New York HOA Governing Statute

Overview — How HOAs are governed in New York

New York governs common-interest housing through three separate legal frameworks rather than a single consolidated statute — a structure that reflects the state's cooperative-heavy housing stock and its securities-style approach to new housing offerings.¹

The New York Condominium Act, codified at Real Property Law Article 9-B, sections 339-d through 339-kk and enacted in 1964, governs condominiums.¹ Corporate law — principally the Business Corporation Law or, in some cases, the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law, together with each corporation's certificate of incorporation, bylaws, and proprietary leases — governs cooperatives. Cooperatives outnumber condominiums in New York City by roughly three to two: the NYC Comptroller counts about 450,000 occupied co-op apartments against 318,000 condominium units, together making up 22 percent of the city's occupied housing stock.² Non-condominium, non-cooperative homeowners associations have no dedicated statute and operate under recorded covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs) plus the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law.

The Martin Act, New York General Business Law Article 23-A, sections 352 and following, sits over all of this.³ The Attorney General's Real Estate Finance Bureau enforces it — but that enforcement reaches only the offering stage.⁴ The Bureau reviews and accepts offering plans before sponsors may sell units. It does not regulate the day-to-day operation of established associations.

New York's court structure trips up practitioners from other states. The trial-level court of general jurisdiction carries the name Supreme Court. The intermediate appellate court is the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, organized into four departments. The state's highest court is the Court of Appeals. New York has not adopted the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (UCIOA). The result is a framework where the controlling document depends entirely on the form of ownership — a distinction that drives nearly every compliance question that follows.

The statutory framework

The New York Condominium Act

The New York Condominium Act runs from Real Property Law section 339-d through section 339-kk. Section 339-d establishes the short title. Section 339-e supplies the Act's core definitions, including "unit," "common elements," "common interest," "common charges," and "board of managers."⁵ Under section 339-g, each unit together with its common interest constitutes real property.⁶ That is the defining feature of condominium ownership in New York: the unit owner holds title to real property and an undivided interest in the common elements — not shares in a corporation and not a leasehold.

The Act applies only to property that an owner or owners submit to Article 9-B by recording a declaration under section 339-f.⁷ That declaration is the foundational instrument. Section 339-n specifies its required contents, including a statement of intent to submit the property, a description of the land and buildings, and the common interest attributable to each unit.⁸ Bylaws annexed to the declaration govern operation of the property under section 339-u,⁹ and section 339-v lists their mandatory contents: the nomination and election of a board of managers, the method of calling meetings, quorum and voting percentages, and the determination and collection of common charges.¹⁰ Section 339-j requires each unit owner to comply strictly with the bylaws and rules.¹¹

For newly constructed or converted condominiums, the Martin Act adds a second layer. Before a sponsor may sell units, it must submit an offering plan to the Real Estate Finance Bureau, which reviews the plan for compliance with the Attorney General's regulations and General Business Law Article 23-A. The applicable regulations appear at 13 NYCRR Part 20 for newly constructed, vacant, or non-residential condominiums and Part 18 for conversions of occupied residential property.¹² Acceptance for filing permits marketing and sale once disclosure is deemed adequate; it is not approval of the merits.

Cooperative housing

Cooperative housing rests on a fundamentally different legal foundation. A cooperative resident does not own real property. Instead, the resident buys shares in a cooperative corporation that owns the building, and those shares carry a proprietary lease granting occupancy rights to a specific apartment. The resident is simultaneously a shareholder and a tenant — no deed, only a stock certificate and a proprietary lease.

Most New York residential cooperatives organize under the Business Corporation Law (BCL), though some use the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law or the Cooperative Corporations Law depending on the form chosen at incorporation. Section 501(c) of the BCL, which addresses share rights in cooperative housing corporations, is frequently litigated.¹³ The certificate of incorporation, bylaws, proprietary lease, and house rules together serve as the operative governance documents. Bylaws and proprietary leases typically require a supermajority shareholder vote to amend, while the board can change house rules on its own.

Real Property Law touches cooperatives at the transaction stage. A 2023 bill, S2964-A, sponsored by Senator Brian Kavanagh, proposed adding a new Article 11 to the Real Property Law governing the timing of cooperative sale-application decisions.¹⁴ As with condominiums, new cooperative offerings and conversions require an offering plan accepted by the Real Estate Finance Bureau; the governing regulations include 13 NYCRR Part 21 for newly constructed and vacant cooperatives and Part 18 for conversions.¹⁵

New York City's cooperative market dominates for historical and regulatory reasons. The NYU Furman Center has found New York City's cooperative concentration unmatched among major U.S. markets except Washington, D.C.¹⁶ Cooperatives long predated the 1964 Condominium Act as the principal vehicle for apartment ownership, and the corporate form gave boards broad discretion over admissions and transfers. The operational implication for managers and counsel is significant: a co-op question requires reading the proprietary lease, bylaws, certificate of incorporation, and the BCL — not Article 9-B. Applying condominium law to a co-op, or corporate-lease analysis to a condominium, is a category error with real consequences for collections, transfers, and enforcement.

Non-condominium, non-cooperative HOAs and the role of CC&Rs

New York has no comprehensive statute governing planned-community homeowners associations that are neither condominiums nor cooperatives. That places New York among a small number of large states without a central HOA act, in contrast to Florida (Chapter 720) or Texas (Chapter 209).

For these communities, the recorded Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions is the primary governing instrument. Recording with the county land records makes the CC&Rs enforceable and binds successor owners as covenants running with the land. Because most such associations incorporate as not-for-profit entities, the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law supplies the corporate governance backbone: membership, board duties, meetings, and records access.¹⁷

The practical order of precedence runs: state law at the top — limited and largely default in nature — then the recorded CC&Rs, then the bylaws, then board-adopted rules and resolutions. Where the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law or another statute such as the Human Rights Law conflicts with a governing document, the statute controls. Courts read the CC&Rs and bylaws as binding contracts and apply the business judgment rule from Matter of Levandusky v. One Fifth Ave. Apt. Corp., 75 N.Y.2d 530 (1990), which held that the business judgment rule furnishes the correct standard of review — deferring to a board so long as it acts within its authority, in good faith, and in furtherance of the community's purposes.¹⁸

Compliance obligations created by the statutory framework

Governance obligations

For condominiums, governance obligations flow from Article 9-B and the bylaws. Section 339-v mandates that bylaws address the election of a board of managers, meeting procedures, quorum and voting thresholds, and officers.¹⁰ A condominium board may also incorporate, which brings additional corporate procedure from the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law or BCL. These obligations are mandatory as to the matters section 339-v lists, but the specific thresholds may be set in the bylaws.

For cooperatives, the BCL — or Not-for-Profit Corporation Law, as applicable — and the proprietary lease impose governance requirements. The BCL mandates annual shareholder meetings, board elections, and board management of the corporation's affairs. The proprietary lease and bylaws supply meeting and election procedures within statutory limits.

For non-condominium, non-cooperative homeowners associations, governance obligations come from the CC&Rs and bylaws, backstopped by the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law for incorporated associations. The Not-for-Profit Corporation Law governs members' meetings, voting, and records access.

Financial obligations

Condominium assessments are "common charges," allocated by common interest under section 339-m.¹⁹ Section 339-z gives the board a lien for unpaid common charges, with priority over all liens except tax liens, sums unpaid on a first mortgage of record, and certain subordinate public-agency mortgages.²⁰ Section 339-aa governs the duration and foreclosure of that lien.²¹ These provisions are statutory and generally cannot be waived.

Cooperative residents pay maintenance under the proprietary lease and bylaws, covering operating expenses, the building's underlying mortgage, and real estate taxes. Non-payment is a default under the proprietary lease and can lead to lease termination and eviction. The co-op board's financial authority derives from the lease and bylaws, not from a statute like Article 9-B.

For non-condo, non-coop homeowners associations, assessment authority derives from the CC&Rs. New York has no statute capping HOA assessments or fines for planned communities; any fine must be authorized by the governing documents and must be reasonable in amount.

Disclosure obligations

The principal disclosure regime is the Martin Act, which applies to new condominium and cooperative offerings and conversions. General Business Law section 352-e requires a sponsor to file an offering plan disclosing the terms of the offering before selling any unit, and the Attorney General's regulations require the sponsor to certify the plan's accuracy.²² While a sponsor still owns units, it must file annual amendments to keep the plan current. Established associations not actively selling sponsor units fall outside this ongoing Martin Act obligation; their financial disclosure to owners is governed by the bylaws, the proprietary lease, and corporate-law records rights.

Dispute resolution obligations

Co-op lease terminations require the procedural protections built into the proprietary lease — typically notice, an opportunity to be heard, and in objectionable-conduct cases a shareholder vote. The Court of Appeals confirmed this framework in 40 West 67th Street Corp. v. Pullman, 100 N.Y.2d 147 (2003), holding that the business judgment standard governs a cooperative's decision to terminate a tenancy in accordance with the terms of the parties' agreement.²³ Condominium and HOA enforcement likewise requires adherence to the notice and hearing procedures in the governing documents.

The Real Estate Finance Bureau accepts complaints over offering-plan violations — where a sponsor fails to comply with the offering plan — but it does not adjudicate ordinary operational disputes between owners and boards. Disputes within established associations move through the courts, from Supreme Court at the trial level to the Appellate Division and ultimately the Court of Appeals.

New York's recent legislative and judicial activity

Recent bills

New York's legislature has been actively updating collection procedures and building-access rules for condominiums and cooperatives.

Recent court rulings

New York appellate courts continue to define the reach of the business judgment rule in cooperative governance disputes.

Active legislative debates

Several measures before the legislature would expand transparency, improve dispute resolution, and add structural-safety requirements for condos and co-ops.

National positioning and related coverage

New York occupies a distinct position among the states. It is the only state where cooperative housing concentration rivals or exceeds condominium ownership in its largest market, and it pairs that with a substantial securities-style regulatory apparatus in the Martin Act and the Attorney General's Real Estate Finance Bureau. Its three-form framework, its regulation of new offerings rather than ongoing operations, and its designation of the Court of Appeals — not the Supreme Court — as the state's highest court all distinguish it from UCIOA states and from typical CC&R-primary or condominium-act-primary regimes.

For multi-state operators, the practical implication is clear: a New York portfolio cannot run off a single statute or a single set of templates. Condominiums, cooperatives, and planned-community HOAs each require their own governing-document analysis and their own compliance workflow. New York is not a state where one model declaration, one model bylaw, or one model management contract covers all community types.

Closing note

New York's three-form framework has no single statute controlling all common-interest housing. That makes getting the right framework on any given question the first task for managers and counsel. The materials on this page reflect the law as it stood through mid-2026; always verify current statute text against official sources and consult qualified counsel before acting on specific matters.

Federal law, including the Fair Housing Act³² and the Corporate Transparency Act,³³ operates alongside the state regimes described here.

Footnotes

1. New York State Legislature, N.Y. Real Prop. Law art. 9-B, §§ 339-d to 339-kk — New York Condominium Act (enacted 1964) ↩
2. New York City Comptroller, Reports — New York City housing data; co-op and condominium unit counts ↩
3. New York State Legislature, N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law art. 23-A, § 352 et seq. — The Martin Act ↩
4. New York Attorney General, Real Estate Finance Bureau — Offering plan review authority and jurisdiction ↩
5. New York State Legislature, N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 339-e — Definitions: "unit," "common elements," "common interest," "common charges," "board of managers" ↩
6. New York State Legislature, N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 339-g — Status of unit as real property ↩
7. New York State Legislature, N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 339-f — Submission of property to article; recordation of declaration ↩
8. New York State Legislature, N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 339-n — Contents of declaration ↩
9. New York State Legislature, N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 339-u — By-laws ↩
10. New York State Legislature, N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 339-v — Contents of by-laws ↩
11. New York State Legislature, N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 339-j — Compliance with by-laws and rules and regulations ↩
12. New York Attorney General, Real Estate Finance Bureau — 13 N.Y.C.R.R. pt. 20 (Newly Constructed Condominiums); 13 N.Y.C.R.R. pt. 18 (Conversions of Occupied Residential Buildings) ↩
13. New York State Legislature, N.Y. Bus. Corp. Law § 501(c) — Share rights in cooperative housing corporations ↩
14. New York State Legislature, S.B. 2964-A, 2023–2024 Leg. Sess. (N.Y. 2023) — Relating to timing of cooperative apartment sale-application decisions; sponsored by Senator Brian Kavanagh ↩
15. New York Attorney General, Real Estate Finance Bureau — 13 N.Y.C.R.R. pt. 21 (Newly Constructed and Vacant Cooperatives); 13 N.Y.C.R.R. pt. 18 (Conversions) ↩
16. NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy — Research on New York City housing stock; cooperative market concentration ↩
17. New York State Legislature, N.Y. Not-for-Profit Corp. Law § 601 — Members of a corporation ↩
18. Justia, Matter of Levandusky v. One Fifth Ave. Apt. Corp., 75 N.Y.2d 530 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1990) — Business judgment rule applied to cooperative board governance decisions ↩
19. New York State Legislature, N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 339-m — Percentage of common interest ↩
20. New York State Legislature, N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 339-z — Common charges; lien therefor; priority ↩
21. New York State Legislature, N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 339-aa — Duration of lien; action to foreclose; as amended by Ch. 433, Laws of 2025 ↩
22. New York State Legislature, N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 352-e — Offerings of securities; real estate; requirement of filing offering plan ↩
23. Justia, 40 W. 67th St. Corp. v. Pullman, 100 N.Y.2d 147 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2003) — Business judgment standard governs cooperative decision to terminate proprietary lease ↩
24. New York State Legislature, A.B. 3470, ch. 433, 2025 N.Y. Laws (signed Oct. 16, 2025) — Pre-foreclosure notice for condominiums and incorporated HOAs; sponsored by Assemblymember Charles Lavine ↩
25. New York State Legislature, S.B. 7413, 2025–2026 Leg. Sess. (N.Y. 2025) — Senate companion to A3470; sponsored by Senator Brian Kavanagh ↩
26. New York State Legislature, S.B. 3799-C, 2025–2026 Leg. Sess. (N.Y. 2025) (signed Dec. 5, 2025) — Amending RPAPL § 881, adjoining-property access for construction and repair; sponsored by Senator Leroy Comrie ↩
27. New York Courts Reporter, Avrahami v. 235 W. 108th St. Owners Corp., 2025 N.Y. Slip Op. 02126 (App. Div. 1st Dep't Apr. 10, 2025) — Business judgment rule; board denial of whirlpool tub reinstallation affirmed ↩
28. New York Courts Reporter, Levy v. 103-25 68th Ave. Owners, Inc. (App. Div. 2d Dep't 2024) — Business judgment rule; conclusory bad-faith allegations insufficient to defeat board action ↩
29. New York State Legislature, S.B. 7745, 2025–2026 Leg. Sess. (N.Y. 2025) — Cooperative and Condominium Ombudsperson Act; creating a state ombudsperson within the Division of Housing and Community Renewal ↩
30. New York State Legislature, S.B. 8912, 2025–2026 Leg. Sess. (N.Y. 2025) — Cooperative transparency; plain-language financial statements and expanded shareholder records access ↩
31. New York State Legislature, S.B. 7541, 2025–2026 Leg. Sess. (N.Y. 2025) — Structural-safety disclosure requirements for condominiums and cooperatives; not enacted as of mid-2026 ↩
32. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601–3619 — Federal anti-discrimination requirements applicable to community associations ↩
33. U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Corporate Transparency Act, 31 U.S.C. § 5336 — Beneficial ownership reporting requirements; applicability to certain HOA entities ↩