Co-Op Transparency Now Law in Westchester County

WHITE PLAINS—Westchester County Executive George Latimer, flanked by real estate and condominium management officials, signed into law on Friday a bill aimed at reforming the cooperative purchase process in the county.

At the press conference Westchester County Executive Latimer signed the bill, sponsored by County Legislators Christopher A. Johnson (D-Yonkers) Catherine Borgia, (D-Cortlandt, Croton on Hudson, Ossining, Briarcliff Manor, Peekskill) and Vice-Chairwoman of the Board Alfreda Williams.

Westchester County now joins Suffolk County, the Village of Hempstead and most recently Rockland County in passing co-operative transparency legislation. The new law went into effect immediately and has a sunset provision in three years when the Westchester County Board of Legislators will study the co-op transparency law’s impacts.

The new Westchester County legislation now requires cooperative boards of directors to notify buyers within 15 days 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.

For co-op boards that fail to meet the 60-day threshold, a fine of $1,000 could be levied for their first offense; a second offense would involve a $1,500 fine and the Human Rights Commission would levy a fine of $2,000 for a third offense.

At the press conference, Latimer was joined by Deputy County Executive Ken Jenkins and incoming New York State Senator Peter Harckham and legislators Johnson and Williams. In total, there were seven sponsors of the co-op transparency bill that passed the County Board of Legislators by a 13-4 margin on Nov. 19.

Latimer said before signing the bill, “This law had strong feelings on both sides—and the negotiated settlement was ultimately a desire to take the vision of the original bill and get it done. We are grateful that we have a democratic process where we can argue, disagree, we can be heated, but we are also willing to engage long enough to find closure—and when we do find closure it is a sign of the strength of the American system across party lines and different levels of government.”

The County Executive noted that the law, which was first introduced about 20 years ago at the Board of Legislators, has had a long list of sponsors over that time including State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, State Senator-elect Harckham, Deputy County Executive Jenkins and former Chairwoman of the Board Lois Bronz, who passed away at the age of 90 in February of this year.

State Senator-elect, and former bill sponsor, Harckham said, “I want to congratulate the Board of Legislators, the County Executive and the Deputy County Executive for getting this done. During my time at the board, both as Majority Leader and Chair of the Housing Committee, we heard testimony from all sides of the issue on how they would be impacted. This was a great compromise and a fine piece of legislation.”

Deputy County Executive, and former bill sponsor, Jenkins noted, “This law creates a process where if you see patterns of certain things happening, we can provide education—which is a result of conversations back and forth and listening to everyone. Oftentimes people may look at the legislative process and say ‘it is too slow’—but sometimes, good things take time and this is one of them.”

Latimer praised Deputy County Executive Jenkins, the County Board of Legislators and the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors, as well as the Building and Realty Institute of Westchester & the Mid-Hudson Region and its affiliates, which debated and eventually agreed to support the compromise legislation.

The original bill under consideration 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. The BRI vehemently opposed the original proposal.

The County Executive, Jenkins and the other legislators said that in the end the debate led to a “fine piece of legislation” that will address the timeliness of the co-op purchase transaction and is a good first step in helping address discrimination in the process.

HGAR President Barry Kramer said, “This legislation has long been something that my colleagues and I have advocated for—and this compromise is one that we welcome. Discrimination in the co-op buying process is something that no Westchester resident should be subjected to and I thank the County Executive, Deputy County Executive and the Board of Legislators for taking this step to ensure that.”

Albert Annunziata, executive director of the BRI, said the organization’s affiliate Condo-Cooperative Advisory Council has committed $30,000 to educate property owners, property managers and cooperative boards on the cooperative purchase process.

He also stressed that any cooperative board that is a member of the Condo-Cooperative Advisory Council that is found to have engaged in discrimination against a prospective buyer “would be drummed out of the organization.

It should be noted that New York State Association of Realtors will once again have passage of statewide co-op disclosure legislation as one of its top legislative priorities in the 2019 legislative session in Albany.

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 and Hempstead passed its bill in 2012.