New York has one of the strongest condo and co-op disclosure regimes in the country — and one of the weakest, depending entirely on when you are buying. At the initial sale, the Martin Act forces a sponsor to file a detailed offering plan that the Attorney General must accept before a single unit or share changes hands. At resale, the law compels almost nothing. Understanding that split is the key to diligence in New York, because for most buyers, the protection they assume the law provides simply isn't there — they have to assemble it themselves.

The offering plan: New York's strongest disclosure

Under the Martin Act, codified at General Business Law Article 23-A, no condominium units, cooperative shares, or HOA interests may be offered or sold in or from New York until the sponsor registers and files an offering plan that the Attorney General's Real Estate Finance Bureau reviews and accepts for filing. The offering plan is a comprehensive document: projected operating budget and common charges or maintenance, building plans and specifications, the sponsor's financial statements and obligations, the governing documents, and disclosures about the sponsor's interest and the percentage of units it will hold.

There is one crucial limit. The Attorney General's role is to ensure full and accurate disclosure — it does not judge whether the property is a good investment, and it does not vouch for the building's long-term financial health. The offering plan tells you what the sponsor represented; the diligence about whether those representations hold up is still yours.

The resale diligence gap

The offering-plan regime protects buyers at the initial sponsor sale. For a resale, New York has no statutory resale-certificate or estoppel statute mandating a standardized package, and no statutory right to cancel after reviewing association documents. That is a meaningful contrast with states that require a resale certificate with a cooling-off period.

In practice, a resale runs on the contract:

• Condo resales are documented through the contract and the managing agent: the seller provides the bylaws, house rules, and recent offering-plan amendments, and the managing agent issues a condo questionnaire and a waiver of any right of first refusal, plus a statement of common charges and arrears.
• Co-op resales require a more document-intensive board package — financial statements, references, a board application, the lease assignment, and a recognition agreement — and, critically, board approval. Co-ops are exempt from the Property Condition Disclosure Act because the buyer is purchasing shares, not real property.

In neither case does a statute hand you a standardized disclosure packet or a window to cancel. Your protection is the purchase contract's contingencies — financing, attorney review, and, for co-ops, a board-approval contingency.

What to demand, because the law won't compel it

Treat the following as a request list you drive, not a packet you wait for:

• The offering plan and all amendments, especially for sponsor sales and newer buildings
• The governing documents — declaration or certificate of incorporation, bylaws, house rules, and (co-op) the proprietary lease
• Two to three years of financial statements and the current budget, plus any auditor's management letter
• The statement of unpaid common charges (condo) or maintenance arrears (co-op); for condos, the RPL § 339-z statement limits the unit's liability to the stated amount
• Reserve balance and any board-approved or contemplated special assessment (check the minutes)
• For co-ops, the underlying mortgage terms — balance, rate, maturity or balloon date, and prepayment terms — because that shared building debt is baked into monthly maintenance
• Insurance: master-policy declarations, deductibles, claim history, and any non-renewal notice
• Local Law status for NYC buildings: the FISP / Local Law 11 façade report, Local Law 126 parking-structure report, Local Law 152 gas-piping report, elevator modernization status, and the Local Law 97 carbon-cap compliance posture and any projected penalty
• Sponsor / unsold-share information: the percentage of sponsor-held units, sponsor financial obligations, and board-control status
• A litigation summary — sponsor or construction-defect claims, collection foreclosures, and Human Rights Law claims — since no statute compels a standardized litigation disclosure

Newer buildings: the construction-defect window

For new construction and recent conversions, the offering plan also governs the sponsor's defect obligations — and the notice windows are short. Offering plans typically obligate the sponsor to cure patent defects only if the board gives written notice within roughly two months of the first owner meeting, and latent defects within roughly six months. Boards that miss those windows can lose leverage over real construction problems. Broader defect and contract claims tied to the offering plan generally run on a six-year statute of limitations from the first closing, though a plan's own terms can shorten that. If you are buying in a recently completed or converted building, ask where the building stands in its defect-notice timeline and whether any claims are pending.

Why this matters for your offer

Because New York gives you no statutory cancellation right and no mandated resale packet, the single most important protective step is structural: build adequate document-review time into the purchase contract and attach the right contingencies. For a co-op, that means a board-approval contingency and time for the board package. For both forms, it means a financing contingency and an attorney-review period long enough to read the financials, the insurance, and — for NYC buildings — the Local Law reports before you are committed.

This article describes New York's offering-plan and resale-disclosure framework in general terms and is not legal advice. Disclosure obligations, defect-notice windows, and contract mechanics depend on the specific offering plan, governing documents, and purchase contract; consult a qualified New York real estate attorney for your transaction. CondoSignal reviews the documents you upload and links every finding to the exact page, so you can see financial, insurance, Local Law, and litigation risk before you commit to a purchase.