Consolidated Condemnation Procedure

NYC Admin. Code tit. 5, ch. 3, subch. 1

in effect

NYC Admin. Code § 5-301 Definitions.

§ 5-301 Definitions. As used in this subchapter unless otherwise expressly stated, or unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires, the following terms shall mean: 1. "The court", "the supreme court": A special term of the supreme court for condemnation proceedings held in the county within the city and within the judicial district in which real property being acquired or some part thereof is situated. 2. "Application to condemn": An application to the supreme court to have the compensation which should justly be made to the respective owners of the real property proposed to be taken, ascertained and determined by the court without a jury. 3. "Justice": The justice assigned to hold such court. 4. "Days": Calendar days exclusive of Sundays and full legal holidays. 5. "Owner": A person having an estate, interest or easement in the real property being acquired or a lien, charge or encumbrance thereon. 6. "Real property": Includes all lands and improvements, lands under water, waterfront property, the water of any lake, pond or stream, all easements and hereditaments, corporeal or incorporeal, and every estate, interest and right, legal or equitable, in lands or water, and right, interest, privilege, easement and franchise relating to the same, including terms for years and liens by way of judgment, mortgage or otherwise. 7. "Street": Includes street, avenue, road, alley, lane, highway, boulevard, concourse, parkway, driveway, culvert, sidewalk, crosswalk, boardwalk and viaduct, and every class of public road, square and place, except marginal streets and wharves. 8. "Capital project proceeding": A condemnation proceeding pursuant to the provisions of this chapter for capital project purposes, authorized pursuant to the charter.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-302 Construction.

§ 5-302 Construction. The provisions of this subchapter shall apply to all capital project proceeding instituted within the city unless the context or subject-matter otherwise requires, but shall not apply to street closing proceedings, except as provided in section 5-459 of the code, nor to proceedings to acquire real property for rapid transit purposes.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-303 Special provisions in proceedings for drainage of land by means other than sewers.

§ 5-303 Special provisions in proceedings for drainage of land by means other than sewers. In proceedings for the acquisition of real property for the drainage of land by means other than sewers, pursuant to an order of the department of health and mental hygiene, the time or times for the giving or publication of notices shall be one-half of that required in this subchapter for other proceedings, provided that any resultant one-half day shall be deemed a whole day. The time for the supreme court to hear objections to the tentative decree in any such drainage proceeding shall be two days.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-304 Cession to and purchase by the city of the real property being acquired.

§ 5-304 Cession to and purchase by the city of the real property being acquired. a. An owner of real property, which property the city is authorized to acquire, may cede the same to the city upon such terms and conditions, including exemptions from assessments, as the mayor from time to time may prescribe, provided such real property be free from encumbrances inconsistent with the title to be acquired. b. The mayor shall also have power and is hereby authorized to agree as to the purchase price of any real property selected for acquisition in a capital project proceeding, or any part thereof, and to purchase the same for and on behalf of the city. An option to purchase such real property, granted to the city for a period not to exceed ninety days, shall not be withdrawn or cancelled during the period named therein. c. When a conveyance of the real property ceded or purchased shall have been approved and accepted, the city shall become vested with title to such real property so conveyed to the same extent and effect as if it had been acquired for the improvement by a proceeding had for that purpose.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-305 Preparation of maps in capital project proceeding; filing.

§ 5-305 Preparation of maps in capital project proceeding; filing. a. When a capital project proceeding has been authorized, the agency submitting the departmental estimate shall cause to be prepared five similar surveys, diagrams, maps or plans of the real property being acquired, stating thereon the amount or valuation at which each parcel of real property to be acquired has been assessed for purposes of taxation on the city tax rolls for each of the three years preceding the date of such selection; one of such surveys, diagrams, maps or plans to be filed in the office of such agency, the second to be filed in the office of the corporation counsel, the third to be filed in the office in which instruments affecting real property are required to be recorded in the county in which such real property is situated, the fourth to be filed in the office of the department of citywide administrative services, and the fifth to be filed in the department of design and construction. b. It shall be lawful for the duly authorized agents of such agency, and all persons acting under its authority and by its direction, and in accordance with the provisions of section four hundred four of the eminent domain procedure law to enter in the daytime into and upon such real property which it shall be necessary so to enter, for the purpose of making such surveys, diagrams, maps or plans, or for the purpose of making such soundings or borings as such agency may deem necessary. Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Appendix A at L.L. 1996/059.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-306 Lis pendens.

§ 5-306 Lis pendens. Upon the authorization by the mayor of a capital project proceeding, it shall be the duty of the corporation counsel to file in the office of the clerk of the county where the real property to be acquired or any part thereof is situated, a notice of the pendency of such proceeding, according to the provisions of subdivision (B) of section four hundred two of the eminent domain procedure law.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-307 Notice of application to condemn.

§ 5-307 Notice of application to condemn. Upon the filing of the lis pendens in a capital project proceeding, the corporation counsel for and on behalf of the city shall promptly proceed to give notice of the city's intention to apply to the supreme court for permission to condemn and ascertain damages, as provided in subdivision (B) of section four hundred two of the eminent domain procedure law.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-308 Application to condemn; contents of petition.

§ 5-308 Application to condemn; contents of petition. Upon the application to condemn, the corporation counsel shall present to the court a petition signed and verified by him or her, setting forth in addition to other requirements of the eminent domain procedure law, the following: 1. The order of the mayor authorizing the proceeding. 2. The amount of valuation at which each parcel of the real property to be acquired has been assessed for purposes of taxation on the city tax rolls for each of the three years preceding the date of the petition. Such assessed valuation, in case only part of an entire plot in a single ownership is to be acquired, shall be pro-rated according to the area of the part so to be acquired but shall include the valuation of all buildings encroaching upon or within the lines of the proposed improvement. 3. A prayer that the real property described therein be condemned by such court.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-309 Notice to file claims.

§ 5-309 Notice to file claims. The corporation counsel, after the filing of the order granting the application to condemn, shall proceed in accordance with section four hundred three of the eminent domain procedure law and provide notice to file claims.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-310 Proof of ownership.

§ 5-310 Proof of ownership. a. The proof of title to the real property to be acquired, where the same is undisputed, together with proof of liens or encumbrances, thereon, shall be submitted by the claimant to the corporation counsel, or to such assistant as the corporation counsel shall designate. The corporation counsel shall serve upon all parties or their attorneys, who have served upon him or her copies of their verified claims, a notice of the time and place at which the corporation counsel will receive such proof of title. b. Where the title of the claimant is disputed it shall be the duty of the court to determine the ownership of such real property upon the proof submitted to the court during the trial of the proceeding. The court shall also have power to determine all questions of title incident to the trial of the proceeding.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-311 Examination before trial of party or witness.

§ 5-311 Examination before trial of party or witness. A proceeding by the city to acquire title to real property for a public use or purpose by condemnation shall be deemed a special proceeding, in which testimony may be taken by deposition pursuant to the provisions of article thirty-one of the civil practice law and rules and subject to the provisions of this section. The pendency of such a proceeding shall constitute special circumstances which render it proper that the deposition of any person not an owner be taken pursuant to sections three thousand one hundred one and three thousand one hundred six of the civil practice law and rules. Such deposition may be taken upon any question or issue in the proceeding and for the purpose of obtaining testimony as to any sale or lease as described in subdivision a of section 5-314 of this subchapter at the instance of the city or of any owner or at the direction of the court at any time after the expiration of the date fixed for filing claims. Any owner desiring to obtain testimony by deposition shall give at least five days' notice or, if service is made through the post office, at least eight days' notice to the corporation counsel and to all other owners or their attorneys who have duly filed their verified claims. If the corporation counsel shall desire to obtain testimony by deposition he or she shall give like notice to all owners or their attorneys who have duly filed and served on the corporation counsel copies of their verified claims. For the purpose of any such examination before trial brought on by an owner and noticed for and held at any office of the corporation counsel in the borough in which the real property is situated or at such other place as the corporation counsel shall designate, the corporation counsel shall at the expense of the city provide proper stenographic service and shall furnish to the owner bringing on such examination a copy of the typewritten transcript of such examination, duly certified by the officer before whom the same was taken. In all other cases, the party bringing on such examination shall at his or her own cost and expense provide proper stenographic service and shall furnish to the corporation counsel two copies of the typewritten transcript of such examination duly certified by the officer before whom it was taken. The deposition of a witness need not be subscribed by such witness, if such subscription shall be waived by the parties appearing upon the witness' examination. The corporation counsel, at the office address subscribed by him or her upon the papers in the proceeding, shall from and after the date of his or her receipt thereof keep on file, available for inspection by all parties to the proceeding a certified copy of each deposition in the proceeding.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-312 Note of issue of the proceeding.

§ 5-312 Note of issue of the proceeding. After all parties who have filed verified claims as provided in section 5-309 of this subchapter, have proved their title or have failed to do so after being notified by the corporation counsel of the time and place when and where such proof of title would be received by him or her, the corporation counsel shall serve upon all parties or their attorneys who have appeared in the proceeding a note of issue as provided in section five hundred six of the eminent domain procedure law. The clerk of the court must thereupon enter the proceeding upon the proper calendar according to the date of the entry of the order granting the application to condemn. When the note of issue has been served and filed, the proceeding must remain on the calendar until finally disposed of.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-313 View by court.

§ 5-313 View by court. It shall be the duty of the justice trying any such proceeding, to view the real property to be thereby acquired in accordance with section five hundred ten of the eminent domain procedure law. Where title to real property being acquired in a proceeding shall have been vested in the city, and buildings or improvements situated thereon shall have been removed or destroyed by the city or pursuant to its authority prior to the trial of the proceeding, and whereby the justice trying the proceeding is deprived of a view of the buildings or improvements so removed or destroyed, the fact that the justice has not had a view thereof shall not preclude the court from receiving on the trial of the proceeding testimony and evidence, as to the damage sustained by the claimant by reason of the taking thereof, when offered on behalf of either the claimant or the city.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-314 Trial of proceeding; evidence.

§ 5-314 Trial of proceeding; evidence. a. Upon the trial, evidence of the price and other terms upon any sale, or of the rent reserved and other terms upon any lease, relating to any of the property taken or to be taken or to any other property in the vicinity thereof, shall be relevant, material and competent, upon the issue of value or damage and shall be admissible on direct examination if the court shall find the following: 1. That such sale or lease was made within a reasonable time of the vesting of title in the city, 2. That it was freely made in good faith in ordinary course of business, and 3. In case such sale or lease relates to other than property taken, that it relates to property which is similar to the property taken or to be taken. No such evidence, however, shall be admissible as to any sale or lease, which shall not have been the subject of an examination before trial either at the instance of the city or of an owner, unless at least twenty days before the trial the attorney for the party proposing to offer such evidence shall have served a written notice in respect of such sale or lease, which notice shall specify the names and addresses of the parties to the sale or lease, the date of making the same, the location of the premises, the office, liber and page of the record of the same, if recorded, and the purchase price or rent reserved and other material terms, or unless such sale or lease shall have occurred within twenty days before the trial. Such notice by the corporation counsel shall be served upon all owners or their attorneys who have appeared in the proceeding; or if served on behalf of an owner, shall be served upon the corporation counsel and upon all other owners or their attorneys who have appeared in the proceeding. The testimony of a witness as to his or her opinion or estimate of value or damage shall be incompetent, if it shall appear that such opinion or estimate is based upon a sale or lease of any of the property taken or to be taken or of any of the property in the vicinity thereof, which shall not have been the subject of an examination before trial, unless it shall have been specified in a notice served as aforesaid or shall have occurred within twenty days before the trial. b. Upon the trial, no map or plan of proposed streets, drains or sewers for the subdivision and improvement of any property, nor any drawing or other specification of excavation or filling or piling or of any proposed structure above or under ground deemed necessary or proper to provide a foundation for a suitable or adequate improvement, or of any other structure or improvement not existing on the property on the date that title thereto may vest in the city, nor any oral or written estimate or cost or expense of constructing the streets, drains or sewers in conformity with such map or plan, nor any oral or written estimate of the cost of making such excavation or filling or piling or of constructing any such other proposed structure or improvement in conformity with such drawing or other specification thereof, nor any evidence of value of damage based upon any of the foregoing, shall be received in evidence, unless the party offering the same in evidence shall have served upon the adverse party, at least thirty days prior to the trial, a notice of intention to offer such evidence on the trial and of the particulars thereof, including a true copy of the map or plan or drawing and other specifications and estimate of cost or expense to be so offered in evidence, provided, however, that when offered such evidence shall be subject to objection upon any legal ground. c. Upon the trial, no evidence shall be admitted, as against an owner of real property being acquired, of an offer made by or on behalf of such owner for the sale of his or her property or any part thereof to the city, or for the sale or assignment of any right and title to the award or awards, or any part thereof, to be made for such property or any part thereof, in the proceeding; nor shall any evidence be received, as against the city, of any offer made to such owner, by or on its behalf, for the purchase of such property or any part thereof or for the purchase of the award or awards or any part thereof, to be made for such property, or any part thereof, in the proceeding.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-315 Maps to be supplied court.

§ 5-315 Maps to be supplied court. a. The agency submitting the departmental estimate for a capital project shall furnish to the court such surveys, diagrams, maps and plans as the court shall require, to enable the court to hear and determine the claims of the owners of the real property affected by the proceeding. Such surveys, diagrams, maps and plans shall distinctly indicate by separate numbers, the names of the claimants to, or of the owners of the respective parcels of real property to be taken in such proceedings, so far as the same are known, and shall also specify in figures with sufficient accuracy the dimensions and bounds of each of such tracts to be taken. The court may require any agency of the city, if the corporation counsel shall approve, to furnish such other surveys, diagrams, maps and plans and such other information as shall aid and assist the court in the trial or determination of the proceeding. b. It shall be lawful for the duly authorized agents of the agency furnishing such surveys, diagrams, maps and plans, and all persons acting under their or its authority and by their or its direction, to enter in the daytime into and upon such real property which it shall be necessary so to enter, for the purpose of making such surveys, diagrams and maps or plans as such agency shall deem necessary.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-316 Clerks to be furnished the court.

§ 5-316 Clerks to be furnished the court. The corporation counsel and the comptroller, in a capital project proceeding, shall furnish the court such necessary clerks and other employees and shall provide such suitable offices for such clerks and employees as may be required to enable the court to fully and satisfactorily discharge the duties imposed by law.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-317 Tentative decree; what to contain; where filed.

§ 5-317 Tentative decree; what to contain; where filed. a. The court, after hearing such testimony and considering such proofs as may be offered, shall ascertain and estimate the compensation which should justly be made by the city to the respective owners of the real property being acquired. The court shall instruct the corporation counsel to prepare separate tabular abstracts of its estimate of damage. b. The tabular abstract of the estimated damage shall set forth separately the amount of loss and damage, the names of the respective owners of each and every parcel of real property affected thereby as far as the same shall be ascertained, and a sufficient designation or description of the respective lots or parcels of real property acquired, by reference to the numbers of the respective parcels indicated upon the surveys, diagrams, maps or plans used by the court, or copies thereof, which, together with all of the affidavits and proofs upon which such estimates are based, shall accompany or be attached to such tabular abstracts. c. The finance department shall furnish to the corporation counsel sets of the tax maps of the city in duplicate for filing therein and for convenience of reference thereto in the tabular abstract of estimated damage. The surveyor of the finance department shall make and furnish all necessary surveys and corrections of the section maps, necessary to keep the maps furnished to the corporation counsel as accurate as practicable. d. Such tabular abstract or abstracts shall be signed by the justice trying the proceeding and filed with the clerk of the court in the county in which the order granting the application to condemn was filed and when so filed such abstract or abstracts shall constitute the tentative decree of the court as to awards for damages.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-318 Agreements for compensation to be awarded for the removal of structures from premises being acquired.

§ 5-318 Agreements for compensation to be awarded for the removal of structures from premises being acquired. a. The mayor, prior to the purchase of the premises being acquired, upon which buildings or parts of buildings or other structures are erected, or prior to the signing of the final decree of the court, may agree with the owner or owners thereof, or any person having a beneficial interest therein, in case title thereto has not vested in the city: 1. As to the cost and compensation to be allowed and paid to them to remove such buildings or parts of buildings or other structures, and 2. That such sum or sums shall be the compensation to be awarded by the court, or allowed for the damage done such buildings or parts of buildings or other structures by virtue of such proceeding. Such agreement may also be made as a condition of the sale by the city, at private sale, of its interest in such buildings or parts of buildings or other structures, after vesting of title thereto, to the owner or owners of the award or awards therefor or other persons having an interest therein. b. Such buildings or parts of buildings or other structures shall not, in any case, be relocated or re-erected within the lines of any proposed street or other public improvement. The mayor shall prescribe such conditions in the terms of sale, which, if broken, shall entitle the city to a resale of such property and which shall revest title thereto in the city. c. The court shall accept such agreed amounts of compensation for the removal of buildings or parts of buildings or other structures as the amounts to be awarded as such compensation and include the same in the tentative and final decrees.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-319 Separate and partial tentative and final decrees.

§ 5-319 Separate and partial tentative and final decrees. a. The court upon the authorization of the mayor, may make a separate and partial tentative decree and a separate and partial final decree embracing the entire real property being acquired therein, or successive sections or parcels thereof. b. Whenever a separate and partial tentative and final decree or decrees shall have been authorized, the corporation counsel may file in the office of the county clerk and in the office in which instruments affecting real property are required to be recorded in the county in which the order granting the application to condemn is filed, a survey or map showing the part of the real property being acquired as to which a separate and partial tentative and final decree has been authorized, subdivided into parcels corresponding with separate ownerships thereof, as far as ascertained, and the corporation counsel and the court shall proceed with the ascertainment and determination of the damages with relation to the real property shown on such partial damage map in the same manner as provided for the ascertainment and determination of damages with relation to the entire real property embraced in the proceeding. c. In case a separate and partial final decree or decrees as to damage, including part of the real property being acquired in the proceeding, shall have been made or filed therein and the justice who made and filed the separate and partial final decree or decrees as to damage shall have died or retired from the bench, or become incapacitated for any reason, the corporation counsel and the court shall proceed with the ascertainment and determination of damage with relation to the remaining real property damaged in the same manner as provided for the ascertainment and determination of damage with relation to the entire real property being acquired and shall make a separate and partial tentative and final decree as to damage as to all the real property being acquired in the proceeding, which shall not have been included in prior separate and partial final decrees as to damage. All provisions of this subchapter relating to tentative and final decrees shall apply to the separate and partial final decrees as to damage so made, provided, however, that the provision making it the duty of the justice to view the property being acquired shall not apply in case the buildings or improvements on the property or the part thereof being acquired shall have been removed or destroyed by the city or pursuant to its authority prior to the time the matter shall have been assigned to such justice for trial.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-320 Notice to file objections; objections; hearings.

§ 5-320 Notice to file objections; objections; hearings. a. Upon the filing of the tentative decree the corporation counsel shall give notice, by advertisement in the City Record, of the filing of such tentative decree and that the city and all other parties interested in such proceedings, or in any of the real property affected thereby, having an objection thereto, shall file such objections, in writing, duly verified in the manner required by law for the verification of pleadings in an action, setting forth the real property owned by the objector, and such objector's post office address, in the office in which the tentative decree was filed within fifteen days after such publication in a capital project proceeding. Such notice shall be so published for a period of ten days in a capital project proceeding. Similar notice shall be given of the filing of any new, supplemental or amended tentative decree, and for the filing of objections thereto. The notice shall further state that the corporation counsel on a date specified in the notice will apply to the justice who made the tentative decree to fix a time when he or she will hear the parties objecting thereto. b. After the filing of the tentative decree or of any new, or supplemental, or amended tentative decree, no award for damages shall be diminished without notice to the owner of the real property affected or the owner's attorney appearing in the proceeding and an opportunity given for a hearing in regard thereto before signing the final decree. c. Every party objecting to the tentative decree or to the new supplemental or amended tentative decree or such party's attorney, within the time specified in the notice to file objections, shall serve on the corporation counsel a copy of such verified objections. d. Upon the application of the corporation counsel, the justice shall fix the time when he or she will hear the parties so objecting and desiring to be heard. At the time so fixed the justice shall hear the person or persons who have objected to the tentative decree, or to the new, supplemental or amended tentative decree, and who may then and there appear, and shall have the power to adjourn from time to time until all parties who have filed objections and who desire to be heard shall have been fully heard.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-321 Final decree; preparation thereof; what to contain.

§ 5-321 Final decree; preparation thereof; what to contain. a. After considering the objections, if any, and making any corrections or alterations in the tentative decree as to awards for damage, the justice trying the proceeding shall give instructions to the corporation counsel as to the preparation of the final decree. Such decree shall consist of the tentative decree, altered and corrected in accordance with the instructions of the justice; of the final awards, as determined by the court, set opposite the respective damage parcel numbers in a column headed "final award" in the tabular abstract of awards for damage; of a statement of the facts conferring upon the court jurisdiction of the proceeding; and of such other matters as the court shall require to be set forth. The final decree shall also contain a statement that the amounts set opposite the respective damage parcel numbers in the column headed "final awards" in the tabular abstract of awards for damage constitute and are the just compensation which the respective owners are entitled to receive from the city. The final decree shall also set forth the names of the respective owners of the several parcels acquired, but in all cases where the owners are unknown or not fully known to the court, it shall be sufficient to set forth and state in general terms in the decree the respective sums to be allowed and paid to the owners of the respective parcels for loss and damage without specifying their names or their estates or interests therein, and in such case the owners may be specified as unknown. b. To the final decree shall be attached the surveys, diagrams, maps or plans referred to in subdivision a of section 5-315 of this subchapter, duly corrected, when necessary. Such decree shall set forth the several parcels taken by reference to the numbers of such parcels on the respective surveys, diagrams, maps or plans, and it shall not be necessary to describe any parcels acquired by metes and bounds. c. Should any errors exist in the tentative decree, or in the surveys, diagrams, maps or plans attached thereto, or should there occur, between the date of the tentative decree and the time of the signing by the court of the final decree, any changes in ownership resulting in changes in the size of area, by subdivision or otherwise, of any of the parcels of any real property to be acquired, the court may alter and correct the respective surveys, diagrams, maps or plans to show such changes in such final decree. At the time of the entry of the final decree, the court shall direct that the maps furnished to the corporation counsel in the proceeding shall be revised and altered in agreement with the tax maps as of the date of the entry of such decree.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-322 Filing of final decree as to damage where objections and the filing of a tentative decree are waived.

§ 5-322 Filing of final decree as to damage where objections and the filing of a tentative decree are waived. a. Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, in any case where the owner of any real property affected by any proceeding under this subchapter or the owner's attorney and the corporation counsel enter into an agreement in writing whereby it is agreed that with respect to the award of damages in relation to such property, the filing of a tentative decree, the giving of notice to file objections and the filing and hearing of objections are waived, the filing of a tentative decree, the giving of such notice and the hearing of objections in relation to such award shall not be required. b. In a capital project proceeding, the court may make a separate and partial final decree or decrees determining the final awards to any owners of real property affected by the proceeding who have entered into such waiver agreements or in whose behalf such agreements have been made by their attorneys, or where such agreements have been so entered into by or in behalf of all owners of real property affected by such proceeding, the court may make a final decree determining the final awards to such owners. In accordance with the procedure regularly governing where the provisions of subdivision a of this section are not applicable, the court may make such separate and partial tentative or final or other decrees as may be appropriate for the determination of awards to owners of real property affected by the proceeding who have not entered into such agreements and in whose behalf such agreements have not been made by their attorneys. c. 1. Any separate and partial final decree or final decree determining final awards to owners of real property by whom or in whose behalf such waiver agreements have been so entered into shall be prepared by the corporation counsel in accordance with the instructions of the justice trying the proceeding, and shall set forth the following: (a) such awards, as determined by the court, set opposite the respective damage parcel numbers; (b) the facts conferring jurisdiction over the proceeding upon the court and such other matters as the court shall require to be included; (c) a statement that the amounts set opposite the respective damage parcel numbers constitute and are just compensation which the respective owners are entitled to receive from the city; and (d) the names of the respective owners of the several parcels acquired, as far as the same shall have been ascertained, but in all cases where the owners are unknown or not fully known to the court, it shall be sufficient to set forth and state in general terms in the decree the respective sums to be allowed and paid to the owners of the respective parcels for loss and damage, without specifying their names or their estates or interests therein, and in such case the owners may be specified as unknown. 2. If any such decree is the first separate and partial final decree or final decree filed in such proceeding, there shall be attached thereto the surveys, diagrams, maps or plans referred to in subdivision a of section 5-315 of this subchapter, duly corrected, when necessary. Any such decree referred to in this subdivision shall set forth the several parcels taken by reference to the numbers of such parcels on the respective surveys, diagrams, maps, or plans, and it shall not be necessary to describe any parcels acquired by metes and bounds.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-323 Final decree; how filed; effect.

§ 5-323 Final decree; how filed; effect. a. The final decree, together with all affidavits and proofs upon which the same is based, shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the county in which the order granting the application to condemn was filed, and a certified copy of such decree shall be filed in the office in which instruments affecting real property are required to be recorded, in every county in which any part of the real property affected is situated and shall be filed in the department of citywide administrative services of the city of New York. b. The final decree, unless set aside or reversed on appeal, shall be final and conclusive as well upon the city as upon the owners of the real property mentioned therein, and also upon all other persons whomsoever. Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Appendix A at L.L. 1996/059.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-324 Appeal to appellate division.

§ 5-324 Appeal to appellate division. The city or any party or person affected by the proceeding and aggrieved by the final decree of the court therein as to awards may appeal to the appellate division of the court. An appeal from the final decree of the court must be taken within thirty days after notice of the filing of such final decree. Except as herein otherwise provided, such appeal shall be taken and heard in the manner provided by the civil practice law and rules and the rules and practice of the court in relation to appeals from orders in special proceedings, and such appeal shall be heard and determined by such appellate division upon the merits both as to matters of law and fact. The determination of the appellate division shall be in the form of an order. The taking of an appeal by any person or persons shall not operate to stay the proceedings under this subchapter except as to the particular parcel of real property with which the appeal is concerned. The final decree of the court shall be deemed to be final and conclusive upon all parties and persons affected thereby, who have not appealed. Such appeal shall be heard upon the evidence taken by the court or such part or portion thereof as the justice who made the decree may certify, or the parties to such appeal may agree upon as sufficient to present the merits of the questions in respect to which such appeal shall be had. An appeal taken but not prosecuted within six months after the filing of the notice of appeal, unless the time within which to prosecute the same shall have been extended by an order of the court, shall be deemed to have been abandoned and no agreement between the parties extending the time within which such appeal may be prosecuted shall vary the provisions hereof. When a final decree of the court shall be reversed on appeal, such reversal shall not divest the city of title to the real property affected by the appeal.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-325 Appeal to court of appeals.

§ 5-325 Appeal to court of appeals. An appeal to the court of appeals may be taken by the city or any person or party interested in the proceeding and aggrieved by the order of the appellate division. Such appeal shall be taken and heard in the manner provided by the civil practice law and rules and the rules and practice of the court of appeals in relation to appeals from orders in special proceedings. An appeal taken but not prosecuted within six months after the filing of the notice of appeal, unless the time within which to prosecute the same shall have been extended by an order of the court, shall be deemed to be abandoned, and no agreement between the parties to the appeal extending the time to prosecute the same shall vary the provisions hereof. The court of appeals may affirm or reverse the order appealed from, and may make such order or direction as shall be appropriate to the case. If the final decree or decrees of the court shall be reversed by the court of appeals, such reversal shall not divest the city of title to the real property affected by the appeal.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-326 Taxation of costs, charges and expenses.

§ 5-326 Taxation of costs, charges and expenses. a. The bill of the reasonable and necessary costs, charges and expenses which by law are required to be taxed shall not be paid or allowed until they shall have been taxed by the court after notice given as in this section provided. Upon such taxation, due proof of the nature and extent of the services rendered and the disbursements charged shall be furnished, and no unnecessary costs or charges shall be allowed. All items in the bill shall be stated in detail and shall be accompanied by such proof of the reasonableness thereof and the necessity therefor, as is now required by law and the practice of the court upon taxation of costs and disbursements in other special proceedings or actions in such court. Proof by affidavit shall also be given of the dates of rendering services. No such claim for compensation, in a capital project proceeding, shall be allowed or paid unless it be accompanied by a certificate of the comptroller setting forth that the same has been audited and examined, and further certifying the result of such audit and examination. Such certificate shall be presumptive evidence of the correctness, reasonableness and necessity of such bill. b. In a capital project proceeding, the corporation counsel shall be given five days' notice of the taxation of the bill of costs, charges and expenses. c. Property owners appearing in the proceedings shall not be entitled to recover counsel fees, costs, disbursements or allowances, except as provided in sections seven hundred one and seven hundred two of the eminent domain procedure law.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-327 Damages; when, how and to whom paid.

§ 5-327 Damages; when, how and to whom paid. a. All damages awarded by the court, with interest thereon from the date title to the real property acquired shall have vested in the city and all costs, charges and expenses which may have been taxed shall be paid by the city to the respective owners mentioned or referred to in the final decree or to the persons in whose favor such costs, charges and expenses were taxed, as hereinafter provided. b. In a capital project proceeding, payment shall be made within two calendar months after the entry of the final decree. In default of such payment, the owners or other persons entitled to be paid in the proceeding may at any time after application first made to the comptroller therefor, sue for and recover the amount due, with lawful interest, and the costs of such suit. Upon the application to the comptroller for payment, the applicant may state that any outstanding taxes, assessments or other liens may be deducted from the amount otherwise payable, and in that event, the fact that there are outstanding taxes, assessments or other liens shall not impair or invalidate such application nor operate as a bar to the collection of interest upon the amount awarded less the amount of such outstanding taxes, assessments or other liens. c. Payment of an award to a person named in the final decree as the owner thereof, if not under legal disability, shall in the absence of notice in writing to the comptroller of adverse claims thereto, protect the city. d. Where an award shall be paid to a person not entitled thereto, the person to whom it ought to have been paid may sue for and recover such award, with lawful interest and costs of suit, as so much money had and received to his or her use by the person to whom the same shall have been paid. e. 1. When an owner in whose favor an award shall have been made in a final decree, shall be under legal disability or absent from the city, and when the name of the owner shall not be set forth or mentioned in the final decree or when the owner, although named in such decree, cannot, upon diligent inquiry, be found, or where there are adverse or conflicting claims to the money awarded as compensation, the city shall pay such award into the supreme court, to be secured, disposed of, invested or paid out as such court shall direct, and such payment shall be as valid and effectual in all respects as if made to the owner or other person entitled thereto. 2. In default of such payment into court, the city shall be and remain liable for such award, with lawful interest thereon from the date upon which title to the real property for which said award was made vested in the city, in a capital project proceeding.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-328 Advance payments.

§ 5-328 Advance payments. The mayor may authorize the comptroller to pay to the person entitled to an award for real property acquired in a proceeding, in advance of the final determination of such person's damages pursuant to the requirements of article three of the eminent domain procedure law, a sum to be determined by the corporation counsel, after an appraisal of the damages sustained by such person by the expert or experts employed by the corporation counsel less any liens or encumbrances of record upon such property, which amount shall be certified to the comptroller by the corporation counsel. The mayor shall authorize the comptroller to cause to be published in the City Record for ten consecutive days a notice stating that the comptroller is ready to pay such persons entitled to awards for real property acquired in such proceed-ing, in advance of the final determination of their damage. Such notice shall describe the property for which such advance payment may be made by tax block and lot numbers or the damage parcel numbers of the real property involved. Before any such advance payment shall be made, the comptroller shall procure the certificate of the corporation counsel showing the amount to be paid to the claimant, that said amount does represent one hundred percent of the city's appraised valuation and that the person to whom payment is to be made is the person legally entitled to receive the same. In case the person entitled to an award at the date of the vesting of title to the real property in the city shall have transferred or assigned his or her claim, such transfer or assignment made by such person, or by his or her successor in interest or legal representative, shall not become binding upon the city unless the instrument or instruments evidencing such transfer or assignment shall have been executed and filed in the office of the comptroller prior to any such advance payment. When any such advance payment shall have been made, the comptroller, on paying the awards made for the real property acquired, shall deduct from the total amount allowed as compensation the sum advanced plus interest thereon from the date of the payment of such advance to the date of the final decree and the balance shall be paid as provided in section 5-327 of this subchapter.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-329 Purchase of awards by the city.

§ 5-329 Purchase of awards by the city. a. In any proceedings instituted pursuant to any of the provisions of this subchapter, or pursuant to the provisions of any other statute providing for the acquisition of title to real property by the city, in which title thereto shall have become vested in such city prior to the entry of the final decree of the court, the mayor shall have power and is hereby authorized to purchase or to approve the purchase on behalf of the city from the individuals or corporations who were the owners of such real property at the date of the vesting of title thereto, or their successors in interest or legal representatives, their right and title to the award or awards, or any part thereof, to be made in such proceeding and to take an assignment thereof to the city. If such owner or owners or their successors in interest or legal representatives shall have transferred or assigned such claim, such transfer or assignment made by such owner or owners or by their successors in interest or legal representatives shall not become binding upon the city unless the instrument or instruments evidencing such transfer or assignment shall have been executed and filed in the office of the comptroller as provided in section 5-330 of this subchapter, prior to the completion of such purchase by the city. b. An option granted to the city to purchase such award or awards for a period not to exceed six months shall not be withdrawn or cancelled during the period named therein.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-330 Instruments assigning or pledging awards.

§ 5-330 Instruments assigning or pledging awards. In case of the pledge, sale, transfer or assignment of an award by the person entitled to receive the same by virtue of the final decree of the court, or by other order of the court, the instrument evidencing such pledge, sale, transfer or assignment, acknowledged or proved as instruments are required to be acknowledged or proved for the recording of transfers of real property, shall be filed in the office of the comptroller, who shall endorse on such instrument its number and the hour, day, month and year of its receipt. If an assignment of an award be contained in an instrument recorded in an office in which instruments affecting real property are by law required to be recorded, a certified copy thereof may be filed in the office of the comptroller in place of the original. An alphabetical index shall be kept under the names of the pledgor or assignor, and of the pledgee or assignee, stating the title of the proceeding, the time of the filing of the instrument, the file number thereof, and what part of the award is assigned thereby. A memorandum of the file number of the instrument shall be made by the comptroller on the duplicate decree of the court opposite the place where the amount of the award so assigned is set forth. Every such instrument not so filed shall be void as against any subsequent pledgee or assignee in good faith and for a valuable consideration from the same pledgor or assignor, his or her heirs, administrators or assigns, of the same award or any portion thereof, the assignment of which is first duly filed in the office of the comptroller. Payment to the assignee or pledgee shown to be entitled to the award by such record in the office of the comptroller shall protect the city from liability to any other person or persons.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-331 Correction of defects.

§ 5-331 Correction of defects. The court at any time may correct any defect or informality in any notice, petition, pleading, order or decree in the proceeding, or cause real property affected by such defect, informality or lack of jurisdiction to be excluded therefrom, or other real property affected by such defect, informality or lack of jurisdiction to be included therein by amendment, upon ten days' notice, published and posted as provided for the institution of the proceeding, and may direct such further notices to be given to any party in interest as it shall deem proper.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-332 Order to expedite proceeding.

§ 5-332 Order to expedite proceeding. At any time after the date of entry of the order granting the application to condemn, the corporation counsel, or any owner may apply to the court for an order directing any owner or owners, or the corporation counsel, as the case may be, to show cause why further proceedings under this subchapter on the part of such owner or owners or of the corporation counsel should not be expedited. Upon the hearing directed by such order to show cause, the court in its discretion may make an order directing that such proceedings be expedited in the manner stated therein and also making such further directions with respect to the particulars shown upon the application as shall be just and proper in the premises.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-333 Discontinuance of proceedings by the mayor.

§ 5-333 Discontinuance of proceedings by the mayor. The mayor may effect a discontinuance of any proceeding as to the whole or a part of the lands to be acquired in such proceeding, at any time before title to the real property to be thereby acquired shall have vested in the city, and may cause new proceedings to be taken for the condemnation of such real property. In case of such discontinuance, however, the city shall adhere to the provisions of section seven hundred two of the eminent domain procedure law and the reasonable actual cash disbursements, necessarily incurred and made in good faith by any party interested, shall be paid by the city, after the same shall have been taxed by a justice of the supreme court, upon ten days' notice of such taxation being previously given to the corporation counsel, provided the application to have such disbursements taxed shall be made and presented to the court within one year after the action of the mayor. For the purposes of this section, the fair and reasonable value of the services of an attorney retained by any interested party to represent such party's interests in said condemnation proceedings, whether on a contingent fee basis or otherwise, if such retainer be made in good faith, shall be deemed to be an actual cash disbursement, necessarily incurred by such interested party and shall be taxable in the same manner as other disbursements. The amounts taxed as disbursements shall be due and payable thirty days after written demand for payment thereof shall have been filed with the comptroller.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-334 Vesting of title; date of; seizing; possession.

§ 5-334 Vesting of title; date of; seizing; possession. a. The title to any piece or parcel of the real property authorized to be acquired hereunder for any public improvement or for any public purpose shall be vested in the city upon the entry of the order granting the application to condemn, in a capital project proceeding, in accordance with section four hundred two of the eminent domain procedure law. b. Upon the date when title to the real property shall have vested as provided in subdivision a of this section, the city, in a capital project proceeding shall become and be seized in fee of or of an easement in, over, upon, or under such real property as the mayor may have determined, the same to be held, appropriated, converted and used for the purposes for which the proceeding was instituted. c. The city or any person acting under its authority, or the agency which upon the acquisition of title to such real property will have jurisdiction thereof, shall immediately or any time thereafter take possession of such property without suit or other judicial proceedings in accordance with the provisions of the eminent domain procedure law pertaining to possession.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-335 Vesting of title; effect of, upon real property contracts.

§ 5-335 Vesting of title; effect of, upon real property contracts. a. Where the whole of any lot or parcel of real property, under lease or other contract, shall be taken, all the covenants, contracts and engagements between landlord and tenant or any other contracting parties touching the same, or any part thereof, upon the vesting of title in the city, shall cease and determine and be absolutely discharged. Where part only of any lot or parcel of real property so under lease or other contract shall be so taken, all contracts and engagements respecting the same, upon such vesting of title, shall cease and determine and be absolutely discharged, as to the part thereof so taken, but shall remain valid and obligatory as to the residue thereof. b. All persons in possession of such premises at the time of the vesting of title thereto in the city, shall at the option of the city become tenants at will of such city and shall, unless the parties otherwise agree in writing, pay the same rent in effect immediately prior to vesting of title or unless within ten days after the vesting of title they shall elect to vacate and give up their respective holdings. c. Where a person or persons in possession of the premises at the time of vesting of title thereto are the owners thereof, such person or persons shall at the option of the city become tenants at will of such city, unless within ten days after the vesting of title they shall elect to vacate and give up their holdings. Where such person or persons fail to vacate and give up their holdings, and become tenants at will of the city as herein provided, such person or persons shall pay the reasonable value for the use and occupancy of the premises. d. Where a person in possession is entitled to an award in such proceeding the rental as provided in subdivision b and the sum fixed for use and occupation as provided in subdivision c herein, during the period between the date of vesting of title in the city and the date of the actual payment of the award, shall be a lien against such award, subject only to liens of record at the time of the vesting of title in the city.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-336 Rights of certain owners of property condemned for public use.

§ 5-336 Rights of certain owners of property condemned for public use. 1. Notwithstanding any general, special or local law to the contrary, where rent is paid for the use of land on which a one or two family dwelling has been constructed, in the event of condemnation for public use a separate award shall be made to the owner of the land and a separate award shall be made to the owner of the dwelling except where there is a written agreement to the contrary. 2. In no event shall the total of the awards, as above, be in excess of what a single award would have been.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-337 Title acquired for streets and courtyards.

§ 5-337 Title acquired for streets and courtyards. a. The title acquired in real property required for any streets shall be kept in trust, that the same be appropriated and kept open for, or as part of a public street, forever, in like manner as the other streets in the city are and of right ought to be. b. The mayor, at the time of authorizing the proceedings in which lands are to be acquired for courtyard purposes, may determine whether the fee or an easement shall be acquired in lands required therefor, and the mayor may prescribe such conditions and limitations on the title so to be acquired and as to the temporary or permanent use of the land so to be acquired as he or she may deem proper. The title which the city shall acquire to the lands required for courtyard purposes shall be such as the mayor shall determine. Such title shall be held by the city subject to such limitations and conditions as to title thereto, or as to the use thereof, as the mayor shall prescribe. If not inconsistent with such limitations and conditions as to title or as to the use, land acquired for courtyard purposes may be devoted to general street uses whenever the board of estimate shall determine that the public interest requires such use. c. The title in fee acquired by the city to real property, except for street and courtyard purposes, shall be a fee simple absolute.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-338 Title acquired for streets; subject to certain easements.

§ 5-338 Title acquired for streets; subject to certain easements. If any individual or corporation, before the entry of the order granting the application to condemn, has acquired any easement for the purpose of laying or maintaining in the real property to be acquired for street purposes in a proceeding pursuant to this subchapter, underground pipes or conduits for the distribution of water, gas, steam or electricity, or for pneumatic service, such easement shall not be extinguished, but the title to the real property so to be acquired for the purposes authorized shall be taken subject to such easement; provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to limit the power of the city to acquire by purchase or by condemnation proceedings the entire plant or service of such individual or corporation, or to acquire such easement in such street in any other appropriate proceedings.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-339 Title acquired for streets; subject to rights of railroads.

§ 5-339 Title acquired for streets; subject to rights of railroads. The city may acquire for street purposes title in fee or to an easement, as may be determined by the mayor to any real property heretofore acquired through purchase or condemnation by any railroad corporation in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens for its corporate purposes and which real property lies within the lines of, is adjacent to, adjoins or separates any street or any part or parts thereof, now or hereafter laid out upon the city map, where the state commissioner of transportation certifies that the ownership or exclusive use of such real property or easement thereover is no longer necessary to the carrying out of such corporate purposes. Such title or easement, however, shall be acquired by the city subject to the right of the corporation to continue to use such real property during the term of its corporate existence and for its corporate purposes, or in lieu thereof to use for a like term and like purposes such other portion of the streets within which such real property shall lie, as the public service commission shall designate.

NYC Admin. Code § 5-340 Title acquired for intercepting sewer purposes; over railroad lands.

§ 5-340 Title acquired for intercepting sewer purposes; over railroad lands. Notwithstanding any provisions of the railroad law or of any other statute, general or special, the city is hereby authorized and empowered to acquire title in fee or to a permanent or temporary easement, as may be determined by the mayor, in, under, through, over and across the lands of any railroad company, in any borough of the city, necessary to construct and maintain an intercepting sewer and the appurtenances thereunto appertaining, including grit chambers, in any such borough.

Source: City of New York, Charter, Administrative Code and Rules (American Legal Publishing XML export, codelibrary.amlegal.com)URL: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYCadmin/0-0-0-2243Fetched: 10/24/2026