One of the stupidest and most infuriating tax changes of recent years is the "primary residence" nonsense you're talking about. The coop/condo tax abatement was intended to correct a palpably unfair tax rate for coops and condos when compared to houses, and was not in any sense a tax giveaway for wealthy homeowners. Years down the road, sanctimonious idiots got the wrong idea and slapped on the "primary residence" requirement.

To make things worse, the city has been utterly incompetent at managing its own books on this. One couple in our building had lived here for years when they were suddenly removed from the primary-residence rolls. Why? No one knows. Some brain-damaged bureaucrat hit the wrong button somewhere. So this poor couple didn't get their abatement that year, or the next. Finally, the city owned up to its error and the abatements were eventually granted retroactively.

Another couple moved in about three years ago and the primary-residence paperwork was immediately filed. There is proof it was filed. The city doesn't care. Year after year, this couple never gets their abatement. They are justifiably angry. There is nothing else we know to do. There's no doubt the managing agent and the shareholders did everything they were supposed to do.

I don't know of any solution to this other than (a) vote out everyone who is in charge of appointing these dolts and refuses to fire them, and (b) reform the tax system so coops and condos are taxed at a fair rate without the abatement band-aid.