New York’s closest thing to an HOA statute has never moved — and it mentions a court New York does not have
New York’s closest thing to an HOA statute has never moved — and it mentions a court New York does not have
2026-09-15 · New York · Legislation · Pending — not yet law
New York genuinely has no homeowners association act. The most substantial attempt in the 2025–2026 session to create one is S1177, and it has never been reported out of committee, has no Assembly companion, and has no sponsor's memorandum posted. It was referred to Senate Judiciary on January 8, 2025 and re-referred on January 7, 2026. Nothing else has happened to it.1
It is worth reading anyway, for two reasons. It is the clearest statement available of what a New York HOA statute would look like if one existed. And its drafting tells you where it came from: subdivision 1(f) refers to a receiver “appointed by a circuit court.” New York does not have circuit courts. Florida does.
What turnover would trigger
New RPL § 500(1) would entitle homeowners other than the developer to elect at least a majority of the board when the earliest of several events occurs. The first is the headline:
“(a) three months after ninety percent of the parcels in all phases of the residential housing community that will ultimately be operated by the homeowners' association have been conveyed to members other than the developer;”2
Then a set of automatic triggers that operate regardless of sales pace: developer abandonment, with a rebuttable presumption where the developer has unpaid assessments or guaranteed amounts for more than two years; a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing; loss of title through foreclosure or a deed in lieu, unless a successor accepts an assignment of developer rights; and the receivership provision with its Florida court.
One seat at fifty percent
Subdivision 2(a) would give owners a single board seat much earlier — at 50% conveyance — and closes an obvious loophole in the same sentence: “For purposes of this section, the term 'members other than the developer' shall not include builders, contractors, or others who purchase a parcel for the purpose of constructing improvements thereon for resale.”
Subdivision 2(b) lets the developer keep one seat while it holds at least 5% of parcels for sale in the ordinary course, and bars it from voting its remaining interests “for purposes of reacquiring control of the homeowners' association or selecting the majority of the members of the board of directors.”
The ninety-day handover, and the twenty items
Subdivision 3 is the practical core, and it is aimed squarely at the single biggest problem a newly-turned-over New York board faces — missing records. At the point owners become entitled to a board majority, the developer must, at its own expense and within ninety days, deliver twenty categories of material to the board.
The list runs: all deeds to common property; the original declarations of covenants and restrictions; a certified copy of the articles of incorporation; a copy of the bylaws; “The minute books, including all minutes”; the books and records; adopted policies, rules and regulations; resignations of the developer's directors; financial records from incorporation to turnover; “All association funds and control thereof”; all tangible property; all contracts to which the association is a party; names, addresses and telephone numbers of all contractors and subcontractors currently employed; all insurance policies in effect; permits issued to the association; all warranties in effect; a roster of current homeowners with addresses, telephone numbers and section and lot numbers; employment and service contracts; all other contracts; and — the item with teeth — subdivision 3(t).
Subdivision 3(t) is the sharpest tool in the bill
“The financial records, including financial statements of the association, and source documents from the incorporation of the association through the date of turnover. The records shall be audited by an independent certified public accountant for the period from the incorporation of the association or from the period covered by the last audit, if an audit has been performed for each fiscal year since incorporation. All financial statements shall be prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and shall be audited in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. The certified public accountant performing the audit shall examine to the extent necessary supporting documents and records, including the cash disbursements and related paid invoices to determine if expenditures were for association purposes and the billings, cash receipts, and related records of the association to determine that the developer was charged and paid the proper amounts of assessments.”
That last clause is the point of the whole audit. It is designed to catch a developer who under-paid assessments on its own unsold parcels while controlling the board that would have had to complain about it. Today a New York board discovering that has a contract claim, if it can prove the numbers. Under § 500(3)(t) the numbers arrive in an independent auditor's report, paid for by the developer.
What is currently in place instead
Nothing statutory. Developer turnover in a New York homeowners association is governed by whatever the declaration says, plus whatever the Attorney General extracted in the offering plan under the Martin Act and 13 NYCRR Part 22. That is a real constraint — the Attorney General's Real Estate Finance Bureau does police sponsor commitments, and in 2026 it ordered a private equity firm that acquired a condominium sponsor by foreclosure to hand the board over to homeowners. But it is transaction-specific, not a statutory floor.
Our New York governing statute page sets out the patchwork — the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law, the Real Property Law, and the declaration — that an HOA actually runs on. Our records inspection page covers what owners can demand today.
The definition that limits the whole bill
Section 501(3) would define the covered entity:
“'Homeowners' association' or 'association' means a New York corporation responsible for the operation of a residential housing community or a mobile home subdivision in which the voting membership is made up of parcel owners or their agents, or a combination thereof, and in which membership is a mandatory condition of parcel ownership, and which is authorized to impose assessments that, if unpaid, may become a lien on the parcel. The term 'homeowners' association' does not include a community development district or other similar special taxing district created pursuant to statute.”
Note the first four words: “a New York corporation.” An unincorporated association appears to fall outside the bill entirely. That is a substantial gap, and it is not an isolated drafting choice — the same limitation appears in the one HOA provision New York actually enacted in 2025, the pre-foreclosure notice requirement at RPAPL § 2010, which reaches only an “incorporated” homeowners association. Unincorporated New York HOAs keep falling through the same crack.
What to take from a bill going nowhere
Two things a board can use today. First, if your association is in or near transition, § 500(3)'s twenty-item list is a serviceable checklist of what to demand from a developer even without a statute compelling it — and § 500(3)(t) is a serviceable specification for the audit to ask for. Second, the bill is a reminder of the asymmetry New York HOAs live with: a condominium has Article 9-B and an offering-plan regime; a homeowners association has its declaration and the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law.
The effective-date clause reads: “This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have become a law.” With no companion, no committee action in two sessions and no memorandum, that clause is unlikely to matter. As of September 15, 2026 the bill's status is “In Senate Committee.”
Related New York HOA Topics
Stay on top of New York HOA law
Every week: new New York legislation, court rulings, and regulatory developments affecting condos, planned communities, and property managers. Free.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.