RIP co-op and condo conversions

Real Estate Litigation partner, Scott Mollen, was quoted in The Real Deal - The Daily Dirt discussing the effects of the HSTPA, or Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, which is notorious among landlords for severely limiting rent increases and virtually ending deregulation, but also brought co-op and condo conversions to a stop. The law did that by more than tripling the percentage of a building’s tenants that must agree to buy their units for the owner to convert it to a condo or co-op.

"The conversion market went over a cliff," said Scott, who has negotiated some of the city's most important conversions, including of Ruppert Yorkville Towers on the Upper East Side. Before homeownership started to regain currency, lawmakers also took condos out of the 421a program, limiting the tax break to rentals.