Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 39, September 25, 2024
(a) Applicability. This section shall
apply to every tax assessment review proceeding brought pursuant to title 1 of
article 7 of the real Property Tax Law in a county within the City of New
York.
(b) Preliminary
conference.
(1) Any party to a
tax assessment review proceeding may demand, by application served on all other
parties and filed with the court, together with proof of such service, a
preliminary conference, or the court on its own motion may direct a preliminary
conference. The court, in its notice to the parties setting the date for the
conference, shall direct the petitioner to serve upon the respondent by a date
certain before the date of the conference, the completed statement of income
and expenses required by this section, together with any ancillary papers or
documents that may be necessary. No note of issue may be filed until a
preliminary conference has been held.
(2) The judge presiding at the
preliminary conference shall take whatever action is warranted to expedite
final disposition of the case, including but not limited to:
(i) directing any party to
utilize or comply by a date certain with any pretrial disclosure or bill of
particulars procedure authorized by the Civil Practice Law and Rules;
(ii) directing the parties to
obtain appraisals and sales reports, and to exchange and file appraisal reports
and sales reports by dates certain before the trial;
(iii) directing the filing of a
note of issue and certificate of readiness;
(iv) fixing a date for trial, or by which
the parties must be ready for trial;
(v) signing any order required;
(vi) conducting conferences for
the purpose of facilitating settlement; and
(vii) limiting issues and recording
stipulations of counsel.
(3) Failure to comply with any order or
directive of the court authorized by this subdivision shall be subject to
appropriate sanctions.
(4) Where parties are represented by
counsel, only attorneys fully familiar with the action and authorized to make
binding stipulations or commitments, or accompanied by a person empowered to
act on behalf of the party represented, shall appear at the
conference.
(c) Statement of income and expenses.
Before the note of issue and certificate of readiness may be filed, the
petitioner shall have served on the respondent, in triplicate, a statement that
the property is not income-producing or a copy of a verified or certified
statement of the income and expenses of the property for each tax year under
review. If the property is income-producing, the petitioner must serve the
statement of income and expenses on forms provided by the Tax Certiorari
Division of the Office of the Corporation Counsel of the City of New York. The
petitioner shall complete all items listed on such form. A copy of such
completed form shall also be filed with the note of issue and certificate of
readiness. For the purposes of this section, a cooperative or condominium
apartment building shall be considered income-producing property; an
owner-occupied business property shall be considered income-producing as
determined by the amount reasonably allocable for rent, but the petitioner is
not required to make an estimate of rental income.
(d) Audit. Within 60 days after
the first preliminary conference, the respondent, for the purpose of
substantiating petitioner's completed statement of income and expenses, as
required by subdivision (c) of this section, may request in writing an audit of
the petitioner's books and records for the tax years under review. If
requested, the audit must be completed within 120 days after the request has
been made unless the court, upon good cause shown, extends the time for the
audit. Failure of the respondent to request or complete the audit within the
time limits shall be deemed a waiver of such privilege. If an audit is
requested and the petitioner fails to furnish its books and records within a
reasonable time after receipt of the request, or otherwise unreasonably impedes
or delays the audit, the court, on motion of the respondent, may dismiss the
petition or petitions or make such other order as the interest of justice
requires.
(e) Filing
note of issue and certificate of readiness; additional requirements.
(1) A note of issue and
certificate of readiness shall not be filed unless all disclosure proceedings
have been completed and the statement of income and expenses has been served
and filed. A note of issue and certificate of readiness may not be filed in any
action where a preliminary conference was requested or was directed by the
court until the conference has been held and there has been compliance with any
orders or directives of the court or stipulations of counsel made at such
conference.
(2) A
separate note of issue shall be filed for each property for each tax
year.
(f)
Consolidation or joint trial. Consolidation or joint trial of real property tax
assessment review proceedings in the discretion of the court shall be
conditioned upon service having been made of the verified or certified income
and expense statement, or a statement that the property is not
income-producing, for each of the tax years under review.
(g) Exchange and filing of
appraisal reports.
(1) Upon the
filing of the note of issue and certificate of readiness, the court, if it has
not previously so directed, shall direct that appraisal reports and sales
reports be obtained and that appraisal reports and sales reports be exchanged
and filed by a date certain a specified time before the date scheduled for
trial.
(2) The
exchange and filing of appraisal reports shall be accomplished by the following
procedure:
(i) the respective
parties shall file with the clerk of the trial court one copy, or in the event
that there are two or more adversaries, a copy for each adversary, of all
appraisal reports intended to be used at the trial.
(ii) When the clerk shall have
received all such reports, the clerk forthwith shall distribute simultaneously
to each of the other parties a copy of the reports filed.
(iii) Where multiple parties or
more than one parcel is involved, each appraisal report need be served only
upon the taxing authority and the party or parties contesting the value of the
property which is the subject of the report. Each party shall provide an
appraisal report copy for the court.
(3) The appraisal reports shall contain a
statement of the method of appraisal relied on and the conclusions as to value
reached by the expert, together with the facts, figures and calculations by
which the conclusions were reached. If sales, leases or other transactions
involving comparable properties are to be relied on, they shall be set forth
with sufficient particularity as to permit the transaction to be readily
identified, and the report shall contain a clear and concise statement of every
fact that a party will seek to prove in relation to those comparable
properties. The appraisal reports also shall contain photographs of the
property under review and of any comparable property that specifically is
relied upon by the appraiser, unless the court otherwise directs.
(4) Where an appraiser appraises
more than one parcel in any proceeding, those parts of the separate appraisal
reports for each parcel that would be repetitious may be included in one
general appraisal report to which reference may be made in the separate
appraisal reports. Such general appraisal reports shall be served and filed as
provided in paragraph (1) of this subdivision.
(5) Appraisal reports shall comply with
any official form for appraisal reports that may be prescribed by the Chief
Administrator of the Courts.
(h) Use of appraisal reports at trial.
Upon the trial, expert witnesses shall be limited in their proof of appraised
value to details set forth in their respective appraisal reports. Any party who
fails to serve an appraisal report as required by this section shall be
precluded from offering any expert testimony on value; provided, however, upon
the application of any party on such notice as the court shall direct, the
court may, upon good cause shown, relieve a party of a default in the service
of a report, extend the time for exchanging reports, or allow an amended or
supplemental report to be served upon such conditions as the court may direct.
After the trial of the issues has begun, any such application must be made to
the trial judge and shall be entertained only in unusual and extraordinary
circumstances.
