NYC COPA signed: distressed building sales face 95-day window

Why it matters

For a seller or broker, the law changes the order of operations. A qualified entity gets notice, then time to bid, then a window to match a later buyer’s offer. A trade that used to run from listing to contract in weeks now carries a built-in waiting period that has to be priced into the deal.

NY1 reports distress is defined as an average of three or more open hazardous violations per year. That makes the building’s violation history, not its asking price, the trigger. Buyers underwriting a covered asset should assume a nonprofit counter-bid is possible.

The numbers

NY1 reports qualified nonprofits have 20 days from the moment a covered building is listed to say they are interested. The owner then has 5 days to respond, and the nonprofit has 70 days to submit an offer. Added together, that is a 95-day sequence before the open market is clear. Our sum, not a figure from the bill.

The Mayor’s Office describes a 145-day offer window and a right to match another buyer’s offer for one year after a nonprofit’s offer is rejected. The release and the press coverage describe those stages differently, so owners should wait for the final text before building a closing calendar around them.

HPD keeps the list of qualified entities: nonprofits, tenant groups and community land trusts with experience acquiring and managing affordable housing and the financial capacity to close.

What’s next

The Real Deal reports the law takes effect one year after signing, which leaves time for HPD to write rules. The Mayor’s Office release did not state an effective date or a Local Law number, so we have not published either. Industry groups opposed the bill, and a court challenge is possible.

Until then, sellers of four-plus-unit buildings with heavy violation counts should clear open hazardous violations, keep clean records for HPD and line up lenders who will tolerate a longer path to close. More New York City policy coverage is at /markets/new-york/.