Local Law 97 for co-ops and condos:
who files, who pays.

Yes — on the same size test as every other building. Ownership form does not matter; square footage and, for condos, the board structure do. A "covered building", as it appears in Department of Finance records, is any one of three things (NYC Admin Code §28-320.1 (as amended by LL147/2019); DOB LL97 page):

The third prong is the one condo boards miss: a board governing three 20,000-square-foot buildings is covered even though none clears 25,000 on its own. DOB's Covered Buildings List — the 2026 list was published in March 2026 — tags each building with a compliance path from CP0 (Article 320 from 2024) to CP4 (DOB Service Notice 3/30/2026; DOB LL97 CBL FAQs); the exemptions guide has the full exception list.

For complexes, reports and penalties are assessed per individual building, by Building Identification Number, even on a shared tax lot (DOB LL97 Covered Buildings List FAQs). Buildings on one lot that do not share energy service need separate calculations (1 RCNY §103-14(b)(3)); for 2024–2029, buildings that do share energy service may be combined in one aggregated calculation (1 RCNY §103-14(b)(4)). The rule does not yet say what happens from 2030.

Article 320 sits in Title 28 of the Administrative Code, whose general definitions — applying "elsewhere in this title" — make an owner any person, corporation or other legal entity having a legal or equitable interest in, or control of, the premises (NYC Admin Code §28-101.5). The local laws that created and amended Article 320 add no separate "owner" definition (NYC Admin Code §28-101.5; §28-320.1). On the Code's general definition, then, a cooperative corporation holding title is the LL97 owner of a co-op — an inference from the definition, not a DOB determination — and the same owner Title 28 makes responsible at all times for keeping the building safe and code-compliant (NYC Admin Code §28-301.1). The corporation acts through its board and managing agent.

For condominiums DOB's rule is explicit: emissions "must be submitted in a single report that includes the emissions for all condominium units in such building", and that report "shall be submitted to the Department by the board of managers" (1 RCNY §103-14(b)(2)). Unit owners do not file. DOB treats a co-op as a whole the same way: where a shareholder is receiving notices as if that individual owned the entire co-op, the board can send the correct contact to BEAM_LL97@buildings.nyc.gov (DOB LL97 Covered Buildings List FAQs).

One thing the sources do not answer is whether individual directors could be personally liable for LL97 penalties. Nothing in LL97, its amendments or DOB's rules that we reviewed addresses it either way; that is a question for the building's counsel.

By May 1, 2025 and by May 1 of every year thereafter, the owner files a report for the prior calendar year, certified by a registered design professional, stating whether the building met its limit and, if not, by how much (NYC Admin Code §28-320.3.7). For the 2026 filing year — calendar-year 2025 emissions — DOB's notice set the report as due May 1 and no later than June 30, 2026, and stated that its 2025 service-notice extensions do not apply to 2026 (DOB Service Notice 2/27/2026).

DOB reported that in the first filing year approximately 93% of covered privately owned properties, representing 91% of covered buildings, filed (DOB press release 4/22/2026). See the deadlines guide for the annual cycle, who certifies for the sign-off, and how to file for BEAM step by step.

Three separate exposures, often confused:

Two provisions matter to boards with thin reserves. In setting a penalty the tribunal must give due regard to mitigating factors, including the owner's good faith efforts, compliance history, unforeseeable events and — in the statute's own list — access to financial resources (NYC Admin Code §28-320.6.1). And DOB may offer a mediated resolution, an agreement not to bring an enforcement proceeding, only where the owner has filed, has shown good faith efforts, and the resolution would help the building meet its limit (1 RCNY §103-14(j)(3)). The penalties guide shows the math, the good faith efforts guide covers mitigation, and the free calculator estimates a specific building's exposure.

Article 320 excludes, among others, a "rent regulated accommodation" (Exception 5), real property owned by a housing development fund company (Exception 7), and a building in a project-based federal housing program (Exception 8) (NYC Admin Code §28-320.1, Exceptions 5, 7, 8 (as amended by LL147/2019)). A rent regulated accommodation is a building in which more than 35% of dwelling units are required by law or governmental agreement to be rent-regulated (NYC Admin Code §28-320.1 and §28-321.1 (as amended by LL116/2020)). Those buildings, with A-3 houses of worship, are Article 321 covered buildings on the same size test (NYC Admin Code §28-321.1 (as amended by LL147/2019)), and DOB's filing guide names HDFC co-ops as a category outright (DOB Article 321 Filing Guide v1.7 (4/28/2025)).

Article 321 has no annual cap. The owner had to show either that calendar-year 2024 emissions did not exceed what the building's 2030 Article 320 limit would be, or that the 13 listed prescriptive energy conservation measures were implemented where applicable by December 31, 2024 (NYC Admin Code §28-321.2.1–§28-321.2.2). The filing was a one-time report due May 1, 2025 with a 60-day grace period to June 30, 2025 — an emissions report certified by a registered design professional, a prescriptive-measures report by a qualified retro-commissioning agent (NYC Admin Code §28-321.3; 1 RCNY §103-17(b); DOB Article 321 Filing Guide v1.7). Benchmarking and periodic audits under the other NYC energy laws continue separately.

The penalties are flat: $10,000 per covered building for failing to file the Article 321 report within 60 days of the deadline, or by any extension deadline DOB grants, and a separate $10,000 per covered building for failing to demonstrate compliance with either pathway, reducible to zero for disaster damage or a state or local agency's commitment, on or after November 15, 2019, to fund a project that achieves compliance (1 RCNY §103-17(d), (d)(1), (e), (f)). Status is not permanent: if the rent-regulated share later falls to 35% or less, the building becomes subject to Article 320 from January 1 of the following year (DOB Article 321 Filing Guide v1.7 (4/28/2025)). The Article 320 vs 321 guide compares the two regimes.

A covered building with at least one rent-regulated unit but 35% or fewer stays in Article 320 but may delay its annual limits until January 1, 2026 and its first report until May 1, 2027 — DOB's pathway CP1 (NYC Admin Code §28-320.3.10.1 (added by LL116/2020); 1 RCNY §103-14(b)(8)(i)). Mitchell-Lama buildings, and buildings with at least one income-restricted unit tied to a state or local government loan, grant, tax exemption or abatement, or conveyance, sit outside the 2024–2034 limits and reporting: their limits commence January 1, 2035 and the rule sets the first report at May 1, 2036 — pathway CP2 (NYC Admin Code §28-320.3.9 (as amended by LL147/2019); 1 RCNY §103-14(b)(8)(ii)-(iii)).

None of this is self-executing; the board documents its status, and DOB and HPD have said what they want to see:

The law does not say. It puts every filing, compliance and penalty obligation on the "owner", and a full-text review of LL97/2019, LL147/2019, LL116/2020 and 1 RCNY §103-14 and §103-17 found no provision on sharing costs or penalties among co-op shareholders or condo unit owners — no "shareholder", "common charge" or "assessment" language at all (NYC Admin Code §28-320.3.7 (full-text review of LL97/2019, LL147/2019, LL116/2020, 1 RCNY §103-14 and §103-17)). Whether a board uses reserves, an assessment, a loan or a common-charge increase is a matter for its governing documents and state law; this page cannot tell you how boards typically split it.

What the law offers is narrow. An owner may seek a one-year adjustment to the limit where financing the needed improvements would prevent a reasonable financial return or the building is in "financial hardship" — in the two years before applying, property-tax or water arrears or HPD emergency-repair balances that put it on DOF's tax lien sale list, or tax-exempt status with negative net revenue — and only if the owner is also ineligible for city financing, tried in good faith to buy offsets or RECs, and used all available incentives (NYC Admin Code §28-320.7(2), §28-320.7.1, §28-320.1 "financial hardship" (as amended by LL147/2019)). The statute also requires the Office of Building Energy and Emissions Performance to run an assistance program for owners without adequate financial resources or technical expertise (NYC Admin Code §28-320.4). Separately, NYC Accelerator is the City's free program offering compliance calculation, project scoping, expert guidance and financing navigation (NYC Accelerator (accelerator.nyc; accelerator.nyc/ll97)).

As an illustrative example only — a city-program case study, not a regulatory figure — NYC Accelerator reports the Inwood Park Apartments co-op spent $1,048,655 upfront on a roof, LED lighting and radiator-cover controls and avoided an estimated $19,547 in 2024 LL97 penalties (NYC Accelerator case study: Inwood Park Apartments). The financing guide covers programs that can help pay for that work.