339-y. Separate taxation. 1. (a) With respect to all property submitted to the provisions of this article other than property which is the subject of a qualified leasehold condominium, each unit and its common interest, not including any personal property, shall be deemed to be a parcel and shall be subject to separate assessment and taxation by each assessing unit, school district, special district, county or other taxing unit, for all types of taxes authorized by law including but not limited to special ad valorem levies and special assessments, except that the foregoing shall not apply to a unit held under lease or sublease unless the declaration requires the unit owner to pay all taxes attributable to his unit. Neither the building, the property nor any of the common elements shall be deemed to be a parcel.
(b) In no event shall the aggregate of the assessment of the units plus their common interests exceed the total valuation of the property were the property assessed as a parcel.
(c) For the purposes of this and the next succeeding section the terms "assessing unit", "assessment", "parcel", "special ad valorem levy", "special assessment", "special district", "taxation" and "taxes" shall have the meanings specified in section one hundred two of the real property tax law.
(d) The provisions of paragraph (b) of this subdivision shall not apply to such real property classified within:
(i) on and after January first, nineteen hundred eighty-six, class one of section one thousand eight hundred two of the real property tax law; or
(ii) on and after January first, nineteen hundred eighty-four, the homestead class of an approved assessing unit which has adopted the provisions of section one thousand nine hundred three of the real property tax law, or the homestead class of the portion outside an approved assessing unit of an eligible split school district which has adopted the provisions of section nineteen hundred three-a of the real property tax law; provided, however, that, in an approved assessing unit which adopted the provisions of section one thousand nine hundred three of the real property tax law prior to the effective date of this subdivision, paragraph (b) of this subdivision shall apply to all such real property (i) which is classified within the homestead class pursuant to paragraph one of subdivision (e) of section one thousand nine hundred one of the real property tax law and (ii) which, regardless of classification, was on the assessment roll prior to the effective date of this subdivision unless the governing body of such approved assessing unit provides by local law adopted after a public hearing, prior to the taxable status date of such assessing unit next occurring after December thirty-first, nineteen hundred eighty-three, that such paragraph (b) shall not apply to such real property to which this clause applies. Provided further, however, real property subject to the provisions of this subparagraph shall be assessed pursuant to subdivision two of section five hundred eighty-one of the real property tax law.
(e) On the first assessment roll with a taxable status date on or after the effective date of a declaration filed with the recording officer and on every assessment roll thereafter, the assessor shall enter each unit as a parcel, as provided in paragraph (a) of this subdivision, based upon the condition and ownership of each such unit on the appropriate valuation and taxable status dates. Units owned by a developer may be entered as a single parcel with a parcel description corresponding to the entire development, including the land under such development, and excluding those units appearing separately. Upon the first assessment roll where each unit is separately assessed, only an individual unit and its common interest shall constitute a parcel.
(f) The provisions of paragraph (b) of this subdivision shall not apply to a converted condominium unit in a municipal corporation other than a special assessing unit, which has adopted, prior to the taxable status date of the assessment roll upon which its taxes will be levied, a local law or, for a school district, a resolution providing that the provisions of paragraph (b) of this subdivision shall not apply to a converted condominium unit within that municipal corporation. A converted condominium unit for purposes of this paragraph shall mean a dwelling unit held in condominium form of ownership that has previously been on an assessment roll as a dwelling unit in other than condominium form of ownership, and has not been previously subject to the provisions of paragraph (b) of this subdivision.
2. With respect only to qualified leasehold condominiums:
(a) Each unit, its common interest, not including any personal property, and the proportionate undivided part of the real property which is the subject of a qualified leasehold condominium and is allocated to such unit (as expressed in the declaration), shall be deemed to be a parcel, shall be subject to separate assessment to the unit owner and shall be subject to taxation by each assessing unit, school district, special district, county or other taxing unit for all types of taxes authorized by law including, but not limited to, special ad valorem levies and special assessments. Neither the real property which is the subject of a qualified leasehold condominium, the building, the property nor any of the common elements shall be deemed to be a parcel. In no event shall the aggregate of the assessment of the units plus their common interests plus their proportionate undivided parts (as expressed in the declaration) of said real property exceed the total valuation of the property and said real property assessed as a single parcel owned in fee. No provision of this paragraph shall be deemed to subject to taxation any parcel or part thereof which, pursuant to applicable law, is either exempt from taxation or with respect to which no taxes are payable.
(b) For the purposes of section five hundred two of the real property tax law, both the unit owner and the owner of the real property which is the subject of a qualified leasehold condominium shall be deemed to be the owner of the parcel in which such unit is included; provided, however, that for the purposes of section nine hundred twenty-six of the real property tax law, only the unit owner shall be deemed the owner of the parcel in which such unit is included and only the unit owner shall be personally liable for the payment of any taxes assessed against such parcel. Only the fee owner of the land which is the subject of a qualified leasehold condominium, however, shall be deemed to be the owner of the parcel in which a unit is included for the purposes of determining whether such parcel is subject to or exempt from taxation or whether no taxes are payable with respect thereto.
(c) The taxes assessed against each unit, its common interest and the proportionate undivided part of the real property which is the subject of a qualified leasehold condominium allocated to such unit (as expressed in the declaration), shall constitute a lien solely on that unit, its common interest and the proportionate undivided part of said real property allocated to such unit (as expressed in the declaration), and such taxes shall not constitute a lien on any other unit or the common interest of any other unit or the proportionate undivided part of said real property allocated to any other unit (as expressed in the declaration).
(d) At such time as the real property which is the subject of a qualified leasehold condominium is submitted to the provisions of this article, the assessing unit shall make provision so that the real property which (i) is not the subject of a qualified leasehold condominium and (ii) immediately prior to such submission was included in a parcel in which there also was included all or any part of the real property which is (immediately subsequent to such submission) the subject of a qualified leasehold condominium, is established as a single parcel on the assessment roll and tax map of such assessing unit, separate and apart from any real property which is the subject of a qualified leasehold condominium.
3. All provisions of a declaration relating to a unit, its common interest and the proportionate undivided part of the real property which is the subject of a qualified leasehold condominium allocated to such unit (as expressed in the declaration), which has been sold for taxes shall survive and shall be enforceable after the issuance of a tax deed for such unit to the same extent that such provisions would be enforceable against a voluntary grantee of such unit immediately prior to the delivery of such tax deed.
4. The board of managers may act as an agent of each unit owner who has given his written authorization to seek administrative and judicial review of an assessment made in accordance with subdivision one of this section, pursuant to title one-A of article five and title one of article seven of the real property tax law. The board of managers may retain legal counsel on behalf of all unit owners for which it is acting as agent and to charge all such unit owners a pro rata share of expenses, disbursements and legal fees for which charges the board of managers shall have a lien pursuant to section three hundred thirty-nine-z.
5. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general, special or local law to the contrary, in a city having a population of one million or more, the board of managers shall be authorized to act as the sole agent on behalf of all unit owners, without authorization of each unit owner, for the limited purpose of determining whether or not to waive prospectively the benefit of real property tax abatement and exemption for the property in order to qualify for a partial abatement of real property taxes pursuant to section four hundred sixty-seven-a of the real property tax law.
Last modified: February 3, 2019