New York State Executive Law Sections 296.2b and 296.18a were amended, effective as of March 2, 2021, to require landlords or their managing agents to provide a Reasonable Accommodation Notice (“Notice”) to all residential tenants and subtenants (which implicitly includes shareholders of cooperatives). In order to comply with the new laws, the Notice must be sent to all current tenants, subtenants and shareholders by April 1, 2021, and must be provided to all future tenants, subtenants and shareholders within thirty (30) days of the commencement of their tenancies. (Note: An amendment to the new laws was passed on March 25, 2021, removing the requirement that the Notice must be conspicuously posted on an apartment upon its vacancy.)
Although the new laws do not explicitly state that the Notice requirement is applicable to condominiums and homeowners associations, it is recommended that condominium and homeowners association boards or their management companies send a copy of the Notice to all units that are currently being leased or sublet, and going forward the Notice should be included in all sales, sublet and leasing applications.
Here is a link to the Notice form which can be found on the New York State Division of Humans Rights website: https://dhr.ny.gov/requirednotice. Please note that some of the statements in the Notice form mention slightly different legal standards than applicable NYC disability law standards. Consequently, we recommend that after you comply with the April 1, 2021 deadline, you revisit the Notice requirements with legal counsel in the near future to address any amendments as well as compliance with NYC laws, if applicable to you.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at (212) 376-9307 or mkayam@lasserlg.com.
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