Late filing fees for Local Law 97 reports are 'punitive,' condo and co-op coalition says
- Buildings could face hundreds of thousands in late filing fees that would be passed to owners
- DOB said it is working with buildings to get their reports in to avoid unnecessary penalties
City Council member Carmen de La Rosa at a rally Thursday against the “landlord loophole” that allows building owners to buy renewable energy credits instead of reducing building pollution.
Celia Young for Brick Underground
A coalition of New York City condo and co-op associations say they expect their buildings to have difficulty meeting this year’s deadline for filing Local Law 97 paperwork and that many could face hundreds of thousands of dollars in late filing fees that will be passed along to owners and shareholders in the form of assessments.
A letter sent to the City Council on January 28th from representatives of the Council of New York Cooperatives & Condominiums, Association of Riverdale Cooperatives and Condominiums, Presidents Co-op & Condo Council, and others called the potential fees “crushing to co-op and condo homeowners,” and “punitive.” It claimed that problems with the DOB’s portal rollout make filing the required documents and doing so on time exceedingly complicated.
Under Local Law 97, most buildings over 25,000 square feet must meet emissions limits with the goal of reducing them by 40 percent by 2030.
If a building misses the 2025 reporting deadline, it faces a late filing fee of $.50 per square foot. The coalition estimates this means an owner with a 1,000-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment could expect to pay more than $500 for each month that their co-op or condo building is late filing its Local Law 97 benchmarking report for 2025.
The group has asked the council to waive all late filing fees for this year.
“No late fee should be of this order of magnitude,” said Mary Ann Rothman, executive director, Council of New York Cooperatives & Condominiums, in a statement to the media.
Late filing fees are estimated to be even higher for shareholders at Glen Oaks Village in Queens, according to Bob Friedrich, co-op board president and co-president of Presidents Co-op & Condo Council.
“These punitive late filing fees would amount to more than $900,000 per year for Glen Oaks Village. These penalties would necessitate crushing special assessments for shareholders and seniors that are already living paycheck to paycheck. It is unconscionable that our elected officials would allow this to happen,” Friedrich said.
The coalition also wants council members to amend Local Law 97 to bring its late filing fees in line with other local laws, which are assessed per filer, instead of the current square-foot basis.
Response from the DOB
A spokesperson for the Department of Buildings pointed out that buildings have until the May 1st deadline, and that there is a two-month grace period—through June 30th. And DOB rules allow for an extension through August 29th.
"With an estimated 90 percent of buildings expected to already be under their 2024 emissions limit, it is imperative that owners file their reports when the portal goes live, beginning next month, so that they aren’t receiving unnecessary penalties solely for administrative paperwork reasons,” said Andrew Rudansky, press secretary for the Department of Buildings, in a statement to Brick.
“The purpose of Local Law 97 is to get building owners to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions from our built environment, and the department will continue to support those who are taking decisive action to file their reports, especially as we build out the first compliance year,” Rudansky said.
A complicated extension process
It’s not so easy to get an extension, Rebecca Poole, director of membership at the Council of New York Cooperatives & Condominiums, told Brick.
She said that to obtain an extension to file in August instead of June, a building must have engaged a registered design professional by February 1st and that a professional must file a separate application between April 30th and June 30th requesting the extension, which must be accompanied by additional documentation, including an affidavit stating why the report could not be submitted on time.
It’s all spelled out on pages 16-17 of a 130-page guide to filing Local Law 97 reports.
Poole and other members of the coalition, which says it represents 300,000 co-op and condo households across NYC, contend the requirement that executed contracts be in place by February 1st was not widely advertised.
“The DOB began running social media posts about the requirement around January 10th, leaving buildings with two weeks to sign contracts, if they or their managers saw the posts,” she said.
New measurements for this year’s benchmarking
There are two other complications as well: A delay in introducing the portal for Local Law 97 reports and buildings are no longer allowed to use measurements that were accepted in prior benchmarking reports; they must engage professionals to create new measurements.
“We consider this to be bad faith on the part of the DOB,” Poole told Brick. “A lot of co-ops and condos invested in decarbonizing. For [prior] benchmarking reports, they used the Department of Finance gross square footage to generate how much carbon is produced. They hadn’t measured the building themselves.
“But now to file this year’s benchmarking for Local Law 97, buildings need architects and engineers to do measurements and attest to them. Part of that involves submitting one of three types of drawings, but the instructions are very vague.”
Poole argued that the DOB could have chosen to extend the grace period through August 29th without an application process “given the magnitude of the late filing fees and the fact that the platform is not ready.”
Those late filing fees are excessive and punitive, she said. “Is the goal carbon emissions reduction, or the collection of late filing fees?
Putting teeth into Local Law 97
The Department of Buildings considers documenting floor area necessary to determine the emissions limit of a building and it “will give building owners every opportunity to reach out to us and get their reports in, so building owners can avoid unnecessary penalties.”
“We currently do not have any concerns related to our capacity to receive Local Law 97 emissions compliance reports when the portal goes live next month,” Rudansky said.
Implementing higher penalties for Local Law 97 was the City Council’s intention, he noted.
“When the City Council passed Local Law 97, they specifically included high penalties in the law for failing to file a report, so building owners cannot escape their obligations to reduce emissions by simply never submitting any of the annual reports,” Rudansky said.
‘Not looking to penalize the little guy'
Speaking at a rally Thursday against the “landlord loophole” that allows building owners to buy renewable energy credits instead of reducing building pollution, Council member Carmen de La Rosa said the council isn’t looking to punish buildings that are making efforts to reduce their emissions.
“We’re not looking to penalize the little guy,” de La Rosa said. Waiving or limiting late filing fees for Local Law 97 reports for co-op and condo buildings is “a conversation to be had,” she said.
To Council member Vickie Paladino, monthly late filing fees for Local Law 97 "should not exist" because they create an unreasonable financial burden.
"These fees are not only punitive but also create significant challenges for property owners striving to comply with the law," Paladino said.
Council member Linda Lee said her office has also heard from co-op and condo associations in her district.
“Buildings across the city are making genuine, good-faith efforts to comply, yet they face hefty late fees, which will ultimately be passed on to residents. Our city must do more to prevent families from being priced out of their homes,” she said.
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