NY Attorney General Real Estate Finance Bureau to Continue Relief Period Instated Under Public Health Emergency

In March 2020, shortly after Executive Order (EO) 202 was first issued, the Real Estate Finance Bureau (REFB) of the New York State Attorney General's Office enacted a number of temporary submission and review policies and procedures. The time period during which the REFB’s temporary policies and procedures are effective was termed “the relief period,” and the REFB initially intended for its relief period to remain in effect as long as EO 202 was in effect. Although EO 202 is no longer in effect, the REFB will continue its relief period until further notice. The REFB intends to provide more details regarding the end of the relief period in the near future; however, the relief period will continue until the REFB states that it is no longer in effect.

To that end, the REFB has updated the guidance documents linked below to reflect that the relief period is still in effect until further notice:

EO 210 also rescinded and deemed expired EOs 202.18 and 202.55, which, among other things: (1) allowed sponsors to delay payment of certain filing fees to the REFB until 90 days after expiration of EO 202.18; (2) tolled certain sponsor obligations and related timeframes/deadlines; and (3) required sponsors to submit an amendment to the REFB updating any relevant timeframes/dates that were tolled by the EOs within 45 days of expiration of the EOs or “within such other longer timeframe as may be specified by the Department of Law.”

Accordingly, the above guidance documents also have been updated to include the information below, as applicable:

Submitters no longer may delay payment of their filing fees pursuant to EO 202.18.
Any submitters who chose to delay payment of their filing fee pursuant to EO 202.18 must pay their filing fee no later than Sept. 23, 2021. In order to do so, submitters must complete the newly issued Form 202.18 — Submission of Delayed Filing Fee Payment Pursuant to Executive Order 202.18 using the instructions detailed on the form and in the guidance documents.
The REFB will provide sponsors with a timeframe longer than 45 days from the expiration of the EOs to submit amendments to the REFB updating any relevant timeframes/dates that were tolled by the EOs. Specifically, the REFB will provide sponsors with an additional 120 days – 165 days in total – from the date the EOs were rescinded and deemed expired. Therefore, sponsors must submit amendments disclosing any updated timeframes/dates that were tolled by the EOs no later than Dec. 7, 2021. The REFB intends to issue a separate guidance document in the near future providing more specific information regarding submitting amendments pursuant to EOs 202.18 and 202.55, including instructions for calculating the tolling period for various submissions.

Contact: Sara Neitzel, sneitzel@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8835