Updated September 5, 2026. Quick answer: New York’s Condominium Act does not itself specify who may impose a special assessment or require any particular ownership vote; it only requires that each condominium’s own by-laws address the “determination and collection of the common charges” (RPL § 339-v(1)(f)), so whether the board can act alone or owners must vote, and at what threshold, is set entirely by the individual building’s declaration and by-laws. New York also has no comparable statewide statute for non-condominium homeowners’ associations at all.
Key statute: N.Y. Real Prop. Law art. 9-B (Condominium Act), §§ 339-m, 339-u, 339-v, 339-y, 339-z, 339-aa, 339-mm
How New York lets an association approve it
RPL § 339-m provides that “the common expenses shall be charged to… the unit owners according to their respective common interests,” but does not name a board-vs-owner-vote mechanism for special assessments specifically. RPL § 339-v(1) requires by-laws to provide for “Operation of the property, payment of the common expenses and determination and collection of the common charges” (§ 339-v(1)(f)) and for “what percentage of the unit owners… shall… be necessary to adopt decisions binding on all unit owners” (§ 339-v(1)(b)). The only vote threshold the statute itself fixes is for amending the by-laws, “not less than sixty-six and two-thirds per cent in number and common interest” (§ 339-v(1)(j)), a different act from levying a special assessment.
The notice you’re owed
The Condominium Act is silent on any notice requirement tied specifically to imposing a special assessment; § 339-v(1)(b) leaves “methods of calling meetings of the unit owners” to the by-laws. The one concrete statute-level notice provision touching unpaid assessments applies only to lien foreclosure: under RPL § 339-aa, “the board of managers shall be required to provide notice to the unit owner at least ninety days prior to the commencement of a foreclosure proceeding at the property address and any other address of record,” and “such notice shall be in fourteen-point type and shall inform the owner that the board intends to file an action for foreclosure… and shall state the address of the property and the specific amount due.”
Paying it: plan, interest, and late fees
The statute does not give owners a right to pay a special assessment in installments. On interest, RPL § 339-z gives the board “a lien on each unit for the unpaid common charges thereof, together with interest thereon, prior to all other liens except only” certain tax and mortgage liens, but does not state what interest rate or late-fee amount applies; that is left to the by-laws (§ 339-v(2)(b) lets by-laws address “provisions governing the payment, collection and disbursement of funds, including reserves… and unpaid common expenses”).
RPL § 339-z gives the board of managers “a lien on each unit for the unpaid common charges thereof, together with interest thereon,” prior to most other liens; RPL § 339-aa lets that lien “be foreclosed by suit… in like manner as a mortgage of real property,” subject to the ninety-day, fourteen-point-type notice described above.
Does New York require a reserve study?
No general periodic reserve-study mandate exists for New York condominiums. There is one narrow, recently amended provision, RPL § 339-mm, “Establishment of reserve fund and dedicated capital fund for buildings converting to condominium ownership under section three hundred fifty-two-eeeee of the general business law” (last modified November 7, 2025; self-repeals November 5, 2031), but it applies only to New York City buildings converting under an affordable-housing preservation plan, not to condominiums generally. A broader bill requiring 30-year capital reserve studies for condos and co-ops generally (A8945/S7600, 2025-26 session) remained pending in committee, not enacted, as of this research.
Honest gaps
The approval mechanism, notice, interest rate, and late-fee terms for any given special assessment are fixed by that condominium’s own declaration and by-laws (private per-building documents outside RPL art. 9-B) and were not reviewed. Article 9-B governs condominiums only; non-condo HOAs are governed by their own CC&Rs and, if incorporated, the New York Not-For-Profit Corporation Law, which was not independently read this session. Note RPL § 339-y uses “special assessment” to mean a municipal tax special assessment (per RPTL § 102), a different sense of the term from an association-levied charge. Official nysenate.gov pages were not readable when this page was built, so the verbatim codified mirror newyork.public.law was used instead.
Source note. Read from https://newyork.public.law/laws/n.y._real_property_law_section_339-mm; https://newyork.public.law/laws/n.y._real_property_law_section_339-m; https://newyork.public.law/laws/n.y._real_property_law_section_339-v; https://newyork.public.law/laws/n.y._real_property_law_section_339-u; https://newyork.public.law/laws/n.y._real_property_law_section_339-y; https://newyork.public.law/laws/n.y._real_property_law_section_339-z; https://newyork.public.law/laws/n.y._real_property_law_section_339-aa on September 5, 2026.
Related: HOA rules in a 55+ community · how a special-assessment foreclosure actually works · lump sum vs. a payment plan.
General information drawn from each state’s own statutes as read at its official legislature or code-publisher site (or a verbatim codified mirror where noted), not legal advice. Special-assessment law is state law, and every association’s own declaration and bylaws add rules on top of the statutory floor described here. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice.