Welcome to the web page of the Real Estate Law Committees of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York! The six committees constituting the Real Estate Law Committees serve the real estate community of New York City by, among other things:

• publishing Metes & Bounds, a newsletter covering current topics affecting real estate practitioners and their clients
• preparing forms of commonly-used documents in commercial and residential real estate transactions
• issuing reports on matters affecting the real estate community

According to legislation signed by the Governor on November 13, effective March 1, 2002, all sellers of residential real property improved by a 1-4 family dwelling must provide a disclosure statement to buyers (in the form set forth in the statute) regarding the property conditon prior to the buyer signing a contract. The seller must also revise the statement upon acquiring knowledge that some part of it has become materially inaccurate. Certain types of property are exempt, including cooperative and condominium units. The sellers' failure to provide such disclosure statement will result in the buyer receiving a $500 credit against the purchase price at closing. The full text of this statute, which appears as Article 14 of the Real Property Law, may be found here, and a downloadable version of the disclosure statement may be found here.