Dear REBNY Member:
HPD announced in the City Record the adoption of amendments to the rules governing 421a.
The new rule effective May 14, 2011 addresses the current situation of stalled sites in the housing construction industry. The new rules extends the safe harbor for completion without undue delay from 36 months to 72 months for applications for Preliminary Certificates of Eligibility filed no later than 365 days after the effective date of the rule amendments or filed with respect to development projects that were the subject of mortgage foreclosure proceedings during such time period.
In addition, the new rule makes clear that there is no intent to subject projects with an affordability component or projects outside the Geographic Exclusion Area (GEA) to any completion deadline.
REBNY vigorously opposed the earlier draft version of this proposed rule that granted the extension if an application for Preliminary Certificate of Eligibility was filed within 90 days of the adoption of the new rule. We welcome this modification of the earlier draft rule and the clarification of their intent regarding a completion deadline for the above mentioned projects.
This extension from 90 days to 365 days will benefit more projects stalled as a result of the inability to securing project financing and for projects that are subject to foreclosure.
A link to the new rule appears below. Please contact Michael Slattery ( mslattery@rebny.com or 212-616-5207) with any questions.
Sincerely,
Steven Spinola