Building types in Queens
Sponsor co-op units in Queens
Queens garden co-op conversions left some of the largest remaining sponsor holdings in the city, and in several complexes the sponsor is still the biggest shareholder.
What is different about buying a sponsor co-op unit in Queens?
Quick Answer
Queens garden co-op conversions left some of the largest surviving sponsor holdings in the city, and in several complexes the sponsor is still the biggest shareholder. That percentage, not the board exemption, is the fact that decides which lenders will write a share loan in the building.
Which co-op buildings of this kind are actually in Queens?
- Large blocks of unsold shares in garden complexes across Jackson Heights, Sunnyside, Woodside and Forest Hills
- Sponsor positions in Rego Park and Kew Gardens elevator buildings converted in the 1980s
- Units occupied by long-term rent-stabilized tenants who declined to buy at conversion
- Complexes made up of several corporations under one sponsor, where the holding percentage differs building to building
What do board approval and financing look like in Queens?
- A high sponsor percentage makes a lender treat the corporation as partly rental, and some lenders decline the building outright rather than the borrower
- The offering plan exemption from board approval applies to the sponsor’s own sale, which is the practical attraction of these units
- Where a purchaser intends to rent the unit out, the sublet rules still bind even though the board did not approve the purchase
- The recognition agreement and the co-op lien search apply as on any share loan, and the sponsor entity is searched as seller
Which taxes and recording steps apply in Queens?
- No mortgage recording tax and no recorded purchase instrument, the same as any co-op
- Queens sponsor plans commonly shift the state and city transfer taxes to the purchaser, which raises both the cash needed and the taxable consideration
- The mansion tax is reached on very few Queens sponsor sales given the borough’s price distribution
- Judgment and lien searches run against Queens County records and against the sponsor entity
What pattern does a purchaser meet in Queens?
- Ask for the exact sponsor percentage in writing and for the corporation the unit sits in, because a complex is often several corporations with different numbers
- A sponsor that has held for decades may be running the units as a rental business, and its interests at the board are those of a landlord
- Per-share flip taxes in the garden complexes apply on the purchaser’s eventual resale even though the sponsor sale itself may be exempt
- Historic district rules in Jackson Heights and Sunnyside Gardens govern alterations the purchaser will want to make
Why does the sponsor percentage decide the financing in Queens?
Because lenders underwrite the corporation as well as the borrower. A building where the sponsor still rents a large share of the apartments reads as a partly rental property, which triggers overlays, larger down payments, or a decision not to lend on that building at all. The percentage should be confirmed in writing.
Can you rent out a Queens sponsor unit you just bought?
Only within the building’s sublet rules. The board exemption applies to the purchase, not to what happens afterwards. Most garden complexes restrict subletting by waiting period, duration or percentage of the building, and a purchaser who bought expecting rental income should confirm those rules before contract.
What else should you read before closing on one of these?
In the glossary
- Offering planThe sponsor's filed disclosure document for a co-op or condominium, carrying its budget, share or common interest allocation, building rules and sp...
- Flip taxA transfer fee charged by a co-op or, less often, a condominium when a unit changes hands. It is a creature of the building's governing documents, ...
- Transfer tax (RPTT and NYS)Taxes on the conveyance itself, one City and one State. Rates step up at higher prices, and who pays is set by custom and then confirmed by the con...
- Co-op lien searchThe search performed on a co-op purchase covering UCC filings, judgments, liens and unpaid building charges tied to the shares and to the selling s...
- Stock certificate (co-op)The certificate evidencing the shares allocated to a co-op apartment. Shares and the proprietary lease travel together and cannot be sold separatel...
Questions this raises
- Do sponsor units skip board approval?Sponsor sales of unsold co-op shares usually avoid board consent under the offering plan. What the purchaser still files, and what the board still ...
- Can you sublet a co-op in NYC?Most NYC co-ops allow subletting only under strict limits: waiting periods, board approval, term caps and sublet fees. What the lease and house rul...
- What should a lender check in a co-op loan file?A co-op lender underwrites the building as well as the borrower: financials, underlying mortgage, arrears, land lease, financing cap and recognitio...
Building types
- Sponsor co-op unitAn unsold share allocation still held by the building’s original sponsor, sold under the offering plan rather than through the ordinary board process.
- Standard co-opThe ordinary New York City cooperative: you buy shares in a corporation and receive a proprietary lease to occupy a specific apartment.
- Investor and pied-a-terre condo purchaseA condominium bought to rent out or to keep as a second home, where sublet policy, entity ownership and non-resident tax questions drive the struct...
- Mitchell-Lama co-opA limited-equity cooperative in the State and City Mitchell-Lama program, sold from a waiting list at a formula price rather than on the open market.
This building type, borough by borough
- Sponsor co-op units in ManhattanManhattan’s 1980s conversion wave left sponsors holding unsold shares, and buying one means no board approval but a different tax and occupancy pic...
- Sponsor co-op units in BrooklynBrooklyn sponsor units come out of brownstone-belt and shorefront conversions, and in a small corporation the sponsor’s position can dominate the b...
- Sponsor co-op units in the BronxBronx sponsor units sit mostly in Riverdale and Grand Concourse conversions, where the sponsor’s reserve funding record predicts the assessments a ...
- Standard co-ops in QueensQueens holds the city’s garden co-op belt: pre-war garden apartment complexes in Jackson Heights, Sunnyside and Forest Hills, several of them insid...
- Mitchell-Lama co-ops in QueensQueens carries several of the largest Mitchell-Lama cooperatives in the city, including developments in Jamaica, Woodside and Astoria that between ...
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