Legislation-Regulation

January 10, 2024

LLC Transparency (New York) and the CTA (Federal) Compliance becomes reality and potentially expensive.

Corporate Compliance UPDATE—(January 10, 2024).

LLCs have been a favored entity for real estate for many years in New York. Times are changing. For those of you who own a beneficial interest in a New York Limited Liability Company, you need to contact your attorney. Effective January 1, 2024, LLCs must comply with New York’s new LLC Transparency Act, which will create a database of the beneficial owners of Limited Liability Corporations that is accessible to government agencies and law enforcement. According to our Governor,

“For far too long, bad actors have been protected by the loose disclosure requirements of LLC ownership. Wage theft, money laundering, tenant mistreatment and other unlawful activity has been masked by the opaque ownership structure of an LLC. The new LLC Transparency Act will give law enforcement and State regulators the tools they need to hold bad actors accountable.”

July 14, 2020

The State of Fair Housing in These Times of Change.

by Peter Klose

Before the recent protests and resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, I was asked by a group of Realtors to present a continuing education program on Fair Housing. I poured over the various laws in New York, particularly in Rockland and Westchester County to find the status of the law. With help from the Rockland County Division of Human Rights, I presented a fairly bland state of affairs to a mostly attentive group using hypothetical scenarios. Though I have dealt with some complaints over the years, as an attorney, I never really saw the how discrimination worked or operated in my communities. Until today. Today, I stumbled upon this fine piece of investigative journalism, and I commend all to read and watch the documentary.

To summarize, Newsday engaged the Fair Housing Justice Center in Long Island City, to help structure and implement testing and train testers, and then sent the results to two nationally recognized experts in fair housing standards to analyze the findings. The results are astounding.

By way of refresher, the federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing related transactions because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability or familial status. Many state and local laws also prohibit housing discrimination based on several additional protected classes. The Fair Housing Act applies to a wide variety of housing transactions, including rentals, sales, home mortgages, appraisals and homeowners insurance. Landlords, real estate agents, lenders, insurance companies and condominium, cooperative and homeowner associations must not discriminate because of one’s membership in a protected class.

February 16, 2018

Airbnb and the sharing economy: is it legal to rent out my home?

by Peter Klose

With the rise of the so-called “sharing economy,” more homeowners have been looking to rent out their properties in the short term on websites such as Airbnb to earn extra cash. However, as short term rentals have increased in popularity, municipalities across the United States have begun considering legislation and instituting stringent regulations or outright bans, often with hefty fines for violators.

Following the law is critical to listing on Airbnb, because you (and not Airbnb) can be held solely liable for the illegal listing. Many cities have taken to scouring the website to track down listings that are unapproved, and a new law signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2016 imposed fines of up to $7,500 on those caught illegally listing on the site. Critics of Airbnb argue that by making it easier to rent out apartment units for short terms, less units are available on the wider market which drives costs higher. Since 2010, it has been illegal in New York to rent out a whole apartment for less than thirty days (although the law makes an exception for when you are staying on the property for the duration of the stay). State lawmakers saw Airbnb as a tool to evade this law, and argued that stricter fines were necessary in order to stop the illegal rentals.

If you would like to rent a house on Airbnb outside of New York City, the laws are different than those for apartments. Your municipality could have an ordinance banning Airbnb already on the books (often rules prohibiting bed and breakfasts apply to Airbnb too), unbeknownst to you. One local resident of Grand-View-on-Hudson, in Rockland County, rented his home on Airbnb for New Years Eve. Not only did he return to over $100,000 in damage from the previous night’s party, the village’s mayor later told Lohud.com that Airbnb listings were in fact prohibited under local rules. (Not necessarily accurate)!

October 17, 2013

Thinking About Restructuring Your Mortgage? Why Now is the Time.

by Peter Klose

When thinking about restructuring a mortgage or even going through the foreclosure process, most homeowners are motivated by the bottom line-lower monthly mortgage payments or relief from burdening debt.

What most homeowners do not consider is that along with lower mortgage payments, they may receive an income tax bill from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The Internal Revenue Code, which embodies the federal tax laws, classifies some discharge or forgiveness of debt as taxable income.

In other words, if the bank agrees to foregive or reduce your principal on the mortgage you signed, then you may owe income tax on the foregiven portion of the mortgage. For example, say you restructure the mortgage on your New York State home and you consequently owe $30,000 less, that $30,000 is considered “income” and is potentially taxed. The idea is that if you borrow money, which is then not paid back, it is a debt that is not being paid back and is akin to receiving “free” money. The taxing authorities consider such foregiveness “income,” because you got the value, but are now not paying it back.

September 5, 2013

New Yorkers– Keep your STAR benefits: Everything you need to know.

by Peter Klose

Is there ever any tax relief? Property Taxes in New York are ever escalating. As a result, many tax payers claimed that their real estate was eligible for School Tax Relief (STAR), when many of such properties were not actually eligble. Asssessors around the State were missing out on millions of dollars. As a result, the New York State Legislature amended the law to require many New York homeowners to re-apply.

To qualify for STAR, you must occupy your home and your income plus your spouse’s income cannot exceed $500,000 per year. STAR then exempts the first $30,000 of the full value of a home from school taxes. Until now, homeowners signed up once for STAR and enjoyed the benefits year after year. However, the New York Department of Taxation and Finance is changing the rules for 2014. To continue receiving STAR benefits in 2014, a new law requires homeowners to re-affirm their eligibility. Registration started on August 19 and will end on December 31, 2013.

Homeowners currently receiving Basic Star should watch their mail. The State Taxation Department is mailing STAR codes to STAR recipients. The code is required to register. Letters were already sent to homeowners in Western New York in the following counties: Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates. The remainder of New York State will receive letters containing the codes by early October.

April 1, 2013

NYS STAR Exemption– Calling ALL homeowners in New York

by Peter Klose

After various district attorneys around the state found that homeowners were cheating the system, the New York State Legislature is poised to make all home owners RE-REGISTER for the STAR exemption which can result in a reduction of school taxes. According to recent reports, homeowners will have a year to re-apply for the program, with a deadline of April 1, 2014.

Under the STAR program, New York homeowners who make less than $500,000 and live in their property are eligible, making the the first $30,000 of the full value of a home from school taxes. New Yorkers 65 and older may qualify for the enhanced STAR program. That exempts the first $63,300 of the full value of a home.

Homeowners can apply for the STAR exemption on the website of the state Taxation and Finance Department.

November 18, 2012

Think Twice Before Posting an Online Review.

by Peter Klose

It seems to be getting a little more risky to post negative online reviews. A Virginia Court recently ordered that certain negative online reviews of a home improvement contractor be removed from Yelp.com, pending a trial for defamation against the reviewer.

The reviewer, apparently unsatisfied with the work performed by the contractor at her home, posted negative comments on the websites of Yelp and Angie’s List, alleging that the contractor caused damage to her home and that jewelry had gone missing after the contractor performed work at her home. A civil suit is currently pending against the reviewer who posted the negative comments seeking $750,000 in damages for defamation of the contractor.

While this isn’t the first defamation case arising from a negative online review, these lawsuits are fairly uncommon. Although the Communications Decency Act of 1996 protects websites like Yelp and Angie’s List from lawsuits relating to negative reviews posted by their users, the individuals posting such reviews are not immune from liability. In New York, like most other states, a claim for defamation arises when a person makes a false statement resulting in harm to another person’s reputation. Although there are a number of defenses that can prevent a plaintiff from succeeding in recovering damages on a defamation claim, proving that the statement is true is always a defense to such a claim.

August 8, 2012

Want fresh eggs everyday? Get a chicken (but check the Town Code first in New York).

by Peter Klose

(Update-COVID Response-June 23, 2020-Nyack)- A few years ago, farm to table eating became a “thing,” now it is even more important because of the COVID response of homeowners to staying in place. Everywhere you look in suburbia gardens are going in, chickens are being tended, honey bees added to back yards like never before. At the same time, people who have never lived next to animals, bees, poultry, chickens, or other back yard friends (some say “nuisances”), are reporting their friends and neighbors to building departments to complain. Suddenly the back yard chicken farmers must review the laws of zoning and morality.

We have seen these types of complaints in the Town of Clarkstown, New York. New neighbors, new problems. If taking fresh eggs to the new neighbor doesn’t work and you need to review the law, zoning and planning attorneys can help with violations, building permit applications and zoning variances we can help you. In places like Congers, Valley Cottage, Nanuet, different zones beget different sized lots. Right now, the Town of Clarkstown Code provides:

Additional Bulk Regulations §290-20(K). In the R-160, R-80, R-40, R-22, R-15 and R-10 Zoning Districts, keeping domestic animals (except pigs) for individual domestic purposes shall be permitted, provided that not more than one horse or cow per acre, five cats or dogs over six months old, and not more than 25 fowl shall be kept on any lot. No animals (except cats or dogs) shall be penned or housed within 50 feet of any lot line, and there shall be no storage of manure, animal waste or odor- or dust-producing substance or use, except spraying or dusting to protect vegetation, within 50 feet of any lot line, watercourse or wetland. [Added 3-22-2016 by L.L. No. 5-2016].

August 1, 2012

New York State Thoughts on Same Sex Couples and the Obstacles to Equal Rights in Parenting.

by Peter Klose

The New York Times recently ran an article highlighting the myriad of legal obstacles gay couples face in raising a family together.

For example, although many states allow a second mother to be listed on a child’s birth certificate, when a same sex married couple travels to a state that does not recognize their union, the relationship established by the child’s birth certificate may not be recognized (despite the general principle that state courts give full faith and credit to other states’ judgments).

This failure to recognize the same sex parent-child relationship can have widespread consequences. For example, an unrecognized parent may not have authority to make medical or other decisions for the child, and in the event of the legally recognized parent’s death, the other spouse would not necessarily be granted guardianship of the child.

December 15, 2011

Installing “Airports” on private land in New York.

by Peter Klose

So, your next door neighbor wants to “legalize,” install, or expand an airport in New York, what do you do? Hire a lawyer, participate in the process and call your legislators because any installation of an “airport” in New York requires legislative approval from the legislative body of the municipality. That approval, together with the “positive declaration” of the New York State Department of Transportation might just mean that you are dealing with an airport in your back yard.

Specifically, the Gen Bus. L, Section 249, states:

(3). Approval of privately-owned airports. No person shall hereafter establish a privately-owned airport or make an airport improvement to an existing privately-owned airport except by authorization of the governing body of the city, village or town in which such airport or any part thereof is proposed to be established or improved. The governing body of a city, village or town shall not authorize the establishment of such an airport or an airport improvement at a requested location unless in accordance with the standards prescribed by the commissioner of transportation. The local governing body of a city, village or town shall, prior to granting such authorization, request the commissioner of transportation to determine whether or not the establishment of such a privately-owned airport improvement complies with his standards.