Q: I’m a renter living in a Midtown co-op, subletting my apartment from a shareholder. The co-op board recently changed its rules, and now requires all shareholders and subletters to purchase renters insurance. But my landlord is the shareholder, not the co-op, so am I really required to follow the co-op’s policy? Since my sublease does not include any requirement about renters insurance, how could my landlord enforce such a rule?

A: Your sublease may not explicitly require you to get renters insurance, but you will probably have to get it anyway. Your rental agreement most likely includes a provision requiring you to comply with whatever obligations the shareholder has to his or her proprietary lease, the co-op bylaws and the house rules, even if they change after you move in.

“It’s not uncommon for a subtenant to find out that the house rules have changed — you can’t have potted plants on the windowsills anymore, or something more substantive,” said Eric D. Sherman, a real estate lawyer and a partner in the Manhattan office of the law firm Pryor Cashman.