New York City Cooperative and Condominium Property Tax Abatement
How MGNY handles the abatement filing
The abatement is granted building by building but earned unit by unit, and the work is an annual cycle rather than a one-time application. Here is the shape of it, from the first look at the record to the renewal that must never be missed.
The four stages
First, the record: what the building has and what it is missing
MGNY reads the building's position from the city's own records before anyone fills in a form: the assessment roll for the average unit value and the tier it sets, the benefit record for what already runs on the lot, and the unit census against the current filing. That review answers the questions that matter in order: is the building in the program at all, are all eligible units actually in the filing, and is anything running that conflicts.
The application or renewal, in the board's name, by February
The statute puts the application in the hands of the board of managers or the cooperative corporation's board of directors, on a deadline the city sets each year that can be no later than February 15. MGNY prepares and files it for the board: the initial application for a building entering the program, or the renewal and changes that keep a participating building current, including additions for new owners and removals the law requires.
Every eligible unit certified, every change captured
The benefit follows the owner, so the filing is only as good as its unit-level facts: who owned each unit on the taxable status date, which are primary residences, which are held in trust, which changed hands. The city requires owners to certify primary residence, and the certification is where units quietly fall out after a sale. MGNY runs that census so the eligible list and the filed list are the same list.
The prevailing wage affidavit, and staying clean
For buildings over the size and value thresholds, the annual filing includes the board's affidavit that building service employees receive the prevailing wage; the comptroller enforces it, and the city can claw back the abatement where wages fall short. The city can also deny or revoke where the building carries tax, water or sewer arrears outside a payment agreement. Both are manageable with notice, and fatal by surprise, so both are watched.
What changes when a unit sells
Eligibility is judged as of the taxable status date in early January, so a purchase later in the year starts the clock on the next cycle, and the seller’s abatement does not simply transfer. The law also lets the city deny or revoke an abatement where a transfer was made primarily to capture one, so timing and paperwork around a sale deserve real attention. For a buyer, the practical question is simple: is the unit in the building’s next filing, certified in your name? That is a question worth asking before the February deadline, not after it.
Find out where your own unit stands
The free check reads the city’s assessment roll and benefit record for your building, computes the tier its average unit value lands in, and prints an estimated annual saving alongside anything in the public record that needs attention. It takes about a minute and asks for no sign-up.