NYDFS issues best practices guidance for state-chartered institutions issuing loans to multi-family residential owners and landlords

Lending NYDFS Due Process

On September 25, NYDFS released new guidance to assist regulated, state-chartered institutions when engaging in permissible lending activities involving New York rent-stabilized or rent-regulated multifamily residential buildings. According to the press release, the department received complaints concerning certain owners/landlords of rent-stabilized multifamily residential buildings who allegedly engaged in “inappropriate practices including tenant harassment and unsafe living conditions” and may have obtained loans to purchase or renovate buildings directly or indirectly from regulated institutions. The guidance is intended to ensure that regulated institutions apply best practices, including pre-loan and post-loan due diligence, to prevent the possibility of knowingly or unknowingly facilitating these types of practices. Among other things, pre-loan due diligence best practices include (i) conducting due diligence on property owners, including when the bank’s role is to provide indirect financing to the property owner; (ii) conducting due diligence on properties and property owners, including enhanced diligence on properties with a high number of violations; (iii) ensuring “realistic and sound underwriting terms” for loans involving multifamily residential buildings; and (iv) establishing a debt service coverage ratio subject to documentation based on the specific facts of each loan as well as realistic assumptions, consistent with safe and sound underwriting standards and practices. The best practices for post-loan monitoring should include (i) establishing covenants or procedures to ensure emergency and hazard repairs are completed within six months of a loan’s closing; and (ii) considering the property owner’s level of responsiveness and willingness to address building code violation when factoring future loans to the property owner.