In a decision dated November 25, 2020, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York upheld the validity of three local laws enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Local Laws are the “Residential harassment law” (Local Law 56-2020, amending Admin. Code Section 27-2004(a)(48)); the “Commercial harassment law”...

Chapter 297 of the Laws of 2019, enacted September 13, 2019 to “take effect immediately”, amends Tax Law Section 1409(a) and adds a new subdivision (h) to Section 11-205 of New York City’s Administrative Code, requiring that transfer tax returns for the sale of residential real property sold or purchased by a limited liability company include...

Local Law 46-2016 was enacted by the Town Board of the Town of Hempstead to add Section 128-61.1 (“Foreclosures; Undertaking”) to the Town’s Code which requires a lender foreclosing a mortgage on vacant property improved by a single-family, a two-family or a multiple-family residence to provide the Town, within  forty-five calendar days from the...

New York State remains the only state still using UCC forms dated 2001. While it may appear to be embarrassing as the “financial center of the world”, there are actually some benefits of these old forms over the new forms being used by every other state.

The New York City Real Property Transfer is as much as 2.625% on the transfer of commercial real property and on the transfer of a controlling interest in a real property owning entity. New York State’s Real Estate Transfer Tax on such transfers is $4.00 for each $1,000 of consideration. With some material exceptions, these taxes are generally...