If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. That's the philosophy of New York City co-op advocates who have introduced legislation for the third time in an effort to forever immunize co-ops from future landlord-tenant laws.
The first try came in 2021, two years after the state Legislature passed the sweeping Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act. Since co-ops have a landlord-tenant relationship based on each shareholder's proprietary lease, there was confusion over whether the tenant protections in the law would be applied to co-ops. In 2021, a law went into effect carving co-ops out from the law's limits on security deposits, application fees, collection of attorneys' fees and other provisions.
The second try came in 2024 with passage of the Good Cause Eviction bill, which was designed to protect rental tenants but again appeared in danger of affecting co-op boards and shareholders. That potentially "disastrous" prospect, in the words of one co-op advocate, was averted at the last minute when co-ops were again carved out of the bill.
Now it's time for a third try. State Sen. Toby Stavisky and Assemblymember Edward Braunstein, both Queens Democrats, have introduced companion bills in Albany that would forever remove co-ops from laws affecting landlords and their tenants.
The bills state: "(T)he term 'landlord' when used in the real property law, shall not include or apply to any corporation, entity or organization, hereinafter known as a 'cooperative entity' that is or is operating for the purpose of providing housing and/or residences for its shareholders..."
Geoffrey Mazel, a partner at the law firm Hankin & Mazel and counsel for the Presidents Co-op and Condo Council (PCCC), is hopeful the bills will forever put to rest the confusion over who is covered by landlord-tenant legislation. "We saw how much work went into the changing the two earlier landlord-tenant laws that were not intended for co-ops," he says. "These new bills should stop the inadvertent inclusion of co-ops in traditional landlord-tenant legislation. It's a small ask."
Bob Friedrich, president of Glen Oaks Village co-op in Queens and a co-president of the PCCC, adds: "This is a great piece of legislation. Simple, common sense."