Ryan Foley testifies on excluded property issues in condo notices

Next, we're going to go to Ryan Foley, followed by Shannon Richer.

You may begin.

Thank you and good afternoon.

My name is Ryan Foley.

I'm senior counsel at the law firm Star Associates LLP, where we represent sponsors and developers of condominiums across the city.

Is this an initial point or two points?

I want to raise, mention two things before I get into the substance of my message.

One, I would like to just

a record to reflect a rejection of the characterization that people here today spending two and a half hours waiting to talk about the utter failures of the implementation of this tax are bad actors.

I will set aside and I will not focus any of my time on the substance of the policy, which I do have views on, but that is not the purpose of this hearing.

So to characterize anyone coming with

concerns or criticisms of the implementation as bad actors is just simply false.

Two, before I get into the substance, I just want to also mention that I've heard a lot even from this body today about everyday New Yorkers versus wealthy or second, third home owners in New York.

Really, again, that is irrelevant.

Every New Yorker deserves the fair taxation and implementation.

So I want to now dive into the issues that we have seen at our firm.

One,

is the letters, the notice letters the department sent were sent to everybody.

They were the same letter.

It's important to recognize the statute contains two entirely different concepts under the definitions.

There is covered property and there is excluded property.

Now, when you talk about covered property, the primary residence exemptions and some of the things we've heard today come up.

What we haven't heard at all today is excluded property.

And under Administrative Code Section 11-3201, there's exactly two categories of excluded property under the surcharge.

One, buildings that don't have a TCO or a CO.

And two, the focus of my comments is unsold residential units, condominium units that are subject to the sale under an offering plan with the Attorney General.

Those properties should never have made it on the list in the first place.

They're easy to track.

They are registered under the condominium declaration filed with the city of New York.

And ACRES has all of the deed transfers.

So anything that would have appeared as new development that has not had a deed transferring should never have made it on the list anyway.

But it didn't matter.

All of the letters that went out went to everybody, including the sponsor entities that hold the unsold inventory, as well as buyers of the new development.

That as of

January 5th, 2026, the date on which the surcharge was fixed, that would have been excluded property.

So, A, the fact that everybody or people that purchased or hold unsold condominium units still receive these notices is incredible.

Thank you.

Time expired.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next, we're going to hear from, looks like Shannon Richter and then Mabak Thiam.

You may begin.