New York Council quietly passes bill that requires landlords to give priority to nonprofits in purchasing their properties for 90 days

The City Council quietly passed a controversial bill Thursday that would give nonprofits the first chance to buy up troubled Big Apple properties if it becomes law.

The Community Opportunity for Purchase Act, or COPA, requires certain sellers to delay putting their properties on the open market for 90 days, while “community land trusts” and other nonprofits have an exclusive chance to purchase them.

But the new legislation, which was recycled by progressive Brooklyn lawmaker Sandy Nurse earlier this year, is a watered-down version of an earlier proposal that included a much larger number of properties.

Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens) called the bill’s initial proposal an “attack on private real estate” in all five boroughs.

“We are sliding headfirst into a communist dystopia where the government and its apparatchik promoters own all the property, and the rest of us are forced into perpetual rental, and this legislation helps us get there even faster,” Ariola said at the time.

The changes have led some real estate groups to sign on to the legislation.

“(The Real Estate Board of New York) appreciates the constructive engagement and thoughtful leadership of Chairman (Julie) Menin and Board Member Nurse, which resulted in a more focused and practical bill,” said REBNY Chairman James Whelan, who was a vocal opponent of the previous bill.

Former Mayor Eric Adams vetoed the latter bill before walking out.

The new bill is expected to affect fewer than 2,100 New York buildings, which are already mostly managed by the city’s Housing Preservation Department, rather than the more than 10,000 in the previous version.

This still gives nonprofits first access to properties when they go on the market, but owners can still run out of time and sell them on the open market.

Nurse said the version of the bill passed last year was “legally sound” and that the changes were made to city agencies.

“It was more that there were a number of different points that could be litigated, so it wasn’t that there was anything unconstitutional; it was just that they wanted an opportunity to strengthen themselves now that they’d had a third look at it,” she said.

But one critic told the Post that the effort “is just a foot in the door.”

Ann Korchak, board president of Small Property Owners of New York, denounced the legislation.

“COPA, in any form, is a destructive housing policy for renters, homeowners and affordable housing. COPA will devalue buildings, forcing small, often immigrant and multi-generational landlords to sell their buildings for pennies on the dollar,” she said.

“Giving the right of first refusal to nonprofits excludes conventional buyers who have the financial means to immediately improve and rehabilitate a failing building.”