NYC has a standard condo renovation contract. Boards don't have to use it.
The NYC Bar Association published a model alteration agreement for condo units in February 2026. No New York statute requires boards to adopt it. The person who drafts your building's version needs no state license. Companion to the DOBNow attestation gap and S.71's orphaned seat in Albany.
When a condo unit owner in New York City wants to renovate their apartment, they need two things before the Department of Buildings will process a permit: a completed application and a formal board attestation. They also typically need something that predates both: a signed alteration agreement. In February 2026, the New York City Bar Association published a model alteration agreement for condominium units, the first publicly available standard form drafted specifically for condos by a bar-association committee with practice-area expertise. New York's Condominium Act sets no minimum for what that contract must say and no requirement that any board use the bar association's version. The managing agent who drafts your building's actual form needs no state license.
What an alteration agreement covers.
An alteration agreement is a private contract between a condo unit owner and the board of managers. It governs the terms under which the owner may perform renovation work within the unit. Boards require executed agreements before they will authorize construction, and since January 26, 2026, the board or its representative must also complete a formal attestation in DOB NOW before the Department of Buildings will accept the permit filing. The alteration agreement controls the private side of that transaction; the DOBNow attestation controls the public permit side.
The agreement sets the rules the owner must follow and the costs the owner must absorb before a contractor ever breaks ground. Under Real Property Law §339-j, each unit owner must comply strictly with the bylaws and any rules adopted pursuant to them, and the board may seek damages or injunctive relief against a noncompliant owner. The authority to require alteration agreements flows from those bylaws and each building's own declaration. The statute does not define "reasonable" for any of the fees and deposits a board may impose under that agreement.
| Provision | What it governs | NY statutory floor? |
|---|---|---|
| Contractor insurance | Types and minimum limits the owner's contractors must carry | None in Real Property Law Art. 9-B |
| Performance bond | Cash or surety the owner must post to cover incomplete work | None in Real Property Law Art. 9-B |
| Managing agent processing fee | Fee payable to the agent for application review and file management | None in Real Property Law Art. 9-B |
| Board cost reimbursement | Board's right to charge for legal, engineering, or architectural review of plans | None in Real Property Law Art. 9-B |
| Damage liability | Who bears financial responsibility for damage to neighboring units and building systems | General tort principles; no condo-specific floor |
| Work monitoring fee | Ongoing charge for managing agent oversight during active construction | None in Real Property Law Art. 9-B |
| Abandonment procedure | Steps and costs if a contractor abandons the project mid-work | None in Real Property Law Art. 9-B |
The NYC Bar's February 2026 form.
In February 2026, the Cooperative and Condominium Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association published "Alteration Agreement for Condominium Unit" as a publicly available model. The Association simultaneously released accompanying notes explaining the rationale for each provision. Both documents are free to download from the NYC Bar's website.
The form represents bar-committee judgment on what fair renovation terms should look like for NYC condo unit owners: baseline contractor insurance minimums, defined procedures for managing agent oversight and the fees associated with it, structured damage-liability provisions, lien-waiver requirements, and a process for incomplete or abandoned work. The notes give boards and managing agents a reference for applying the terms as written.
The form is a model, not a mandate. No provision of the New York Condominium Act, the New York City Administrative Code, or any NYC agency rule requires a condo board to adopt it, use it as a starting point, or even read it when drafting the building's own agreement. The bar association published what it believes a fair alteration contract looks like. The Legislature never required one.
The co-op form is a different instrument. Using it for condos creates problems.
One month after the NYC Bar published the condo form, the NYC Bar and the New York State Bar Association jointly adopted a new standardized alteration agreement for cooperative apartments on March 18, 2026. The co-op form received more attention in trade coverage and was in some instances being circulated as a general renovation template.
That created a practical problem. By May 2026, real estate legal commentators were publishing warnings that the co-op standardized agreement was being applied to condominium buildings where it does not fit. A co-op shareholder owns shares in a corporation and holds a proprietary lease. A condo unit owner holds a deed to real property. The ownership structures are legally distinct, and the alteration agreements that govern them need to reflect that distinction.
The co-op form uses the term "shareholder" throughout. Its transfer provisions are built around share registration, not real-property conveyance. Its indemnification clauses identify parties under cooperative corporate structure. None of those provisions translate accurately to a condominium declaration, where the owner is a real-property titleholder with no shares to register. A managing agent who hands a condo unit owner the co-op form is importing terms written for a different legal structure into a real-property contract, and no licensing body in New York can discipline them for the mismatch.
The managing agent in the middle.
In most NYC condo buildings, the managing agent supplies the initial draft of the alteration agreement, maintains a template that applies to all units in the building, tracks executed copies, manages the DOBNow attestation workflow, and monitors construction progress for an oversight fee charged under the agreement's own terms. The board of managers reviews and approves the agreement template; the managing agent produces it.
New York requires no license to manage a residential building. There is no educational requirement, no examination, no background check, no minimum insurance mandate, and no disciplinary body. The person logging into DOBNow to complete a board attestation, charging an architect $3,000 for plan review, and drafting the alteration agreement that governs those charges holds no credential the state can revoke, no registration the state can suspend, and no bond the state can claim against.
The NYC Bar's condo form creates a voluntary professional benchmark for what a fair agreement should say. The absent licensure framework means the person operating in that space is under no obligation to meet it. Senate Bill S.71, Senator Brian Kavanagh's managing agent registration bill, would have required agents to register with the Department of State and maintain approved certification from a recognized organization. On July 29, 2026, the bill lost its Senate sponsor. The 2027 session opens without anyone assigned to reintroduce it.
The DOBNow connection: two points of control, one actor.
The January 26, 2026 DOBNow attestation requirement did not reduce the managing agent's role in the renovation process. It extended it. A unit owner cannot file a renovation permit in DOBNow until the board has completed a formal electronic attestation confirming the work is board-authorized. In most buildings, the managing agent executes that attestation on the board's behalf.
The managing agent therefore sits at two points in the renovation chain at the same time. They produce the alteration agreement, which sets private terms, fees, and bonding requirements before work begins. They execute the DOBNow attestation, which unlocks the public permit process. A managing agent who charges above-market terms in the agreement faces no professional accountability. A managing agent who delays the attestation faces no statutory response deadline. As this site covered in June 2026, no law sets a clock on when the board's designated representative must complete the attestation, the same gap that applies to purchase applications under older versions of that process.
The bar association's form addresses the private-side problem. No law addresses the structural one: the same unlicensed actor controls both the private contract and the public filing gate.
Bottom line.
The NYC Bar Association published a model condo alteration agreement in February 2026 because no NY statute requires one. The form fills a gap the New York Condominium Act left open: nothing in Real Property Law Article 9-B tells a condo board what its renovation contract with unit owners must say, how much it can charge for managing agent oversight, or whether unit owners must receive the agreement in advance before they are expected to sign it. The bar association's form provides what state law does not. No board is required to use it.
The gap between a voluntary professional standard and an enforceable floor is the space where unlicensed managing agents operate with no accountability. In New York, that space is wide. A barber needs a license. The person who determines how much your kitchen renovation will cost your building in fees, bonds, and oversight charges, and on what terms you will bear liability for any damage that occurs, does not.
Primary sources: NYC Bar Association, Alteration Agreement for Condominium Unit (February 2026) · NYC Bar Association, Notes to New Form of Condominium Alteration Agreement (February 2026) · Real Property Law §339-j · NY Senate Bill S.71 (2025-2026)
Companion resources: Your contractor is ready. Your board has no deadline to approve the permit. · The managing agent bill has no Senate sponsor going into 2027. · Local Law 58: liability without a license · Why the AG can't help with most governance disputes · No public managing agent registry · Write to your state representative about S.71