Transfer fee proposal information.
This site represents the unanimous position of the Board of Directors and is intended to explain why a “Yes” vote is in the best interest of our co-op.
Join the discussion! Your comments, for or against, are welcome at the bottom of the page.
About 90% of our building’s revenue is from monthly maintenance. Without a Transfer Fee, capital projects require assessments from you.
As of 6/25/2025
We’re almost there, please vote today – You can make the difference!
Town hall meetings, video conferences, hand-out and other events for board and committee to discuss with shareholders.
See schedule of upcoming events.
May 2025Votes will be collected at ballot boxes, community events, and at various "Get Out The Vote" drives.
June 2025Voting will end and with 2/3 of shares voting "YES" the Transfer fee will be enacted.
August 2025Any shareholders that wish to prepay their transfer fee at a discount must submit payment by December 31, 2025.
Learn more about the buyout option.
December 31, 2025A 2% transfer fee will begin for all sales on or after January 1, 2026.
January 1, 2026Some of the most asked questions are answered below. Feel free to reach out to any board member for more details or with questions not addressed here.
Answers involving financial details are not posted on this site, but your board will be happy to share these details with you!
Q: Once passed, when exactly does this go into effect?
A: The 2% Transfer Fee begins with sales on or after January 1, 2026.
Q: Are there exemptions to the Transfer Fee?
A: Yes. In most cases, transfers to a spouse, child, parent, sibling, or a trust are exempt. There is no fee involved in a standard refinance.
Q: Who pays the Transfer Fee?
A: It is technically the responsibility of the buyer, however it often becomes part of the purchase negotiation.
Q: What if I don’t vote?
A: A “Non Vote” is the same as a “No” vote. Your vote it critical!
Even if you are against the proposal your “No” vote is important – so please submit your proxy either way.
Q: Are transfer fees common?
A: Yes! Discussions with managing agents and real estate professionals say about 75% of Upper East Side co-ops have them.
Q: Will this make it harder to sell my apartment?
A: No. First, these fees are common in the majority of UES buildings, so most buyers expect them. Second, many real estate professionals say buildings with Transfer Fees are more attractive to buyers because of the positive impact on the building’s financial health and buildings with Transfer Fees typically have fewer assessments.
Note, this is not a schedule of all upcoming building events. It is a listing of events where you can speak with a board member about the Transfer Fee and also where you’ll have an opportunity to sign your proxy.
Transfer Fee status report and discussion with the board.
Look for members of the Transfer Fee Committee and Board available to answer your questions.
Thank you! We are requesting all votes to be submitted by July 11.
We heard from some shareholders that they want the transfer fee voted in to help reduce the need for future assessments, but they do no want to have the fee apply to their apartment.
This buy-out may be a great option for those who want to remove/reduce the transfer fee from their future sales transaction.
You can buy out of the transfer fee at a rate of $10 per share,
There will be no transfer fee for your shares during this 10-year period.
For most shareholders, the buy-out option is much less than the transfer fee.
Beginning 2036, the full amount of the prepay is credited against the 2% fee.
If you’d like to reach the Board to discuss the Transfer fee or hear more about upcoming opportunities to discuss in person, send us a note.
All viewpoints are welcome and will be posted as submitted, assuming common courtesy and respect for other viewpoints are maintained.
After completing your proxy, please drop in the ballot box in either lobby or email a picture of the ballot to Sam Eisner at Wallack Management.
Print Ballot
I spoke with many neighbors who feel that they are being stalked by people on the board to vote. There is a difference between sharing information and aggressive communication, forcing people with lobby signs, notes left on doors, restless personal approaches that feel like threats, etc…Please leave them alone! The vote has been open for over a month, and way over 2/3 counted… Close the vote. Perhaps they don’t vote for fear of retaliation from the board, rather than stating a clear NO.
Thanks for the feedback. The most difficult part of any proxy vote (even for big companies) is getting the shareholders to participate. Each year for our annual shareholders meeting we struggle to get a quorum just to hold the meeting!
If you’ve encountered any board members or committee members, you’ll notice that we are encouraging people to vote, regardless of their position. Yes, we are unanimously in favor of passing the Transfer Fee for many reasons and believe it is in the best interest of all shareholders. However, the most important thing for all of us is to get the votes in.
As such we will be continuing to encourage YES OR NO votes over the coming weeks. Much of our outreach is targeted to those who have not yet voted, so if your friends are against the transfer fee I encourage them to simply check the “no” box and submit their ballot.
I can assure you there are no hard feelings towards those that oppose the amendment. Everyone voice is important, and if people stay on the sidelines their voice is not heard.
So far, just under 2/3 of apartments have voted, although they account for over 70% of shares.
If this passes will the elevator assessment end?
It is possible that the transfer fee can shave off some months off the assessments for the elevators, but the transfer fee will not immediately stop the elevator assessment altogether. HOWEVER, the transfer fee WILL reduce the need for FUTURE assessments (e.g. the never ending Local Laws, the environmental laws etc.)
I will never vote for a transfer fee, except as outlined below. It devalues our investments. And it’s one of the reasons I moved to this building.
There should also be a 3rd option, for the discounted pre-payment of the assessments which would still be a vote against the transfer fee. Let the owners here in 10 years decide what happens then.
Or, alternatively, the transfer fee should only applicable to the apartments on resale after first being purchased after Jan 1. This would grandfather all current owners from having the transfer fee applicable to their sales.
I already voted no. Everyone else should too.
Actually, what devalues our investments is assessment after assessment (which WILL be required without transfer fee). Buyers are cautious about buildings with ongoing assessment. On the other hand, more than 80pct of coops have transfer fees already, this this is nothing new
There is no guarantee that a transfer fee will eliminate future assessments.
You are definitely correct! There could be assessments in the future, depending on the cost of the project. HOWEVER, you can be sure that if there is a transfer fee, that money is earmarked for capital expenses, resulting in – at minimum – reduced assessments.
If we did have the transfer fee in place since 2022, the revenue would have offset both the local law 11 and local law 126 work, meaning 18 months of assessments would probably not have happened.
But even if it had been in place since 2022, there still would be a need for an assessment for the elevator modernization project because of the big expense. But, that $2.4 million assessment would have been reduced by about 5%,
Overall, in the scenario of the transfer fee having passed last time it was presented in 2022, a shareholder with 700 shares would have saved about $3800.
No. The fee is if no value to the departing owner and only serves to inflate the prices.
The value of the transfer fee to the departing owner can be significant. Transfer fee signals prudent financial management of the building finances, it reduces those assessments as well. That puts the departing owner into a stronger negotiation position and achieve a higher sales price for the departing owner.
*of… Current owners should be grandfathered in with no transfer fee, as it did not exist when we purchased. THEN, as of (insert date here) ‘new’ owners are held to the transfer fee rule.
Legally, there can’t be two “classes” of building shareholders. So that won’t be feasible unfortunately.
Can you please forward the reference here regarding the statement that transfer fees are “paid by the buyer”? That is not the case for coop sales here in NYC.
In the amendment to this building’s proprietary lease being proposed, there is language stating the transfer fee is the obligation of the purchaser.
It seems to me that the buyer would expect the apartment price to be dropped by the amount of the transfer fee.
It’s often part of the negotiation when a sale comes up. The seller and buyer can negotiate who pays the fee, or if the cost is split. My family has run a small real estate boutique firm in the city for 45+ years and I’ve seen this happen constantly throughout the years in co-op sales.
Looking forward to hearing from you. You can post your thoughts here and also be sure to join our upcoming in-person sessions!