Property owners can defer or pay fractions of taxes amid crisis

Gwen Everett

Crain’s NY Business

March 25, 2020

The City’s Department of Finance is offering property owners facing financial hardship the ability to defer or pay a small percentage of their property taxes.

The program, which offers three different payment plans, allows property owners to defer paying as much of 25% of the equity on a one to three family home, and 50% of the equity on a condominium, according to the Department of Finance.

It’s one of a series of public programs officials have announced in the past week to provide relief to people who fear losing their homes from the economic fallout of the Covid-19 crisis. Many of those programs have happened at the state level — New York issued a directive to waive mortgage payments for 90 days, and a freeze on foreclosures and evictions for 90 days. But this program also applies to New York City residents. 

“These are unprecedented times for New Yorkers, many of whom now find themselves struggling to make ends meet,” said Department of Finance Commissioner Jacques Jiha. “Through our programs, DOF hopes to ensure we do our part to help those who are struggling have one less burden to deal with as we work toward economic recovery.”

One payment plan for seniors allows those homeowners to partially or fully defer payments on late and future property taxes, for either a set or indefinite time period. The two other payment plans, the extenuating circumstances income-based plan and the fixed-term income-based plan, both limit property tax payments to 8% of their adjusted gross income. 

The extenuating circumstances plan lasts as long as a hardship such as death, serious illness, loss of income continues. The fixed-term plan only applies to the late payments plus payments projected to be due in the next year. 

City taxes on properties worth under $250,000 are due April 1. Taxes on properties worth more than $250,000 are due July 1.

We received the following update from Chris Como, Official Examiner of Title, Suffolk County Clerk's Office.

In accordance with directives from the Governor and County Executive, staffing at the County Clerk’s Office will be extremely limited in the upcoming weeks until further notice.

It is advised that all documents required to be recorded or filed be sent in via a trackable mail service as drop off availability in the lobby may be ending shortly without notice.

We are currently working on making printing available to those accessing our office remotely and have accounts within the next 48 hours.  Accounts can be credited by mailing in checks to the County Clerk’s Office (attention Public Access).  We also anticipate you will have the ability credit your accounts using credit cards once the printing function is available.   A separate e-mail will be sent once this is available.

While we are absorbing the licensing fees that permit off site access to our records, the County Clerk does not have the authority to waive any fee set by statute.  We will gladly comply with any State law or order directing these fees be waived.

For those seeking copies of previously recorded/filed documents or maps not available via remote access, they may purchased by using the attached form submitted to recordrequest@suffolkcountyny.gov.  Requests may also be made by mail using the same form.

Questions regarding filings/recording that are strictly of an immediate nature should be make directly to the appropriate department (see website for more info).

We are continuing to do our best with the limited resources to provide as much access to our records and staff as possible.  Since circumstances and government mandates are changing by the hour, any and all current practices are subject to change with no or very limited notification.  We will do our best to keep you informed as we have additional information. Please continue to check our website for updates as well.

Christopher Como, Esq.

Official Examiner of Title

Suffolk County Clerk's Office

310 Center Drive

Riverhead, New York 11901

(631)852-2000 ext. 112

NOTICE:

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
New York State Land Title Association
First Nationwide Title Agency
50 Charles Lindbergh Boulevard
Uniondale, NY 11553
March 10, 2020
10:30 AM


AGENDA
1.    Call to order – President Pereyo
2.    President’s Greeting – President Pereyo
3.    Approval of October Minutes - Executive Director Treuber
4.    Exec Director Report – Executive Director Treuber
5.    Treasurer Report – Mr. Frates
6.    Advocacy Committee Report – President Pereyo
7.    Charitable Works Committee Report – Chair Roper
8.    Education Committee – Chair Polidoro
9.    Government Regulations Committee Report – Chair Partridge
10.  Land Records Committee – Chair Alonso
       a.    Staten Island Training recap
       b.    Status of Notice of Sale effective 3/11/20
       c.    Update on Nassau County e-file judgment inquiry
11.    Law Committee – Chair Danzi
12.    Legislative Committee Report – Chair Keyse
13.    Membership Committee Report – Chair O’Hara
14.    Municipal Liaison Committee Report – Chair Scaturro
15.    Technology Committee Report – Chair Zankel
16.    Title Section Report – Chair Keyse
17.    Agent Section Report – Chair Giliotti
18.    New Business
19.    Adjourn

The eleven voting members of the Agents and Abstracters Section will be:
DeAnna Stancanelli    Terence Guerriere    Tommy Tafuri    Phil O’Hara
Jean Partridge    Paul Spano    Andrew Zankel    Larry Litwack
Richard Giliotti    Vincent Danzi    Mark D’’Addona    


The next Executive Committee Meeting will be held at 10:30 am on April 14, 2020 at Benchmark title Agency, 222 Bloomingdale Road, White Plains, NY.

The following statement and the attached document were approved by the Executive Committee at the January 2020 meeting.

The New York State Land Title Association (NYSLTA) is a trade association representing the interests of persons and companies actively engaged in the title insurance industry in New York State.

The NYSLTA is devoted to advancing the interests of all those involved in abstracting, examining or insuring title to real property. Our work benefits all title professionals in New York, including title insurance companies, abstract companies, title insurance agents, law firms, individual attorneys, surveyors and others actively engaged in real estate matters.

The Association and its members frequently have questions regarding the laws and regulations governing the title insurance business in New York. In an effort to protect consumers, educate our members and to ensure compliance, NYSLTA has compiled the attached Frequently Asked Questions and Answers, including links to the appropriate New York State laws or regulations.