of her listing agent, Frances Katzen of Prudential Douglas Elliman."

"There is no evidence to suggest that the Apthorp developers engaged in any improper behavior with regard to the sales," the article said, adding that "Some real-estate attorneys say that any owner immediately renting a newly purchased apartment calls into question the buyer's intentions."