New York Not-For-Profit Corporation Law Section 1609 - Disposition of property.

1609. Disposition of property.

(a) The land bank shall hold in its own name, or in the name of a lawfully organized subsidiary, all real property acquired by the land bank irrespective of the identity of the transferor of such property.

(a-1) This section governing the disposition of property by land banks shall supersede section twenty-eight hundred ninety-seven of the public authorities law in the governance of property dispositions by land banks and, as such, notwithstanding any other general, special or local law to the contrary, section twenty-eight hundred ninety-seven of the public authorities law shall not apply to land banks.

(b) The land bank shall maintain and make available for public review and inspection a complete inventory of all real property dispositions by the land bank. Such inventory shall include a complete copy of the sales contract including all terms and conditions including, but not limited to, any form of compensation received by the land bank or any other party which is not included within the sale price.

(c) The land bank shall determine and set forth in policies and procedures of the board of directors the general terms and conditions for consideration to be received by the land bank for the transfer of real property and interests in real property, which consideration may take the form of monetary payments and secured financial obligations, covenants and conditions related to the present and future use of the property, contractual commitments of the transferee, and such other forms of consideration as are consistent with state and local law.

(d) The land bank may convey, exchange, sell, transfer, lease as lessor, grant, release and demise, pledge any and all interests in, upon or to real property of the land bank.

(e) A foreclosing governmental unit may, in its local law, resolution or ordinance creating a land bank, or, in the case of multiple foreclosing governmental units creating a single land bank in the applicable intergovernmental cooperation agreement, establish a hierarchical ranking of priorities for the use of real property conveyed by a land bank including but not limited to:

(1) use for purely public spaces and places;

(2) use for affordable housing;

(3) use for retail, commercial and industrial activities;

(4) use as wildlife conservation areas; and

(5) such other uses and in such hierarchical order as determined by the foreclosing governmental unit or units.

(f) A foreclosing governmental unit may, in its local law, resolution or ordinance creating a land bank, or, in the case of multiple foreclosing governmental units creating a single land bank in the applicable intergovernmental cooperation agreement, require that any particular form of disposition of real property, or any disposition of real property located within specified jurisdictions, be subject to specified voting and approval requirements of the board of directors. Except and unless restricted or constrained in this manner, the board of directors may delegate to officers and employees the authority to enter into and execute agreements, instruments of conveyance and all other related documents pertaining to the conveyance of real property by the land bank.

(g) All property dispositions shall be listed on the property disposition inventory established pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section within one week of disposition. Such records shall remain available for public inspection in the property disposition inventory indefinitely.

(h) Failure to comply with the requirements in paragraph (g) of this section shall subject the land bank to a civil penalty of one hundred dollars per violation up to a maximum of ten thousand dollars for each parcel, recoverable in an action brought by the attorney general or district attorney. The attorney general or district attorney may also seek rescission of the real property transaction.


Last modified: February 3, 2019