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Penalty Provisions Relating to Failure to File Energy Efficiency Report

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Rule status: Adopted

Agency: DOB

Effective date: January 19, 2025

Proposed Rule Full Text
DOB-Proposed-Amendment-of-Penalty-Provisions-Relating-to-Failure-to-File-Energy-Efficiency-Report-with-certs.pdf

Adopted Rule Full Text
Final-Rule-Amendment-of-Penalty-Provisions-Relating-to-Failure-to-File-Energy-Efficiency-Report_12.16.24.pdf

Adopted rule summary:

The Department of Buildings (“DOB” or “Department”) is amending subdivision (n) of section 103- 07 of subchapter C of chapter 100 of Title 1 of the Rules of the City of New York to add Energy Management Professional Certification offered by the Energy Management Association to the list of qualifications for energy auditors. DOB is also removing the provision that the Department will not accept new Energy Efficiency Report (“EER”) submissions until the building owner has paid outstanding penalties associated with failure to submit previous EERs. The removal of this provision does not remove the Department’s discretion to require satisfaction of all penalties, but allows the Department to support buildings working to achieve compliance rather than mandating the issuance of penalties. This approach allows for consistency in enforcement across DOB’s sustainability laws.

Comments are now closed.

Online comments: 3

  • Emily Klein

    This comment on the Proposed Amendments to Rules Relating to LL97 Emissions Calculations, Adjustments, Filing fees, and LL87 Provisions is submitted on behalf of the Community Preservation Corporation. Please see the attached PDF.

    Comment attachment
    CPC_Proposed-Rules-for-LL97_PublicComment_11.7.24.pdf
    Comment added November 7, 2024 9:49am

  • Council of New York Cooperatives & Condominiums

    The Council of New York Cooperatives & Condominiums (CNYC Inc.) is a membership organization providing information, education, and advocacy for housing cooperatives and condominiums throughout New York City’s five boroughs and beyond. More than 170,000 New York families from across the economic spectrum make their homes in CNYC member buildings. The shareholders and unit owners in New York’s housing cooperatives and condominiums are committed to this City and, as homeowners, have invested heavily in its future. Many are subject to Section 320 of Local Law 97.

    CNYC does not take issue with the penalties for failure to submit an acceptable EER, set for $3,000 for the first year and $5,000 for each additional year until the EER is submitted. These penalties for failure to file align with other Department of Building charges.

    However, CNYC and its members continue to be astounded at the magnitude of late filing fees for co-ops and condos, currently set at $.50 per square foot for each month late. These fees are not in line with any other fees charged by the Department of Buildings and far outstrip the penalty for failure to file. As a point of reference, a 17-unit co-op of 25,010 square feet would be subject to a late filing fine of $12,505 per month – or $150,060 for twelve months. That amounts to $736 per shareholder per month, or $8,832 over the course of a year. The late fee to be paid by one homeowner in that building would be more than the failure to file fee for the entire building by $5,832. On the other side of the spectrum, a 2,163,399-square-foot cooperative with 1,652 units would be facing $1,081,700 in late fees per month. That would cost each homeowner $655 for each month the filing is late. Over one year, this cooperative’s late filing fees would amount to $12,890,400. These dollars would be far better spent on energy efficiency, carbon reduction, facade repairs – or even keeping housing costs at a reasonable level for New York City’s co-op and condo homeowners than bolstering the City’s General Fund.

    Even if the Department of Buildings had completed the release of its BEAM platform for filing and provided Registered Design Professionals (RDP) with the required instructions to ensure cooperatives and condominiums had the best chance of filing in a timely fashion, these exhorbinant late fees would be incomprehensible. The comments that there may be a three-month grace period if the RDP attests the late filing is their responsibility is not helpful and does not address the core issue of the magnitude of these fines. Late filing fees must be amended to a reasonable amount in line with other Department of Building fees. Failure to do so renders Local Law 97 enforcement punitive.

    Thank you for the opportunity to express our concerns.

    Comment attachment
    CNYC-TESTIMONY-Penalties-for-Failure-to-File.pdf
    Comment added November 21, 2024 2:10pm

  • Lonnie J. Portis

    Attached: Comments Submitted by WE ACT for Environmental Justice
    to the New York City Department of Buildings on November 21, 2024 in response to proposed third set of rules regarding Local Law 97 of 2019.

    Comment attachment
    2024-11-19_WE-ACT_Comments-DOB-LL97-Rulemaking-3-2.pdf
    Comment added November 21, 2024 3:47pm