Westchester Legislators Pass Co-Op Transparency Bill

WHITE PLAINS, NY—Westchester County has become the third suburban New York county to enact cooperative purchase reform legislation.

On Monday evening, the Westchester County Board of Legislators overwhelmingly approved a compromise co-op transparency bill by a 13-4 margin. Shortly thereafter, Westchester County Executive George Latimer stated he intends to sign the bill into law.

Westchester County joins Rockland and Suffolk counties in passing legislation geared at bringing transparency and curbing discrimination in the cooperative purchase process.

Earlier this year, Rockland County passed a co-op reform bill that requires a co-op board to provide written notice to the applicant of its decision within 45 days of the receipt of a fully completed purchase application. If the co-op board fails to act on that application within the mandated 45-day period, the application will be deemed approved. Suffolk County passed a cooperative reform bill in 2009.

Under the new Westchester County legislation, cooperative boards of directors will have 15 days to notify buyers whether or not their applications for purchase are complete. Once an application is deemed complete, boards will have 60 days to accept or reject the application. If an application is rejected, the co-op board must send a notice of the rejection to the county’s Human Rights Commission, which has the power to investigate instances of discrimination under the county’s Fair Housing Law.

After considerable debate and input from the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors and proposal opponent the Building and Realty Institute of Westchester & the Mid-Hudson Region and affiliates, the original bill was recently amended. The BRI supported the amended cooperative transparency legislation. BRI officials could not be reached for comment at press time.

The original bill called for application receipt notification within 10 days and a notice of decision rendered by the board and received by the applicant within 45 days. The bill also mandated a co-op board disclose the reason for the rejection of a cooperative purchasers’ application. The compromise bill does not include that mandate.

“I am pleased that the County Board of Legislators voted to pass a bill that will rationalize the process by which co-op owners and buyers can transact their units in a timely fashion, and will reduce concerns over housing discrimination,” County Executive Latimer stated.

He added, “This bill restores the requirements of the Westchester County Housing Disclosure Law, and it is my plan to sign it immediately.”

HGAR officials, while noting that the bill did not include all of the reforms they originally sought, stressed that measure will improve the cooperative transaction process for consumers and Realtors.

HGAR President Barry Kramer said the co-op transparency bill is a “step in the right direction” to help remedy problems that currently exist in the co-op sales transaction process. He said that the benefit to the real estate industry and to consumers in Westchester County will be a quicker sales process.

“I believe it will make co-op boards think twice before they give a rejection because right now there is no accountability at all,” Kramer said.

Bill co-sponsors Christopher A. Johnson (D-Yonkers) and Catherine Borgia, (D-Cortlandt, Croton on Hudson, Ossining, Briarcliff Manor, Peekskill) also believe the bill will bring measurable improvement to the cooperative sales process.

“The process of buying and selling a co-op in Westchester County today isn’t timely, it isn’t transparent, and sometimes isn’t fair,” Johnson said. “This new measure, when it’s signed into law, will give buyers and sellers of co-ops a time frame they can count on, so their lives aren’t stalled waiting for and wondering when a board will act. It will also give the Human Rights Commission the information it needs to act when there’s a pattern of discrimination.”

Legislator Borgia added, “Although requiring co-ops to give buyers written reasons when they’ve been denied would have been great, the measure we passed is an important first step in making the co-op sales process more timely and transparent. We expect the process to be faster and smoother going forward, and we expect the Human Rights Commission to be diligent in looking at the rejection data to make sure all Westchester residents are treated equally when it comes to co-op housing.”

Board Chair Ben Boykin (D-White Plains, Scarsdale, Harrison) noted that the final bill reflected a significant amount of community input that was developed over a long time period.

“I’m proud to say that working together, listening to the concerns of everyone involved—co-op boards, co-op owners, co-op buyers, and Realtors—we’ve crafted a measure that improves the process and fights discrimination.”