New York City is facing a severe housing and affordability crisis. In such a constrained environment, every part of our housing system must operate efficiently, fairly, and transparently. Yet for too long, one major pathway to homeownership — the cooperative apartment purchase process — has operated with little structure and virtually no accountability.
That is precisely the gap the City Council sought to address through my bill, Intro 1120 — and why it is critical that the Council now move to override former Mayor Adams’ veto of this legislation.
Co-op boards have not been required to acknowledge or respond to a purchase application within any defined timeframe. A buyer could submit every requested document, meet every requirement, and still be left waiting indefinitely, without updates on where their application stood.
For potential homeowners, this uncertainty carries serious financial and logistical consequences. Mortgage rate locks expire, moving plans get disrupted, and sellers are forced to absorb extended carrying costs. Co-op buildings are also impacted, as prolonged vacancies complicate budgeting and operational planning, creating avoidable strain for shareholders and management alike.
Intro 1120 was designed to end this uncertainty by establishing clear, enforceable procedural standards for co-op application review. Former Mayor Eric Adams’ veto was an attempt to reinforce an opaque system that concentrates control in private hands while denying applicants basic procedural protections.
Given the sordid history of discrimination in housing, a system that permits indefinite delay without transparency would create significant risk for unequal treatment. When decisions can be postponed without consequence, the process favors those with the resources to wait while penalizing New Yorkers who cannot afford uncertainty in an already strained housing market.
In a housing crisis, City government has an obligation to shield people from these risks — and the City Council has a responsibility to act. The bill establishes enforceable timelines and communication standards to ensure transparency without disrupting cooperative governance.
At its core, my bill protects co-op buyers from being left in limbo during one of the most consequential financial decisions of their lives. It was developed in partnership with the New York State Association of REALTORS®, who’s on-the-ground experience confirms a hard truth — when timelines are undefined, buyers are exposed to arbitrary and potentially discriminatory outcomes with no meaningful recourse.
Intro 1120 creates three core requirements: a defined period for acknowledging receipt of an application; a clear window for determining whether the application is complete and a reasonable timeframe for issuing a final decision once all materials have been submitted.
Limited extensions are available when additional review time is warranted, and further extensions are permitted when mutually agreed upon between the board and the applicant.
This framework mandates a basic administrative structure that most major housing transactions already rely on. It ensures that each step of the process — receipt, review, follow-up, and decision — occurs within a set period, reducing inconsistencies which have historically varied from building to building. The clarity this legislation brings strengthens the overall process and allows it to function in a more organized and timely manner.
Other jurisdictions in New York State, including Westchester, Rockland, Nassau, Dutchess, and Suffolk have all enacted co-op timeline laws that establish clear expectations for when applications must be acknowledged and when decisions must be communicated. These county laws have provided a reliable procedural framework without requiring changes to how boards evaluate applicants or exercise their authority.
The success of these measures offers a practical model for New York City at a moment when reliability in the housing market is critically important.
I have received an abundance of feedback from both my constituents and New Yorkers across the city who have experienced needless stress and financial strain due to undefined co-op application processes.
As the city works to preserve affordability, stabilize neighborhoods, and expand access to homeownership, we must recognize this as a systemic failure. We must restore fairness and predictability to a market under extreme pressure. We will override the veto on Intro 1120.
