Entity-owned units: where the documentation gap opens
Published 2026-07-26.
The unit does not qualify. A person does. Everything turns on getting from one to the other on paper.
8,900+ NYC condo units meet the surcharge value threshold and more than half are owned through LLCs, trusts, and other entities (MGNY analysis of FY2027 assessment rolls). An entity cannot have a primary residence. So the criterion these units live on is the third one: one or more individuals who collectively hold a majority interest in the LLC, corporation, or partnership that owns the property, using it as their primary residence.
The majority-interest path, in practice
Two documents have to agree. The organizational documents establish who holds what interest, and the officer or trustee affidavit states the residency claim. DOF asks for both together for entities and trusts. If the operating agreement was last amended in 2019 and the affidavit describes today's cap table, the file contradicts itself before anyone at DOF reads the residency evidence.
Where multi-tier structures fail?
The final rule is explicit that multi-tier entity structures cannot establish primary residence. An LLC owned by another LLC owned by a holding entity does not get there, however clearly a natural person sits at the top. Trusts fared better in the same rule: multiple individuals may collectively be sole current beneficiaries, and contingent or future interests do not automatically disqualify.
What the affidavit has to square with?
The individual's own residency documentation, in the forms DOF names: a most recent federal or state income tax return showing the address, or two of a driver's license, voter registration, and utility or similar bills. An affidavit that names a majority holder whose tax return shows a different address has not made a claim, it has made a discrepancy.
Entity files are the ones worth starting early, because the missing document is usually held by a third party. The same question asked from the owner's side is answered at LLC-owned and trust-owned. If a matter needs a second pair of eyes, call 212-343-1111, and if the file has a value problem as well as a residency problem, read the forum election before either clock starts.