a. (1) The city's interest in property acquired by in rem tax foreclosure may be released pursuant to this section on the application of any party who had an interest in said property as either owner, mortgagee, lienor or encumbrancer at the time of the city's acquisition thereof where such application is made at any time up to two years from the date on which the deed by which the city acquired title to said property was recorded.
(2) Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of paragraph one of this subdivision to the contrary, the city's interest in property acquired by in rem tax foreclosure may be released pursuant to this section upon application of any party who had an interest in said property as either owner, mortgagee, lienor or encumbrancer at the time of the city's acquisition thereof where such application is made more than two years after the date on which the deed by which the city acquired title to said property was recorded provided such application is authorized by the council as hereinafter provided. An application for such release and the documents required by subdivision c in support thereof shall be filed with the department of citywide administrative services in the manner provided in subdivision b of this section. The department of citywide administrative services shall give the council written notice of the receipt of each such filing. After review and approval of the application by the corporation counsel as to form and eligibility of the applicant, the department of citywide administrative services shall send a copy of such application to the in rem foreclosure release board and to the council. Upon receipt of such application, the in rem foreclosure release board shall take no further action on such application unless the council adopts a resolution within one hundred twenty days following the first stated meeting of the council after receipt of such application authorizing the board to consider such application. If the council fails to adopt a resolution within such one-hundred-twenty-day period, the council shall be deemed to have denied its authorization for the board to consider such application. A resolution of the council pursuant to this paragraph shall describe the property for which release is sought by borough, tax map, block and lot number and shall specify that release of the city's interest in such property is subject to the approval of the in rem foreclosure release board and to all the conditions and restrictions set forth in this section.
b. 1. Any such application shall be made in writing to the commissioner of citywide administrative services and shall be verified. It shall contain the name and address of the applicant and shall state the date on which and the in rem action by which the city acquired title to the property sought to be released. It shall also contain a statement specifying the nature of the applicant's interest in the property and a full description of the instrument from which the applicant's interest derives including the date of execution, the date and place of the recording or entry of said instrument and the parties thereto. In the event the applicant's interest arises by reason of the death of a prior owner, mortgagee, lienor or encumbrancer, then the application shall also state the applicant's relationship to said decedent and shall include whatever additional information may be necessary to prove the applicant's right to make such application.
2. A fee of two hundred seventy-five dollars shall be paid on the submission of any such application which is subject to the provisions of subdivision f of this section, except that the fee for any such application for the release of property improved by a one or two-family dwelling shall be one hundred dollars.
3. A fee of five hundred fifty dollars shall be paid on the submission of any such application which is subject to the provisions of subdivision g of this section, except that the fee for any such application for the release of property improved by a one or two-family dwelling shall be one hundred dollars.
4. A fee of two hundred seventy-five dollars shall be paid on the submission of any such application which is subject to the provisions of subdivision h of this section within four months from the date on which the deed by which the city acquired title to the subject property was recorded, and a fee of five hundred and fifty dollars shall be paid on the submission of any such application which is subject to the provisions of such subdivision not within four months from such date; except that the fee for any such application which is subject to the provisions of such subdivision for the release of property improved by a one or two-family dwelling shall be one hundred dollars.
5. The fees payable pursuant to paragraphs two, three and four of this subdivision shall not be refundable.
6. In addition to the fees specified in paragraphs two, three and four of this subdivision, there shall be paid on the submission of any application which is subject to this section an amount at least equal to the lesser of nine hundred dollars or the sum specified in paragraph one of subdivision d of this section, which amount shall not be refundable, but shall be applied in reduction of the sum specified in paragraph one of subdivision d of this section; provided, however, that if a release requires the authorization of the in rem foreclosure release board, and such authorization is not given, such additional amount shall be refunded to the applicant.
c. Each application shall be supported by the certified search of the city register or by an official letter, certificate or certified search of any title insurance or abstract company, organized and doing business under the laws of this state. Such supporting instruments shall recite the recording data both as to the deed by which the city acquired title to the parcel sought to be released and the instrument from which the applicant's interest derives. In the event the applicant's interest does not appear of record but is derived by the death of an owner, mortgagee, lienor or encumbrancer of record, then the application shall also be supported by the affidavit of the applicant or other person having information thereof, or by the duly written certificate or certification of the county clerk or the clerk of any surrogate's or other court of record, or by any other instrument or document required by the corporation counsel to substantiate the applicant's right to file such application in compliance with the provisions of this section.
d. The city's interest shall be released only after payment, as to each parcel to be released, of the following sums of money:
1. The principal amount due on all unpaid taxes, assessments, water charges and sewer rents appearing on the list of delinquent taxes and accruing thereafter together with interest at the rate or rates provided by law.
2. Five percent of the amount paid pursuant to the preceding paragraph but not exceeding one thousand dollars for each parcel.
3. Any deficiency which may result to the city after all payments made by it for the repair, maintenance, and operation of the lands, real estate or real property shall have been charged or debited in the appropriate accounts of the city and all rents, license fees and other moneys collected by the city as a result of its operation of the said lands, real estate or real property shall have been credited in such accounts. Any contract for repair, maintenance, management or operation made by the city on which it shall be liable, although payment thereon shall not have been made, shall be deemed a charge or debit to such accounts as though payment had been made. The amounts paid and collected by the city as shown in its accounts and the necessity for making the several payments and contracts to be charged as herein provided shall be conclusive upon the applicant. Where a deficiency under this subdivision shall be created or increased by the failure of the city to collect rents, license fees or other moneys to which the city may have been entitled, the right to collect or to bring action for the same shall be assigned, transferred and set over to the applicant by an instrument in writing.
4. Any and all costs and disbursements which shall have been awarded to the city or to which it may have become entitled by operation of law or which it may have paid or become liable for payment in connection with any litigation between it and the applicant or any person having an estate or interest in the lands, real estate or real property to be released resulting directly or indirectly from the foreclosure by action in rem of the delinquent taxes affecting said lands, real estate or real property.
5. A reasonable monthly fee to be determined by the city, through the department of citywide administrative services, for management services and operations of the lands, real estate or real property by the city prior to the release of said lands, real estate or property.
6. The city, through the department of citywide administrative services, shall also require as additional consideration for such release, the payment of all arrears on mortgages held by the city and all liens accruing to it by operation of law including but not limited to relocation and emergency repair liens.
e. The corporation counsel shall effect the release of the city's interest in property acquired by in rem tax foreclosure, as provided for in this section, by preparing and causing to be entered an order discontinuing the in rem tax foreclosure action as to said property, cancelling the notice of pendency of such action as to said property and vacating and setting aside the in rem judgment of foreclosure and the deed executed and recorded pursuant to such judgment of foreclosure as to said property. The entry of such order shall restore all parties, including owners, mortgagees and any and all lienors, receivers and administrators and encumbrancers, to the status they held at the time the city acquired title to said property, as if the in rem tax foreclosure had never taken place, and shall render said property liable for all taxes, deficiencies, management fees and liens which shall accrue subsequent to those paid in order to obtain the release provided for in this section, or which were, for whatever reason, omitted from the payment made to obtain said release.
f. If an application pursuant to this section, and the documents required by subdivision c of this section in support thereof, are filed within four months after the date of the city's acquisition of the subject property, said application shall be granted providing the corporation counsel approves the application as to form, timeliness and eligibility of the applicant and providing the applicant has paid all amounts required to be paid by subdivision d of this section within thirty days of the date on which a letter requesting applicant to make such payment is mailed or delivered to the applicant. The city shall not sell or assign any property acquired by in rem tax foreclosure within four months of said acquisition but this provision shall not prevent the city from authorizing condemnation of such property or vesting title thereto in a condemnation proceeding during said four month period. In the event an application pursuant to this section is filed within four months of the city's acquisition by in rem tax foreclosure and title to the subject property vests in condemnation before the city's interest therein has been released by the vacate order provided for herein, the applicant shall be entitled to the condemnation award for such property without the entry of such vacate order, providing the corporation counsel has approved the application as aforesaid and providing that the amounts specified in subdivision d of this section, if not previously paid, are deducted from said condemnation award, with taxes apportioned to the date of the condemnation title vesting.
g. If an application for a release of the city's interest in property acquired by in rem tax foreclosure, and the documents required by subdivision c of this section in support thereof, have been filed within the time allowed in paragraph one of subdivision a of this section, but more than four months after the date of the city's acquisition or if an application for such release has been authorized by a resolution of the council pursuant to paragraph two of subdivision a of this section and such application and the documents required by subdivision c of this section in support thereof have been filed, the in rem foreclosure release board may, in its discretion, authorize the release of the city's interest in said property pursuant to this section, provided that the application has been approved by the corporation counsel as to form, timeliness and eligibility of the applicant and provided that the city has not sold or otherwise disposed of said property and provided, further, that said property has not been condemned or assigned to any agency of the city and is not the subject of contemplated use for any capital or urban renewal project of the city. The corporation counsel shall effect such discretionary release only where the applicant, after the board's authorization of the release, has paid all the amounts required to be paid by subdivision d of this section within thirty days of the date on which a letter requesting the applicant to make such payment is mailed or delivered to the applicant. The in rem foreclosure release board may also, in its discretion, authorize a release of the city's interest in such property, pursuant to the above provisions, whenever an application for such release, approved as to form, timeliness and eligibility by the corporation counsel, has been filed at any time during the period allowed in subdivision a of this section in which the applicant has requested an installment agreement of the commissioner of citywide administrative services for the payment of the amounts required to be paid by subdivision d of this section, provided that said commissioner has approved such request. The commissioner of citywide administrative services shall not approve any such request unless the applicant shall have given notice by certified mail to each tenant located on the parcel, of the request and shall have given such commissioner an affidavit stating that such notice has been provided, within thirty days after the request. Any false statement in such affidavit shall not in any way affect the validity of the agreement, be grounds for its cancellation or in any way affect the release of the city's interest in the parcel. Such agreement shall require, in addition to full payment of the amounts due under paragraphs two, three, four, five and six of subdivision d of this section, a first installment of fifty percent of the amount due under paragraph one of said subdivision d with the balance of said amount to be paid in four equal quarterly installments together with all current taxes, assessments or other legal charges that accrue during such period; provided, however, that: (i) whenever a request for an installment agreement is made of the commissioner of citywide administrative services by a company organized pursuant to article XI of the private housing finance law with the consent and approval of the department of housing preservation and development or for a parcel which is an owner-occupied residential building of not more than five residential units, the commissioner of citywide administrative services may, as to that portion of the amounts due under paragraph one of subdivision d of this section which became due prior to the acquisition by the article XI company of its interest in the property and as to the amount due under paragraph one of subdivision d of this section in the case of such an owner-occupied building, approve a reduction of such first installment to an amount not less than ten percent of the amount due under paragraph one of subdivision d of this section and an increase in the number of the following equal quarterly installments to a number which shall be equal to three times the number of unpaid quarters of real estate taxes or the equivalent thereof but which shall in no event exceed forty-eight, and (ii) notwithstanding the preceding clause, whenever an installment agreement is requested on or after the date on which this clause takes effect with respect to a parcel that, immediately prior to the city's acquisition thereof by in rem tax foreclosure, was owned by a company organized pursuant to article XI of the state private housing finance law with the consent and approval of the department of housing preservation and development, or with respect to a parcel that is a residential building containing not more than five residential units, a residential condominium unit or a residential building held in a cooperative form of ownership, the commissioner of general services may, as to the amount due under paragraph one of subdivision d of this section, approve an installment agreement containing the terms relating to the required percentage payment for the first installment and the required number of subsequent quarterly installments, that would be applicable to such parcel under paragraph two (but without regard to any reference therein to paragraph three) of subdivision i of section 11-409 of this chapter. For purposes of calculating the number of such following equal quarterly installments, unpaid real estate taxes or the equivalent which are, on and after July first, nineteen hundred eighty-two, due and payable on an other than quarterly basis, shall be deemed to be payable on a quarterly basis. Where the in rem foreclosure release board denies an application requesting an installment agreement, the board shall authorize a release of the city's interest, provided that the applicant thereafter pays all the amounts required to be paid by subdivision d of this section within thirty days of the date on which a letter requesting such payment is mailed or delivered to the applicant only when said application and the documents required by subdivision c of this section in support thereof were filed within thirty days of the date of the city's acquisition of the property sought to be released. Where the in rem foreclosure release board denies an application requesting an installment agreement which was filed more than thirty days after the date of the city's acquisition, the board may, in its discretion, authorize a release of the city's interest, provided that the applicant thereafter pays all the amounts required to be paid by subdivision d of this section within thirty days of the date on which a letter requesting such payment is mailed or delivered to the applicant. Where the in rem foreclosure release board approves an application requesting an installment agreement, the order releasing the city's interest shall provide that in the event of any default as to the payment of either quarterly installments or current taxes, assessments or other legal charges during the term of such agreement, as set forth in the board's resolution, all payments made under said agreement shall be forfeited and the city shall be entitled to reacquire the property so released. The corporation counsel shall effect such reacquisition by causing to be entered as to such property a supplemental judgment of foreclosure in the in rem action by which said property was originally acquired immediately on notification by the commissioner of finance of such default.
h. An owner of property entitled to an exemption under any of the provisions of article four of the real property tax law during all or part of the period covered by the tax items appearing on a list of delinquent taxes may apply for a release of the city's interest in such exempt property under the provisions of this section during the periods of time set forth herein and for an additional period up to ten years form the date of the city's acquisition of said property by in rem foreclosure. The application of such owner shall contain, in addition to the statements, searches and proofs required by this section, a statement that an exemption under the real property tax law is being claimed. Such application shall also state either that it is accompanied by the written certificate of the comptroller setting forth the precise period during which said property, while owned by such applicant, and during the period after the city's acquisition up to the date of the certificate if said property was still being used for an exempt purpose after said acquisition, was entitled to an exemption and the exact nature and extent of such exemption or that an application for such written certificate has been filed with the comptroller. On issuing such written certificate, the comptroller shall cancel those tax items which have accrued during the period covered by the certificate to the extent the applicant is entitled to an exemption as set forth in the certificate. Where an application by an exempt owner is filed more than four months after the date of the city's acquisition of the subject property, a release of the city's interest may be issued only at the discretion of the in rem foreclosure release board and subject to all the restrictions set forth in the preceding subdivision. A release to an exempt applicant shall be effected only after said applicant has paid all the amounts required to be paid by subdivision d of this section, except for those tax items which have been cancelled, in whole or in part, pursuant to the comptroller's certificate, within thirty days of the date on which a letter requesting payment is mailed or delivered to the applicant.
i. The corporation counsel shall also effect the release of the city's interest in property acquired by in rem foreclosure, as provided for in this action, whenever the commissioner of finance shall accept as to any parcel so acquired, the payment provided for in paragraph two of subdivision a of section 11-413 of this chapter. Said commissioner may accept such payment at any time within four months of the date of the city's acquisition and may further, subject to the approval of the in rem foreclosure release board, accept such payment at any time more than four months after the date of the city's acquisition but less than two years from the date on which the city's deed was recorded providing said property has not been sold or otherwise disposed of nor condemned or assigned to any agency of the city and is not the subject of contemplated use of any capital or urban renewal project of the city.
Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Appendix A at L.L. 1987/038, L.L. 1991/016, L.L. 1996/037 and L.L. 1996/059.