We’re moving with help from a local pack and mover on Tuesday, July 30th, to:
369 Lexington Avenue, Suite 215
New York, NY 10017
Please update your records. Our phone and fax numbers will remain the same. If you have trouble reaching us on the phone early next week, please email and we will get right back to you.
Unfair property taxes were in the news again this week, although it didn’t sound like any mayoral candidates were paying attention. The Furman Center at NYU issued a study documenting how individual co-ops and condos in some luxury buildings sold for more than the full market assessments of the entire buildings they were in. The report explained the tortured history of co-op and condo assessment laws that attempted to make up for the fact that single family homeowners get a tremendous tax break in New York City while co-op and condo owners whose homes are taxed at class 2 rates would have been robbed by comparison…just because of the form of ownership. Interestingly, the Furman study concludes that the burden of the co-op and condo tax benefit falls mostly on other class 2 properties, primarily renters whose rents are pushed up by tax shifting.
Reddi Form and Progress Lighting have been added to the more than 20 manufacturers, including Lutron, Delta, Honeywell, that offer rebates to ABO members for building products purchased from anyone at any price. Part of the NYSBA Member Rebate program, members can apply for rebates until August 23rd for anything purchased since January. Why leave money on the table? You don’t even need receipts. Just fill out the form.
Mayor Bloomberg this week proposed legislation to require replacement of smoke detectors at the end of their useful life with new models that include a non-removable ten year battery. He also introduced two bills announced last week requiring visible public access stairways in new construction and substantial rehabs and amending fire door closure rules to promote the use of stairs to fight obesity.