NYC COPA Passes: What Building Owners and Sellers Need to Know

Updated October 28, 2026. The Council passed the bill on October 22, 2026. It now sits on the mayor's desk.

The New York City Council passed the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA), bill Int. 905-A, by a vote of 38 to 9 on October 22, 2026. Once the mayor signs it, owners of roughly 2,100 to 3,400 distressed or income-restricted NYC buildings with 4 or more units will have to offer HPD-certified nonprofits the first chance to buy before selling to anyone else. The law takes effect one year after it is signed.

In 25+ years of doing deals in NYC, co-ops, condos and multifamily across all five boroughs, I read every new sale rule for one thing first: how many days it adds before an owner can sign a contract. For a covered building where a nonprofit raises its hand, COPA adds a 90-day hold before the owner can sell on the open market, and a nonprofit deal can run about 130 days from notice to signed contract.

Where COPA Stands Today

If the mayor signs this fall, covered sales would start following COPA in late 2027. Until then, a covered building can be sold under today's rules, but any contract that runs past the effective date should be reviewed by a real estate attorney.

What COPA Actually Does

COPA adds two steps to the sale of a covered building. First, a right of first offer: a fixed bidding window that runs before the building is listed. Second, a right of first refusal: the right to match a later offer on the same building. The owner still sets the price and decides whether to sell, and must give notice, wait out the time windows and honor the match right.

The rights belong to housing organizations HPD certifies under the bill: 501(c)(3) nonprofits that show the legal and financial capacity to buy, repair and manage residential buildings, along with community land trusts and joint ventures working with one.

Council Speaker Julie Menin put the number of qualifying buildings at about 2,100, down from roughly 10,000 under earlier versions. HPD's revised estimate, after a late change described below, is about 3,400 buildings. Supporters estimate about 300 covered sales a year. HPD must publish the criteria on its website and mail owners of qualifying buildings a notice each year, and an owner can ask HPD for a hearing on whether a building is covered.

The Seller's New Timeline

All of these are calendar days. A nonprofit can ask HPD in writing for a 5-day extension of the offer window, and the bill caps how many it can get. The 20-day and 70-day windows alone add 90 days before an owner can take outside offers, and a nonprofit purchase can take about 130 days from notice to signed contract.

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What This Changes in Practice

The match right is the part most sellers and outside buyers will feel. For a full year after an owner turns down the nonprofit, any outside contract the owner intends to accept on a covered building goes to the nonprofit first, which then has 15 days to match it. A private buyer can spend money on inspections, a lender and lawyers and still lose the deal to a match.

The violation test rewards owners who keep their buildings repaired. A building that clears its open hazardous violations may fall out of COPA entirely, which also tends to help the sale price. The guide to selling a building with HPD Class C violations walks through how buyers price those open violations.

Penalties for Skipping the Process

An owner who sells a covered building without sending the notice of intent to sell faces a city civil penalty of up to 15% of the sale price. On a $3 million building, that is up to $450,000. Any qualified nonprofit can also sue the owner when a sale that broke the rules goes to someone else, and the court can award damages and block or undo parts of the deal. The final bill gives nonprofits 2 years from the date the deed is recorded to bring that lawsuit.

Sales COPA Does Not Touch

The bill lists exclusions, including:

• Refinancing to keep the building
• Transfers through a court proceeding, a court-supervised sale, bankruptcy or eminent domain
• A deed in lieu of foreclosure and similar loan workouts
• Transfers to or from a government body
• Transfers that need a state or local agency's consent, including a co-op or condo conversion
• Transfers by will or inheritance
• Agreements to sell to a qualified nonprofit already in place when the law takes effect

An owner can also apply to HPD for a waiver by showing undue financial hardship. Owners holding several buildings should read the guide to selling a portfolio as a package or one building at a time, since each covered building carries its own notice.

What Changed Before the Final Vote

The broader shift came earlier in 2026, when the Council narrowed coverage from about 10,000 buildings to distressed and income-restricted ones after talks with HPD and industry groups. That is a large part of why the bill went from 31 votes in December 2025 to 38 this October.

What is a right of first refusal?

A right of first refusal lets a named party match an offer the owner has agreed to accept from someone else. Under COPA, the nonprofit that made the first offer on a covered NYC building gets 15 days to match any outside offer the owner plans to accept within a year of turning that nonprofit down.

Does COPA apply to my co-op or condo apartment?

Generally no. COPA covers the sale of a whole residential building by its owner, not the resale of a single co-op or condo apartment, and it applies only to buildings that meet one of the six tests above. A building's conversion to a co-op or condo is also excluded.

When does COPA take effect?

COPA takes effect one year after it becomes law. As of October 28, 2026, the bill passed the Council and was awaiting the mayor's signature, so covered NYC sales would follow its rules starting in late 2027 if it is signed this fall.

Ask a real estate attorney whether a specific building meets any test, and check its HPD record before listing. The 2-4 unit multifamily guide and the market reports index cover pricing. Sources: NYC Council file Int. 0905-2026 (bill text and history), Brick Underground and City Limits reporting from October 22, 2026. This article is general information, not legal advice.