How to Research Condos in NYC: Find Building Management & Contact Details, Condo Declarations, Owners & More

Editor’s Note: This article was updated on July 31, 2023.

If you’ve ever had to research a New York City condo building, you’ve been confronted with how time-intensive the process is; how many sources you need to check; and how deep you have to dig to find more specific information and data points, such as contacts, conversion records, the number of sales in the building or details on each unit.

Traditionally, discovering this type of information required you to check multiple sources, like:

• The NYC Department of Buildings’ (DOB) database
• The database of the City Register’s Office, either online or in-person
• The NYC Department of Finance (DOF) website
• The condo building’s board and current or former residents
• Local real estate agents and brokers

However, online real estate platforms like PropertyShark have thoroughly simplified the process. Now, you can simply search our database from the comfort of your office or home or simply pull up our website on your phone and, in just a few minutes, the condo information you’re looking for will be readily available, including:

• Building management and contact information
• Condo declarations and conversion details
• The list of unit owners and sales

Plus, the PropertyShark database keeps track of condos in New York City by providing full property reports of condo buildings, as well as individual reports for specific units. So, if you’ve ever wondered how to find a condo declaration in NYC or how to find out who owns a condo in NYC, you can quickly find out by following a few simple steps.

1. How do I access condo building and unit information?

To access detailed information on condo buildings and individual condo units, simply log into your PropertyShark account. Then, go to the PropertyShark homepage and type in the address of your target condo building in the property search bar. This will open the condo building’s property report, which includes detailed information regarding building management, condo units, square footage, zoning and more.

2. How do I find out who owns a condo in NYC?

To find out who owns a condo in NYC, open the property report and click on the “Contacts” tab at the top of the page. Here, you’ll find up-to-date information extracted from the NYC Housing Preservation and Development Department (HPD), including:

• The Managing Agent

Not only will you find the name of the managing agent, but also the company they’re associated with and its address. Additionally, if you click on the managing agent’s name, you can run a deep search in the PropertyShark database and discover all of the buildings that they’re currently associated with or have been connected to in the past.

• Building Management & Officers

Right under the “Contacts from Building Permits” section, you’ll find the most recent HPD data on the names, roles and addresses of the building’s management or officers. Here, too, you can choose any name or entity and run a deep search to discover other properties that they’re currently or previously have been associated.

• Contacts From Building Permits

Right under the “Managing Agent” section, you’ll discover the 15 most recent contacts extracted from building permits, as well as their addresses and companies they’re associated with. Even more important, you’ll also find the contact’s roles — specifically, if the contact is simply an applicant or the owner of a unit in the condo building, thereby making this one of the easiest ways to find out who owns a condo in NYC.

Meanwhile, if you want to research other contacts and their roles beyond the latest 15, you can access all contacts extracted from building permits going back as far as 2001. Simply click the “Export to Excel” function, which automatically downloads the data onto your device. This way, it only takes you a couple of minutes to find out who owns a condo in NYC, as well as who has owned a condo in NYC in your building of interest.

3. How do I find condo declarations in NYC?

Although there are plenty of purpose-built condominiums in NYC, many condo buildings were converted from rental apartments or even co-ops. Fortunately, PropertyShark also keeps the records for the original parcel that was converted, and it only takes a few clicks to find condo declarations in NYC and access the original records. To find a NYC condo declaration:

• Select the “General” tab at the top of the page.
• Scroll to the “Overview” section.
• Find the “Condo Conversion” segment right under the “Address” segment. This will contain the former block and lot number; whether the conversion is still active; and the link to the previous property report (prior to the conversion).

• Once you’ve opened the former property report, select the “Documents” tab at the top of the page.
• Browse the document list to find the condo declaration.
• To view the original condo declaration that was registered with ACRIS, click on the document image in the last column.
• If you’re interested in the properties included in the condo declaration, click the blue “M” in the “Type” column.

Before buying a condo unit, it’s vital to research the provisions that make up the condominium declaration for the most informed buying decision. That’s because condo declarations in NYC usually include legal descriptions of the condominium building and of each individual unit; the nature and scope of the development project (when applicable); and provisions for the use of individual units, as well as common areas.

4. How do I research condo units?

If you’re looking to research condo units in a specific building, you need less than one minute:

• Go to the PropertyShark homepage and type in the building’s address into the property search bar.
• Once you’ve opened the building’s property report, select the “Units” tab.
• Scroll to the “Units & Related Parcels” section and select the “Residential” tab.
• This will display the list of all units in the building, their current owners, the size of the unit, the date of purchase, the purchase price of the unit (both as the full price and as price per square foot), and the unit’s floor and line.
• If you’re interested in more detailed information on one or more units, simply browse the unit list and click on the condo unit of your interest. This will open the unit’s individual property report, which has the same wide range of property information and details as the condo building’s property report, including property taxes; documents; the common interest in the building and land pertaining to that unit; and even the contact information of its registered owner.

Finally, if you’re interested only in units on a specific line or floor in a condo building, you can instantly narrow your search results by selecting your target floor and/or line from their specific dropdown menus located right above the unit list.  

Disclaimer

Information provided on this page is purely informational. It is not and should not be regarded as investment advice.