Host Mark Levine of EBMG LLC goes over some of the more pressing issues at the end of 2021 and beginning of 2022.

Email the show! [email protected] or call Mark Levine directly at 212-335-2723 x.201.

NYC Bed Bugs Filings: Due 12/31/21

Local Law 152 of 2016 Gas Inspections: 6 Month Extensions Permitted for 2021

FISP / Local Law 11: Subcycle C begins on 2/21/22 and Subcycle A is DUE on 2/21/22.

Vaccinations for all Building Employees: Required by law as of 12/27/21.

The following provisions of the Housing Stability Tenant Protection Act no longer apply to cooperatives:

The provision limiting security deposits and advances to one month’s rent. This has been a serious impediment, as before HSTPA, cooperative boards often conditioned consent for a purchaser with insufficient or marginal finances upon the posting of a significant maintenance escrow. Cooperative boards may now use maintenance escrows again, without a limitation on the amount held in escrow. See GOL 7-108.

The requirement for the landlord to give notice if a lease renewal is not offered to a tenant, or if a renewal is offered at an increase of rent equal to or greater than 5%. Cooperatives must comply with the provisions of their governing documents or any other laws on this point. See RPL 226-c.

The prohibition of fees at the beginning of a tenancy, except for a credit or background check reimbursement of no more than $20. A cooperative’s transfer agent or management company may now charge fees for processing an application, and they are now entitled to full reimbursement of the cost of a credit check, regardless of the amount. A comment in the Governor’s signing memo makes reference to the fees being reasonable and “approved by a supervising agency.” These comments are not yet part of the law, and we are not certain how that second requirement will be considered going forward. See RPL 238-a.

The limitation of payments, fees or charges for the late payment of rent to $50 or 5%, whichever is less. The proprietary lease or occupancy agreement often provides for interest and/or late fees, and these may now be collected once again, though the total amount of “any payment, fee or charge for the late payment of rent” is limited to EIGHT (8%) PERCENT of the monthly maintenance if the proprietary lease or occupancy agreement permits. See RPL 238-a.

The provision that only rent (as narrowly defined by HSTPA) may be sought in a summary proceeding. A cooperative may now again seek eviction of a tenant shareholder for nonpayment of both “rent” and any fees, charges, penalties or assessments due under the proprietary lease or occupancy agreement in a summary proceeding. See RPAPL 702.

The requirement that an additional five-day notice be sent by certified mail if maintenance is not timely received. This provision does not relieve a cooperative of the additional five-day notice that HSTPA mandates, but does allow the notice to be given in the manner required by the proprietary lease or occupancy agreement rather than by certified mail. Since most proprietary leases require notices to be given by certified or registered mail, this change may be of little impact. See RPL 235-e.

The provision prohibiting the collection of attorneys’ fees when there is a default judgment in a summary eviction proceeding. If there is a provision in the proprietary lease or occupancy agreement that permits the recovery of attorneys’ fees, it is now possible to recover the fees even if the tenant shareholder defaults. See RPL 234.

Happy New Year!!!

Host Mark Levine from NYC property management firm EBMG talks with Steven Cohen, CIC, Vice President of Bermack, Champion & Lewine about various insurance issues in the real estate world.

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Topics on this episode include Labor Law 240, workman's comp coverage, umbrella coverages, increasing insurance premiums, alterations and more.

Feel free to reach out to Steven Cohen directly at 212-239-1140 or via email at [email protected].

Mark Levine can be reached at 212-335-2723 x.201 or via email at [email protected].

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Host Mark Levine of NYC Property Management company EBMG walks listeners through a variety of interesting topics that have just been released in September 2021.

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Among the topics discussed on today's episode:

Westchester Co-op Disclosure Law:

Upon receipt of each co-op purchase application, the Board of Directors must inform the purchaser whether the application is “complete” within 15 days after receipt. If the application is incomplete, the Board must inform the purchaser of each “defect” in the application. Upon receipt of any revised application the Board then must within another 15 days either acknowledge receipt of a complete application or inform purchaser of “any uncured defect”.

Once a “properly completed application” is submitted by the purchaser, the Board has 60 days to send the purchaser a notice of rejection or approve the application. If the purchaser’s application is rejected, the Board of Directors must provide a “notice of rejection” to the Westchester Human Rights Commission (the “HRC”) within 15 days from the date purchaser was notified of the denial of their application.

The Notice of Rejection sent to the HRC must include the following:

FAIR HOUSING LAW TRAINING

The new law now requires existing Directors to complete two (2) hours of fair housing training every two years. Further, each new Director must complete a minimum of two hours of training within 60 days after joining the Board. The Cooperative must maintain records of every member’s training and must make the records available to the HRC upon request. The HRC is responsible for publishing an outline of minimum standards for the training and these standards were to be available by August 16th . (As of the date of this publication, they were not available.)

PENALTIES FOR NON-COMPLIANCE

If the Cooperative does not comply with the new housing law, the noncompliance could result in a fine of $1,000 for the first offense, $1,500 for a second offense and $2,000 for a third offense. The HRC has 1 year from the date of the violation to bring these charges.

Condo / Coop Abatement Law:

To get the CCA starting 2022/23, a building must either:

(i) have AVs ≤ $60k per unit, or (ii) have $60k < AV ≤ $100k per unit AND have dwelling units < 30, or (iii) pay all building service employees the applicable prevailing wage.

In other words, if a building wants to get the CCA starting 2022/23, and it has:

(a) AVs > $60k per unit AND at least 30 dwelling units, or (b) AVs > $100k per unit (even small buildings < 30 apartments), Then it must pay all building service employees the applicable prevailing wage.

Habitat Mag "Objectionable Conduct" Review

Host Mark Levine (212-335-2723 x.201 or [email protected]) of NYC property management firm EBMG talks with Robert Castellano, Vice President of VDA (212-868-9090 x.128 or [email protected]) on upcoming changes to the NYC requirements on elevator testing, beginning on January 1, 2022.

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Effective January 1, 2022 several changes to the NYC Building Code and the Elevator and Escalator Safety Code will impact the way elevators will be inspected and tested in the City of New York.  Most notably, the NYC Department of Buildings will no longer subcontract “Periodic Inspections” to what were previously known as “PVT Agencies”, but rather the performance of these yearly vertical transportation inspections will become the responsibility of the building owner.

The following additions and/or changes to the NYC Building Code, Article 304 - Elevators and Conveying Systems are being adopted:

Category 1 & 5 Inspections

The completed reports, with all applicable signatures, shall be filed within 21 days after the date of the test. Exception: Reports are not required to be submitted to the department for private residence wheelchair lifts and private residence dumbwaiter devices. However, the owner shall maintain an inspection and test log to be available to the department upon request.

All defects as found in such category test report shall be corrected within 90 days after the date of test. An Affirmation of Correction shall be filed within 14 days of the date of correction.

Periodic Inspections

Periodic inspections shall be performed between January 1st and December 31st of each year at a minimum of three months from the date of any Category 1 testing or previous periodic inspection. Initial periodic inspections on new installations must be performed in the calendar year following the final acceptance test. For private residence elevators, the periodic inspection and Category 1 and/or 5 testing may be performed on the same date. Filing of Periodic Inspections in DOB NOW must be completed within fourteen (14) days of the date of Inspection.

All defects as noted in such periodic inspection report must be corrected within 90 days after the date of inspection. The department may grant an extension of 45 days upon submission of an application by the owner demonstrating a practical difficulty in complying within the 90-day timeframe. In no case shall more than two such extensions be granted for a specific defect. An Affirmation of Correction shall be filed within 14 days after the date of correction.

Host Mark Levine of NYC Property Management firm EBMG LLC sits down in the Zoom studio with Michael Pinchasick of Compass (Michael is also a former partner of EBMG - hear the back story!) to discuss residential buildings and the steps they can take to increase sales prices - and more.

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Michael Pinchasick can be emailed directly at [email protected] or via phone at 516-978-4831.

Mark Levine can be called directly at 212-335-2723 x.201 or via email on his corporate account at [email protected].

Host Mark Levine, of Property Management Group EBMG talks with Michael Lifland and Paul Eisenberg, owners of RCG Tower Group on topics related to rooftop cellular communication. Topics include leasing rooftop space, geographic locations, long-term buyouts, decommissions, agreement terms and more.

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RCG Tower can be reached via phone at 646-300-9011 or via email at [email protected].

Feel free to also reach out to Mark Levine on his corporate email of [email protected] or via phone at 212-335-2723 x.201.

Host Mark Levine of NYC property management firm EBMG sits with Hal Coopersmith, Esq., a third-generation New York City based lawyer, to talk about the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act and how it relates to rentals, coops and condos, his tracking service RezcueMe, his podcast, the "NY Launch Pod" and his law firm, Coopersmith & Coopersmith.

Email the show! [email protected]

To contact Mark Levine directly by phone, call 212-335-2723 x.201 or via his corporate email at [email protected].

If you have any topics you'd like to have us cover, please let us know and we'll try to tackle it here on the Podcast.

In this first episode of 2021 host Mark Levine of NYC property management firm EBMG sits down over zoom with interior designer Joy Goldman, ASID, owner of Joy Renee Interiors. Mark and Joy tackle the difference between a designer and a decorator, common area upgrades, the design process, how a board can work through and approve designs, how to deal with large buildings & opinions and more.

Email the show at [email protected]!

Call Mark Levine directly at 212-335-2723 x.201 or email his corporate email at [email protected].

We look forward to 2021 bringing more content, interviews and helpful information.

Host Mark Levine from NYC Property Management firm EBMG speaks with Ashley Sweet of iES MACH to discuss air quality monitoring and energy monitoring in buildings of all uses and sizes.  

These products are especially useful now due to COVID related air issues as well as the energy benchmarking that is required in NYC under Local Law 97.  Ashley walks us through the different types of products, data that is collected, how they work together and how we can use them to lower operating costs / increase efficiencies.  

Ashley's Email: [email protected]  

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Mark's new TikTok! https://www.tiktok.com/@markinrealestate?lang=en

Call Mark Levine directly at 212-335-2723 x.201 or via corporate email at [email protected]

Host Mark Levine, or NYC Property Management firm EBMG walks listeners and viewers through the back-end spreadsheets and online ballots that he creates for all of his Annual Meetings for coop and condo buildings that he manages in the NYC area.

VIEW THE VIDEO: https://youtu.be/O_UfA_iNgiE

Email the show! [email protected]

Feel free to call Mark Levine directly at 212-335-2723 x.201 or via corporate email at [email protected].