Spotlight on: The Fight to Extend the J-51 Tax Abatement Program

J-51 has been around since 1955 and was originally intended to urge landlords to install hot water plumbing in their properties. It's evolved since then, and now includes everything from roof and elevator replacement to façade work. Under the J-51 program, a building can do a major capital improvement, such as replacing the windows, and the approved improvement becomes a credit against taxes over a period of fourteen years.

What's Happening Now?

This legislation is important because the tax abatement program wasn't even on the radar until now — Senator Avella's proposed extender bill is the first to be introduced for J-51. Another significant point about the bill is that three years ago, when J-51 was last extended, valuation of qualifying apartments was capped at $30,000. Senator Avella is looking not only to extend J-51 for a five-year term, rather than a three-year one, but also to increase valuation to $50,000 per apartment, thus making it far more inclusive.

The Waiting Game

Session ends in a week, and one of the following three things can happen:

• The bill won't get extended.
• The bill will get extended.
• The bill will be kept in effect and postponed until the next session, which, explains Geoffrey Mazel, an attorney who works closely with local legislators about co-op and condo issues, is what happened the last time.

Watch this space for more on the J-51 extender bill, as the story develops.

Photo credit: NY Senate