New Law Extends Partial Tax Abatement Law for Certain Co-Ops and Condos

A new NYS law extends partial real property tax abatement for co-ops and condos within a city containing a population of one million or more, through the NYC fiscal year that begins in 2022.

Technically, the law amends paragraphs (a) and (b) of Real Property Tax Law 467-a (2).

Previously, the Real Property Tax Law authorized partial tax abatement for these co-ops and condos from the fiscal year commencing in 2012 through 2020.  The new law now provides a 2-year extension.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be in our rear-view mirrors, many families continue to endure hardships caused by the brutal pandemic. As a result, Governor Como continues to pass legislation related to tax abatement and/or exemptions for certain dwellings (e.g., S.6487).

How long will legislation extending tax abatement and/or exemptions for certain dwellings continue to be passed? 

Time will tell...

New Law Confirms Section 8 Housing is Managed by NYS, Not Private Industry

Private industries may NOT assume control over federally assisted housing stock in NY, as has happened in CT, which was just made clear by a new law.

Instead, Section 8 housing contracts will continue to be administered by The New York State Housing Trust Fund Corporation ("Corporation") and Division of Housing and Community Renewal ("DHCR") in NY.  

Section 8 of the US Housing Act is designed so landlords can rent housing at fair market rates to low income tenants, in which the federal government will pay a portion of the rent to a landlord through a Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher. 

Private industry would want to take over Section 8 because of the tremendous amount of money flowing from the federal government and the availability to bring efficiencies that would create tremendous profit and innovation.

However, NY will continue to have its federally assisted housing stock controlled by the state and local governments.

Is state / local government better suited than private industry to manage our federally assisted housing stock? Isn't private industry more innovative and efficient? Or, is it that private industry only makes elites rich? Is this the type of thing that is the better domain of government or private industry? 

Regardless, developers and landlords now have predictability into the future when they get involved in subsidized housing. Predictability is always a good thing in business. 

New Law Extends Tax Exemption for Certain Multiple Dwellings and Government-Assisted Projects

A new NYS law amends Real Property Tax Law section 489, extending tax exemptions for multiple dwellings undergoing alterations and improvements to eliminate fire and health hazards, from 2021 to 2022.

A multiple dwelling means a "dwelling that is either rented, leased, let or hired out, to be occupied, or is occupied as the residence or home of 3 or more families living independently of each other." (Multiple Dwelling Law Section §4 (7)). 

Fire and health hazards that qualify for the exemptions include non-fireproof stairs, windows, elevator shafts, dumbwaiters, fire-escapes, as well as a lack of direct entrance to the cellar or lowest story of a multiple dwelling.

If you own / manage a multiple dwelling and haven't started a project yet, you better act now before it's too late. 

Employers Must Immediately Adopt an Airborne Infectious Disease Exposure Prevention Plan

The New York State Department of Labor has finally issued the long awaited Model Airborne Infectious Disease Exposure Prevention Plan.

As a refresher, on May 5, 2021, Governor Cuomo signed the New York Health and Essential Rights Act ("NY HERO Act") into law requiring employers to take various measures to protect employees in the event of a future airborne infectious disease outbreak. 

One of those measures was to adopt a prevention plan. Now that the NYSDOL released the model plan, employers have until August 5, 2021 to either customize and adopt the model plan or create their own plan which, at a minimum, meets the requirements of the model plan.

While employers must immediately adopt a plan, it is important to note that, per the NYSDOL website, the plan is not currently required to be in effect until the New York State Commissioner of Health designates an infectious disease as a "highly contagious communicable disease that presents a serious risk of harm to the public health." 

Proposed Amendment for Land Surveyor License Requirements in NYS

A proposed amendment relating to license requirements for land surveyors seeks to uphold the Land Surveyor's Education Bill (which previously amended section 7206-a of the Education Law, by updating certain education experience requirements for licensure as a land surveyor to fall in-line with the national standards). 

The proposed amendment seeks to further update the education and experience requirements for a land surveyor license by the following methods: 

• Establishing program registration requirements for land surveyor education programs (which include registration and curriculum requirements);

• Amending the land surveyor education requirements for licensure to conform with national standards; and 

• Amending admission requirements for the fundamentals of surveying, principles, and practice of surveying, and the NYS jurisdicional examinations. 

Additionally, the proposed amendment requires land surveyor education programs to be: 

• Approved course of study in land surveying or substantially equivalent program, which leads to a bachelor's degree or higher; or

• Approved course of study in land surveying which leads to an associate's degree; or

• Approved course of study which leads to an associate's degree or higher in engineering, math, or related science or their substantial equivalent and includes a minimum of 15 semester hours in four specified subject areas--survey I, survey II, boundary/survey law 1, and boundary/survey law 2; and, if the 15 hours cannot be obtained in any of these 3 subjects, then the 15 semester hours may be gained from other courses including cadastral, geodesy, and remote sensing. 

This new rule makes NYS land surveyor's less qualified; meaning, it's now going to be easier to become one. 

Do you agree that land surveyor licensure requirements in NYS should conform with the national standard? 

Are the proposed education programs to obtain a land surveyor license feasible or too burdensome? 

To make your voice heard, comments should be sent to Kirti Goswami, NYS Education Department, Office of Counsel at legal@nysed.gov by July 12, 2021. Comments are reviewed by Government and that is the time that laws are changed to meet the public's perspective - it's a speak now or forever hold your peace moment. 

New Foreclosure Rule from CFPB

On June 28, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a final rule amending Regulation X of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) which aims to assist mortgage borrowers with a COVID-19 related hardship in seeking loss mitigation options and delaying foreclosure proceedings to encourage resolution of delinquencies through loan modification.
This Rule is going to make it harder for lenders to foreclose and cause more homeowners to enter a modification thereby avoiding foreclosure.

The Rule has 5 key parts:

1. It imposes additional requirements before a mortgage servicer may make the first notice or filing required to commence a foreclosure proceeding due to default.
• However, this requirement is only applicable if:
• The borrower’s mortgage payment became more than 120 days delinquent on or after March 1, 2020; and
• The statute of limitations applicable to the potential foreclosure action expires on or after January 1, 2022.
• If the rule is applicable, mortgage servicers may commence a foreclosure only if:
• The borrower has submitted a completed loss mitigation application and either:
• The borrower is ineligible for any loss mitigation options and the borrowers’ appeal, if applicable, has been denied;
• The borrower rejects all available options; or
• The borrower fails to perform terms of an agreement on a loss mitigation option;
• The subject property is abandoned as defined, under state or municipal law; or
• The servicer has conducted specified outreach and the borrower is unresponsive to such outreach.
• This requirement expire on January 1, 2022, and thus, mortgage servicers shall be free to commence foreclosure proceedings after such date.
2. It provides specific limitations for loan modifications, including:
• A modification may not cause an increase in mortgage principal and interest payments, and may not extend the life of the loan by more than 480 months from the date of the loan modification;
• A loan modification may not charge or accrue interest on deferred payments, which are not due until the mortgage loan is refinanced, the property is sold, the loan modification matures, or the mortgage insurance is terminated (if the loan is insured by FHA);
• Modification MUST be made available to borrowers experiencing COVID-19 related hardships;
• Borrower’s acceptance of a permanent modification, after a trial modification plan, ends any preexisting delinquency on the mortgage; and
• No fees may be charged in connection with a modification and all existing late charges, penalties, stop payment fees, or similar charges incurred on or after March 1, 2020, shall be waived.
3. Imposes additional live contact early intervention obligations on servicers to discuss specific COVID-19 related relief:
• Applies to:
• A borrower who is not in a forbearance program; or
• A borrower who is near the end of a forbearance program based on a COVID-19 related hardship.
• These requirements expire on October 1, 2022.
4. Requires the servicer to contact the borrower, within 30 days before the end of the forbearance period, if the borrower remains delinquent, and inquire if the borrower wants to complete a loss mitigation application.
5. Defines COVID-19-related hardship to mean “a financial hardship due, directly or indirectly, to the national emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic declared in Proclamation 9994 on March 13, 2020 (beginning on March 1, 2020) and continued on February 24, 2021, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)).”

The Rule does not take effect until August 31, 2021. That being said, borrowers should be aware that the CFPB foreclosure moratorium expired on June 30, 2021 and the CDC foreclosure moratoriums for FHA, HUD, VA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac loans ends on July 31, 2021 and to contact their mortgage servicers as soon as possible to inquire about available loss mitigation options.