Reports on Due Diligence Investigations For The Purchase Or Sale Of Multi-Family Dwellings Among the laws affecting New York City, multi-family dwellings include more frequently rent control and rent stabilization and less frequently Section 8, and Mitchell-Lama. These arcane, and many times punishing and highly restrictive laws have been called by New York’s highest court “an impenetrable thicket.” However, our attorneys at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. have the machetes to work through the intricacies of these laws and protect prospective purchasers from the legal traps that can be hidden in an otherwise solid looking investment property. Sellers of such buildings have also found our Due Diligence Teams unmatched in their ability to unearth the kinds of questions that may be asked by a savvy and well-informed purchaser.

Therefore, whether you are considering buying a building or planning on selling one, an Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. prepared due diligence report can unearth for you problems you may otherwise have to deal with years down the road.

Our due diligence team will be analyzing documents from every relevant agency and repository such as:

• The New York City Department of Buildings
• The New York City Environmental Control Board
• The New York State Supreme Court
• The New York City Civil Court
• The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development
• The New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal
• The New York City Housing Court

Using specialized research techniques first developed at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., our team will unearth not only judgments but also pending cases, showing not only the history of the building, but its general legal health, often identifying particularly troublesome current occupants.

Our due diligence reports reveal conflicts between the rents listed on the deal sheet, promotional literature, and those registered with public authorities. We have uncovered existing restrictions on rent, overcharge complaints and judgments in the hundreds or thousands of dollars and revealed when a building is restricted by Single Room Occupancy status.

This same process has also revealed illegal occupancies, incorrect apartment registrations, illegal building uses, and potentially crippling overcharge claims.

During our investigations, many times we will observe a tenant’s name appearing in building records but not appearing in governmental ones. Further investigation upon such discoveries enables our investigators to determine if an apartment may be in use illegally. Such investigated results also enable us to point out to the purchaser uses of units that violate the rent regulation statutes in ways that may either, upon cure, increase the profitability of the building or at the negotiating table, reduce the purchase price.

When we see a potential sign of illegality we enter the next stage of the search. For example, when one tenant repeatedly pays rent late, causing many housing court cases to be commenced, we advise our clients on bringing proceedings to evict based on the bad payment history.

Having several former prosecutors on staff at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. we have an extraordinary set of investigative skills and access to special investigative resources at our command, accelerating our ability to find lawbreakers and profit thieves.

The recommendations in our individualized reports, when incorporated into the contract of sale, may permit a new purchaser to continue a previous owner’s existing case by requiring originals of the evidence gathered and requiring the seller to participate and appear when necessary for depositions and trials.

Both the eased continuance of ongoing cases and the eased commencement of new ones, based on an Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. due diligence report may enable a purchaser to make an already profitable building even more profitable through rent increases achieved through evictions. There is no substitute for the thoroughness contained in a due diligence report from Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., whether it’s for a seller who wants to be certain of exactly what is being sold or a purchaser who needs to know what is being bought.