Terms Used In New York Laws > Real Property

• Advance fee: means any fee claimed, demanded, charged, received or collected from a customer before the customer has leased or rented a private dwelling, abode or place of residence through the information provided by an apartment information vendor. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-306
• Agent: means a person who is licensed as a real estate broker or a real estate salesperson pursuant to section four hundred forty-a of this chapter and is acting in a fiduciary capacity. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-318
• Apartment information vendor: means any person who engages in the business of claiming, demanding, charging, receiving, collecting, or contracting for the collection of, a fee from a customer for furnishing information concerning the location and availability of real property, including apartment housing, which may be leased, rented, shared or sublet as a private dwelling, abode, or place of residence. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-306
• Associate real estate broker: means a licensed real estate broker who shall by choice elect to work under the name and supervision of another individual broker or another broker who is licensed under a partnership, trade name, limited liability company or corporation. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-114
• Binding contract of sale: means a real estate purchase contract or offer that would, upon signing by the seller and subject to satisfaction of any contingencies, require the buyer to accept a transfer of title. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-318
• Bondholder: shall mean and include any person, firm, association or corporation owning or holding a mortgage investment. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 17-1003
• Building: means a multi-unit building or buildings, or a group of buildings whether or not attached to each other, comprising a part of the property. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-103
• Calendar year: shall mean a regular and consecutive twelve month period, as determined by an employer. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• Child: shall mean a biological, adopted or foster child, a legal ward, or a child of an employee standing in loco parentis. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• Client: means any person who engages or seeks to engage the services of a home inspector for the purpose of obtaining inspection of and written report about the condition of a residential building. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-134
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of parks and recreation. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 18-101
• Commissioner: shall mean the head of such office or agency as the mayor shall designate pursuant to section 20-a of the charter. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• Commissioner of finance: means the commissioner of finance of the city. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 11-1901
• Committee: shall mean and include a person or group of persons, however known or designated, appointed by agreement, assignment, proxy, consent, authorization, power of attorney, or other similar instrument to act as an agency to receive and hold mortgage investments deposited by bondholders and to administer or do any act in respect to the same for the bondholders. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 17-1003
• Common charges: means each unit's proportionate share of the common expenses in accordance with its common interest. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-103
• Common expenses: means and includes:

  (a) Expenses of operation of the property, and

  (b) All sums designated common expenses by or pursuant to the provisions of this article, the declaration or the by-laws. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-103

• Common interest: means the (i) proportionate, undivided interest in fee simple absolute, or (ii) proportionate undivided leasehold interest in the common elements appertaining to each unit, as expressed in the declaration. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-103
• Common profits: means the excess of all receipts of the rents, profits and revenues from the common elements remaining after the deduction of the common expenses. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-103
• conveyance: as used in this article , includes every instrument, in writing, except a will, by which any estate or interest in real property is created, transferred, assigned or surrendered. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 18-125
• conveyance: includes every written instrument, by which any estate or interest in real property is created, transferred, mortgaged or assigned, or by which the title to any real property may be affected, including an instrument in execution of a power, although the power be one of revocation only, and an instrument postponing or subordinating a mortgage lien; except a will, a lease for a term not exceeding three years, an executory contract for the sale or purchase of lands, and an instrument containing a power to convey real property as the agent or attorney for the owner of such property. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 19-303
• Declaration: means the instrument by which the property is submitted to the provisions of this article, as hereinafter provided, and such instrument as from time to time amended, consistent with the provisions of this article and of the by-laws. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-103
• Department: means the department of state. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-134
• Department: means the department of parks and recreation. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 18-101
• Department: shall mean such office or agency as the mayor shall designate pursuant to section 20-a of the charter. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• Deposit agreement: shall include any agreement, assignment, proxy, consent, authorization, power of attorney or other similar instrument whereby a mortgage investment is deposited with or assigned to a committee. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 17-1003
• Depositary: shall mean and include any person, firm, association or corporation designated in any trust indenture, deed of trust, or deposit agreement as the custodian or depositary of mortgage investments. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 17-1003
• Digitized paper document: means a digitized image of a paper document that accurately depicts the information on the paper document in a format that cannot be altered without detection. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 19-303
• Domestic worker: shall mean any "domestic worker" as defined in section 2(16) of the labor law who is employed for hire within the city of New York for more than eighty hours in a calendar year who performs work on a full-time or part-time basis. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• Electronic: means of or relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic or similar capabilities. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 19-303
• Electronic signature: means an electronic sound, symbol, or process, attached to or logically associated with an electronic record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 19-303
• Employee: shall mean any "employee" as defined in section 190(2) of the labor law who is employed for hire within the city of New York for more than eighty hours in a calendar year who performs work on a full-time or part-time basis, including work performed in a transitional jobs program pursuant to section 336-f of the social services law, but not including work performed as a participant in a work experience program pursuant to section 336-c of the social services law, and not including those who are employed by (i) the United States government; (ii) the state of New York, including any office, department, independent agency, authority, institution, association, society or other body of the state including the legislature and the judiciary; or (iii) the city of New York or any local government, municipality or county or any entity governed by general municipal law section 92 or county law section 207. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• Employer: shall mean any "employer" as defined in section 190(3) of the labor law, but not including (i) the United States government; (ii) the state of New York, including any office, department, independent agency, authority, institution, association, society or other body of the state including the legislature and the judiciary; or (iii) the city of New York or any local government, municipality or county or any entity governed by general municipal law section 92 or county law section 207. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• Family member: shall mean an employee's child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, sibling, grandchild or grandparent, or the child or parent of an employee's spouse or domestic partner. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• Family offense matter: shall mean an act or threat of an act that may constitute disorderly conduct, harassment in the first degree, harassment in the second degree, aggravated harassment in the second degree, sexual misconduct, forcible touching, sexual abuse in the third degree, sexual abuse in the second degree as set forth in subdivision 1 of section 130. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• Health care provider: shall mean any person licensed under federal or New York state law to provide medical or emergency services, including, but not limited to, doctors, nurses and emergency room personnel. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• Home inspection: means the process by which a home inspector observes and provides a written report of the systems and components of a residential building including but not limited to heating system, cooling system, plumbing system, electrical system, structural components, foundation, roof, masonry structure, exterior and interior components or any other related residential building component as recommended or required by the department through regulation to provide a client with objective information about the condition of the residential building. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-134
• Home inspector: means a person licensed as a home inspector pursuant to the provisions of this article. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-134
• Human trafficking: shall mean an act or threat of an act that may constitute sex trafficking, as defined in section 230. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• interest in real estate: shall include the sale of a business wherein the value of the real estate transferred as part of the business is not merely incidental to the transaction, and shall not include the assignment of a lease, and further, the transaction itself is not otherwise subject to regulation under state or federal laws governing the sale of securities. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-114
• interest in real property: include every such estate and interest, freehold or chattel, legal or equitable, present or future, vested or contingent. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 18-125
• Knowledge: means only actual knowledge of a defect or condition on the part of the seller of residential real property. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-318
• Mortgage investments: shall mean and include any and all shares and interests, heretofore or hereafter acquired, in an issue of bonds, notes or other evidence of indebtedness of individuals, partnerships, associations or corporations, held by more than one person and secured by a mortgage or mortgages upon real property, or by a deed or deeds of trust, trust indenture or indentures or other evidence of interest in real property, the payment of which is not guaranteed by any title and mortgage guaranty corporation or investment company and shall include certificates of deposit issued by or on behalf of a bondholders' protective committee or similar group and also any bonds, notes or other evidences of indebtedness taken in lieu of such real property by foreclosure or otherwise, provided, however, that it shall not include industrial securities. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 17-1003
• Net earnings from self-employment: means the same as net earnings from self-employment as defined in subsection (a) of section fourteen hundred two of the internal revenue code, except that the deduction for wages and salaries paid or incurred for the taxable year which is not allowed pursuant to section two hundred eighty C of such code shall be allowed, and except that an estate or trust shall be deemed to have net earnings from self-employment determined in the same manner as if it were an individual subject to the tax on self-employment income imposed by section fourteen hundred one of the internal revenue code diminished by: (1) the amount of any deduction allowed by subsection (c) of section six hundred forty-two of the internal revenue code and (2) the deductions allowed by sections six hundred fifty-one and six hundred sixty-one of said code to the extent that they represent distributions or payments to a resident of the city. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 11-1901
• Office manager: means a licensed associate real estate broker who shall by choice elect to work as an office manager under the name and supervision of another individual broker or another broker who is licensed under a partnership, trade name, limited liability company or corporation. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-114
• Operation of the property: means and includes the administration and operation of the property and the maintenance, repair and replacement of, and the making of any additions and improvements to, the common elements. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-103
• operator: means any person, corporation, firm, agency, association or organization that uses or operates a motor vehicle with or without the permission of the owner, and an owner who operates his or her own motor vehicle. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 19-205
• owner: shall include : (A) the registered owner of a motor vehicle used or operated in the city of New York, and (B) any person, corporation, firm, agency, association or organization that is the renter or lessor of a motor vehicle used or operated in the city of New York. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 19-205
• Paid sick time: shall mean time that is provided by an employer to an employee that can be used for the purposes described in section 20-914 of this chapter and is compensated at the same rate as the employee earns from his or her employment at the time the employee uses such time, except that an employee who volunteers or agrees to work hours in addition to his or her normal schedule will not receive more in paid sick time compensation than his or her regular hourly wage if such employee is not able to work the hours for which he or she has volunteered or agreed even if the reason for such inability to work is one of the reasons in section 20-914 of this chapter. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• Paper document: means a document in a form that is not electronic. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 19-303
• partnership: shall include , unless a different meaning is clearly required, a subchapter K limited liability company. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 11-1901
• Person: means a natural person, corporation, partnership, association, trustee or other legal entity. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-103
• Person: means an individual, firm, company, partnership, limited liability company, or corporation. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-134
• Person: means any natural person, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, firm, or association. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-306
• Property: shall mean and include all of the real property or any incidental personal property constituting the underlying security for mortgage investments. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 17-1003
• Property: means and includes the land, the building and all other improvements thereon, (i) owned in fee simple absolute, or (ii) in the case of a condominium devoted exclusively to non-residential purposes, held under a lease or sublease, or separate unit leases or subleases, the unexpired term or terms of which on the date of recording of the declaration shall not be less than thirty years, or (iii) in the case of a qualified leasehold condominium, held under a lease or sublease, or separate unit leases or subleases, the unexpired term or terms of which on the date of recording of the declaration shall not be less than fifty years, and all easements, rights and appurtenances belonging thereto, and all other property, personal or mixed, intended for use in connection therewith, which have been or are intended to be submitted to the provisions of this article. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-103
• Public disaster: shall mean an event such as fire, explosion, terrorist attack, severe weather conditions or other catastrophe that is declared a public emergency or disaster by the president of the United States, the governor of the state of New York or the mayor of the city of New York. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• Public health emergency: shall mean a declaration made by the commissioner of health and mental hygiene pursuant to section 3. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• Public service commission: shall mean the public service commission established by section 4 of the public service law. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• purchaser: includes every person to whom any estate or interest in real property is conveyed for a valuable consideration, and every assignee of a mortgage, lease or other conditional estate. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 19-303
• Qualified leasehold condominium: means any leasehold interest in real property intended to be used for either residential purposes, commercial purposes, industrial purposes or any combination of such purposes, together with any fee simple absolute or leasehold interest in the buildings and all other improvements which have been or at any time hereafter may be erected upon such real property, which has been or is intended to be submitted to the provisions of this article, provided that, on the date of the recording of the declaration: (i) the battery park city authority or the Roosevelt Island operating corporation is the holder of the tenant's interest in such leasehold interest or (ii) the Queens West development corporation is the holder of the landlord's interest in such leasehold interest or (iii) the Brooklyn bridge park development corporation is the holder of the landlord's interest in such leasehold interest, or (iv) the New York city educational construction fund is the holder of the landlord's interest in such leasehold interest for property located in the borough of Manhattan, in the city of New York, bounded on the east by Second Ave, on the west by Third Avenue, to the north by East Fifty-seventh Street, and to the south by East Fifty-sixth Street. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-103
• real estate broker: means any person, firm, limited liability company or corporation, who, for another and for a fee, commission or other valuable consideration, lists for sale, sells, at auction or otherwise, exchanges, buys or rents, or offers or attempts to negotiate a sale, at auction or otherwise, exchange, purchase or rental of an estate or interest in real estate, or collects or offers or attempts to collect rent for the use of real estate, or negotiates or offers or attempts to negotiate, a loan secured or to be secured by a mortgage, other than a residential mortgage loan, as defined in section five hundred ninety of the banking law, or other incumbrance upon or transfer of real estate, or is engaged in the business of a tenant relocator, or who, notwithstanding any other provision of law, performs any of the above stated functions with respect to the resale of condominium property originally sold pursuant to the provisions of the general business law governing real estate syndication offerings. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-114
• Real estate purchase contract: means any of the following:

  (a) a contract which provides for the purchase and sale or exchange of residential real property;

  (b) a lease with an option to purchase residential real property;

  (c) a lease-with-obligation-to-purchase agreement for residential real property; or

  (d) an installment land sale contract for residential real property. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-318

• Real estate salesman: means a person associated with a licensed real estate broker to list for sale, sell or offer for sale, at auction or otherwise, to buy or offer to buy or to negotiate the purchase or sale or exchange of real estate, or to negotiate a loan on real estate other than a mortgage loan as defined in section five hundred ninety of the banking law, or to lease or rent or offer to lease, rent or place for rent any real estate, or collects or offers or attempts to collect rent for the use of real estate for or in behalf of such real estate broker, or who, notwithstanding any other provision of law, performs any of the above stated functions with respect to the resale of a

  condominium property originally sold pursuant to the provisions of the general business law governing real estate syndication offerings. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-114

• real property: as used in this article , includes lands, tenements and hereditaments and chattels real, except a lease for a term not exceeding three years. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 19-303
• rebate: shall mean a refund of a certain portion of the wholesale price of a drug based on a negotiated agreement between a drug manufacturer and any administrator of the prescription drug discount card program created pursuant to this chapter. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 17-1002
• recorded: means the entry, at length, upon the pages of the proper record books in a plain and legible hand writing, or in print or in symbols of drawing or by photographic process or partly in writing, partly in printing, partly in symbols of drawing or partly by photographic process or by any combination of writing, printing, drawing or photography or either or any two of them, or by an electronic process by which a record or instrument affecting real property, after delivery is incorporated into the public record. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 19-303
• recording officer: means the county clerk of the county, except in a county having a register, where it means the register of the county. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 19-303
• Residential building: means a structure consisting of one to four dwelling units and their garages and carport but shall not include any such structure newly constructed or not previously occupied as a dwelling unit. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-134
• Residential real property: means real property improved by a one to four family dwelling used or occupied, or intended to be used or occupied, wholly or partly, as the home or residence of one or more persons, but shall not refer to (a) unimproved real property upon which such dwellings are to be constructed, or (b) condominium units or cooperative apartments, or (c) property in a homeowners' association that is not owned in fee simple by the seller. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-318
• Retaliation: shall mean any threat, discipline, discharge, demotion, suspension, reduction in employee hours, or any other adverse employment action against any employee for exercising or attempting to exercise any right guaranteed under this chapter. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• Safe time: shall mean time that is provided by an employer to an employee that can be used for the purposes described in subdivision b of section 20-914 of this chapter, whether or not compensation for that time is required pursuant to this chapter. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• Secretary: means the secretary of the department of state. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-134
• Sexual offense: shall mean an act or threat of an act that may constitute a violation of article 130 of the penal law. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• Sick time: shall mean time that is provided by an employer to an employee that can be used for the purposes described in section 20-914 of this chapter, whether or not compensation for that time is required pursuant to this chapter. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• Stalking: shall mean an act or threat of an act that may constitute a violation of section 120. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-912
• subdivider: shall include every person, partnership, corporation, company or association who or which engages directly or through an agent in the business of selling, leasing or offering for sale or lease subdivided lands and subdivisions to the public in this state. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 19-706
• Taxable year: means the taxpayer's taxable year for federal income tax purposes. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 11-1901
• This state: means the state of New York. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 11-1901
• Transfer of title: means delivery of a properly executed instrument conveying title to residential real property and shall include delivery of a real estate purchase contract that is a lease or installment land sale contract. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 21-318
• Trustee: shall mean and include any person, firm, association or corporation named, appointed or designated as such in any deed of trust, trust indenture or other similar instrument or any successor of such trustee. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 17-1003
• Unit: means a part of the property intended for any type of use or uses, and with an exit to a public street or highway or to a common element or elements leading to a public street or highway, and may include such appurtenances as garage and other parking space, storage room, balcony, terrace and patio, but in no event may utility facilities such as those for water or sewerage treatment or power generation appear as single units. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-103
• Unit designation: means the number, letter or combination thereof or other official designations conforming to the tax lot number, if any, designating the unit in the declaration and on the floor plans. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-103
• Unit owner: means the person or persons owning a unit in fee simple absolute or, in the case either (i) of a condominium devoted exclusively to non-residential purposes, or (ii) a qualified leasehold condominium, owning a unit held under a lease or sublease. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 20-103
• Wages: means wages as defined in subsection (a) of section thirty-four hundred one of the internal revenue code, except that (1) wages shall not include payments for active service as a member of the armed forces of the United States and shall not include, in the case of a nonresident individual or partner of a partnership doing an insurance business as a member of the New York insurance exchange described in section six thousand two hundred one of the insurance law, any item of income, gain, loss or deduction of such business which is such individual's distributive or pro rata share for federal income tax purposes or which such individual is required to take into account separately for federal income tax purposes, and (2) wages shall include (i) the amount of member or employee contributions to a retirement system or pension fund picked up by the employer pursuant to subdivision f of section five hundred seventeen or subdivision d of section six hundred thirteen of the retirement and social security law or section 13-225. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 11-1901
• Wet signature: means a signature affixed in ink or pencil or other material to a paper document. See N.Y. New York City Administrative Code 19-303