Brooklyn property owners
Three city rules changed this year, and only one of them touches most Brooklyn houses. This page sorts out which is which.
A new surcharge on second homes, a reopened and then closed ADU financing program, and a rent freeze on stabilized apartments. Owners in Midwood, Madison and Marine Park keep asking us the same thing about all three: does this apply to me?
Most owners of a one or two family house in south Brooklyn are not affected by any of the three. The rules that bite are narrower than the headlines suggest.
| 2026 change | Who it actually reaches | Date that matters |
|---|---|---|
| Non-primary residence surcharge | Houses over $5M city value, condos and co-ops over $1M, when nobody’s primary home | Respond by September 18, 2026 |
| ADU rules and financing | One and two family owners in R1 to R5 zones. The funding intake is closed | Intake closed June 12, 2026 |
| Rent freeze | Rent-stabilized units, generally buildings of six or more built before 1974 | Voted June 25, 2026 |
Sources: NYC Department of Finance, NYC Housing Preservation and Development, NYC Rent Guidelines Board. Full citations on each page below.
The $5 million threshold, the five exemptions, and why your address showed up on a city list even if you owe nothing.
Why a co-op worth far less than $5 million still got a letter, and how the 4% to 6.5% rates work.
The documents the city asks for, and the one choice that locks you out of the simpler route.
What City of Yes allows, why the $395,000 program is closed, and what an extra unit does to a sale.
Which Brooklyn buildings are covered, and what frozen rents do to what a buyer will pay.
Between June and August we got the same calls over and over. Someone found their house on a public city roll. Someone’s co-op board sent around a warning. Someone read that landlords are selling and wondered if that meant they should.
Most of the answers turned out to be short, and most of them were no. There wasn’t a single Brooklyn page saying so, so we wrote one.
The Behfar Team works out of 1524 East 23rd Street in Midwood and sells across Midwood, Madison and Marine Park. We hold a 4.9 rating across 144 Google reviews, more than any other real estate team in Midwood. If a rule change does affect what your property is worth, here’s how we handle a Brooklyn sale.
Send us the address. We’ll tell you whether any of this reaches you, and what the property is worth right now.
This page summarizes public city rules and is general information, not tax or legal advice. Last reviewed August 2026.
