Hiring a property management company in New York City is not a routine vendor decision. The firm a board or owner selects will influence financial reporting, building operations, regulatory compliance, capital project execution, and resident relationships for years. The wrong choice can show up as missed filings, slow reporting, weak vendor oversight, or rising arrears. The right choice can stabilize operations and protect long-term building value.
The interview process should test for substance, not personality. A board or owner should walk into each meeting with a written list of questions tied to actual building conditions, financial obligations, and compliance exposure. The questions below cover the areas that matter most in NYC, where roughly 50,000 buildings fall under Local Law 97, around 12,500 buildings are subject to Local Law 11 facade inspections, and nearly one million apartments are rent stabilized under HCR oversight.
1. Who Will Actually Manage Our Building, and What Else Is on Their Plate?
The proposal will name a company. The day-to-day experience depends on the assigned property manager. Ask who will be responsible for the account, how many buildings and units that person currently manages, and what support sits behind them.
Industry guidance on staffing has shifted in recent years. The longstanding multifamily benchmark of one team member per 100 units is now widely viewed as too thin, with many operators citing roughly one per 60 units as a healthier ratio for service levels. For condo and co-op portfolios, where board meetings, alteration agreements, and owner inquiries add weight, an overloaded manager will quietly let small items slip. The right answer is not a single number, but the company should be able to explain its workload assumptions and how it staffs accordingly.
2. What Is in the Standard Monthly Reporting Package, and When Do Boards Receive It?
A management company should not need to be asked for basic financials. The monthly package should include an income and expense statement, balance sheet, budget-to-actual comparison, bank reconciliations, accounts payable, accounts receivable, arrears report, and reserve activity. Variance commentary should explain any large or unusual items.
Equally important is timing. Reports delivered the day before a board meeting are not useful. Ask for sample packages from buildings of similar size, confirm the cutoff date each month, and ask how soon after the month-end the package is released.
3. How Do You Track Open Items Between Meetings?
Most management failures show up here. Maintenance requests, owner questions, vendor follow-ups, board decisions, and compliance tasks should not live in email threads. A company should be able to produce a current list showing each open item, the date opened, the responsible party, the next step, the deadline, and the status.
Ask to see this list in a sample format. If a firm cannot describe its tracking system, the board should expect missed details after the transition.
4. How Will You Handle Local Law 97 Compliance for Our Building?
Local Law 97 applies to most buildings over 25,000 gross square feet, and the first compliance period began January 1, 2024. Buildings that exceed their annual emissions cap face penalties of $268 per metric ton of CO2 equivalent over the limit, assessed annually. Limits tighten significantly in 2030, and roughly 11 percent of covered buildings exceed the 2024 to 2029 limits, with that figure projected to rise to about 63 percent under the stricter 2030 thresholds.
A capable management company should be able to explain whether the building is on the covered list, what its annual emissions look like against its cap, what reporting deadlines apply (annual filings are due May 1), and how the firm coordinates with the registered design professional who certifies the filing. Companies that treat LL97 as a future problem are not the right partner.
5. What Is Your Approach to Local Law 11 and Facade Compliance?
Local Law 11, formally the Facade Inspection Safety Program, requires buildings over six stories to undergo facade inspections every five years by a Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector. The program is currently in Cycle 10, which runs from 2025 through 2029, with sub-cycle filing windows determined by the last digit of the building’s block number.
The penalties for non-compliance escalate quickly. Late filing carries a $1,000 per month penalty, with an additional $5,000 annual fee for failure to file, plus penalties for failing to correct SWARMP conditions and ongoing fees for unaddressed unsafe conditions. On top of fines, an unsafe rating triggers a mandatory sidewalk shed, which can run $40 to $100 per linear foot per month until repairs are certified complete.
Ask how the company tracks the cycle, when it begins planning the inspection, how it manages QEWI selection, and how it coordinates any required repairs.
6. How Do You Manage Other Recurring Compliance Filings?
LL97 and LL11 get the headlines, but the compliance calendar is much longer. Depending on the building, it may include Local Law 84 energy benchmarking (annual, due May 1), Local Law 87 energy audits and retro-commissioning (every ten years), boiler inspections, elevator inspections, backflow prevention, fire safety filings, parapet inspections, and gas piping inspections. Each has its own deadline and its own penalty schedule.
A management company should maintain a single compliance calendar for the building, alert the board well in advance of each deadline, and preserve records as boards and managers turn over. Ask to see how the calendar is built and where the records live.
7. How Do You Run a Vendor Bidding and Oversight Process?
Vendor management is more than collecting three proposals. A management company should help define the scope of work clearly, confirm vendor qualifications and insurance, compare apples-to-apples pricing, and verify completion before invoices are paid. Poor scopes lead to bids that cannot be compared and to change orders that erase any savings.
Ask how recurring contracts are reviewed. Elevator service, cleaning, HVAC, plumbing, fire safety, pest control, landscaping, and superintendent support should not renew automatically without performance review.
8. What Are Your Total Fees, Including Anything Outside the Base Management Charge?
The base management fee is only one part of the cost. Condo and co-op pricing in NYC works differently, with most firms charging a fixed monthly fee per building rather than a percentage of rent.
The questions to ask cover the full picture: base management fee, extra meeting charges, after-hours response, project management fees on capital work, transition fees, leasing or vacancy fees, administrative charges, and any markups on maintenance coordination. Some firms add a 10 to 15 percent coordination fee on repairs. The proposal that looks cheapest at the top can finish more expensive once project work begins.
9. How Do You Handle Rent Stabilization and Regulated Units?
Roughly 41 percent of all rental apartments in New York City are rent stabilized, with about one million regulated units under NYS Homes and Community Renewal oversight. For any building with regulated units, the management company must understand annual HCR registration, allowable rent increases set by the Rent Guidelines Board, lease renewal rules, preferential rent treatment under the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA), and the documentation requirements for Individual Apartment Improvements and Major Capital Improvements.
Errors here are expensive. The 2019 HSTPA permanently changed deregulation, and recent enforcement actions by the NY Attorney General and HCR have returned hundreds of illegally deregulated apartments to rent stabilization. Ask the company to describe its registration process, its workflow for renewals, and how it confirms legal regulated rents before each cycle.
10. How Do You Manage Capital Projects?
Most NYC buildings will eventually face significant capital work: facade repairs, roof replacement, elevator modernization, boiler conversions, pipe replacement, lobby renovations, or LL97-driven energy upgrades. These projects require more than scheduling vendors. They require scope definition, professional coordination, budget oversight, contract review, resident communication, access planning, change order tracking, and closeout records.
Ask how the company structures its role on capital projects. The manager should coordinate the process, not act as the engineer or architect. Ask how project fees are calculated, what is included, and how the company communicates with the board through each phase. Without disciplined coordination, projects routinely run over budget and over schedule.
11. What Does Your Transition Plan Look Like for the First 90 Days?
A company that cannot describe its onboarding will struggle once the contract begins. The transition should cover financial records, bank access and signatories, owner ledgers, vendor contracts, insurance policies, staff records, building documents, alteration files, open violations, permits, warranties, keys, resident contacts, and active project files.
The first 30 days should focus on stabilizing records and establishing communication. The next 60 should include property inspections, vendor reviews, compliance calendar confirmation, maintenance planning, and any adjustments to financial reporting. Ask for a written transition checklist and a named point of contact responsible for each item.
12. Can We Review the Full Management Agreement Before Signing?
The agreement controls the relationship for as long as the company manages the building. Important terms include the monthly management fee, extra meeting charges, project fees, transition fees, termination rights, notice periods, banking controls, insurance requirements, document ownership, confidentiality provisions, and conflicts of interest.
Two clauses deserve particular attention. First, project fees should be specifically defined so the board knows when they apply and what services are included. Second, the agreement should clearly state that all building records, including financial files, owner ledgers, vendor contracts, compliance documents, and meeting records, belong to the building and must be transferred in an organized manner if the relationship ends.
A Hiring Decision That Affects Every Part of Building Operations
The companies the board interviews will sound similar in the first meeting. The differences show up in the answers to questions like these. A firm that can describe its reporting package, name the manager, explain its compliance calendar, walk through its vendor process, and produce a written transition plan is operating at a different level than a firm offering only general promises.
MD Squared Property Group provides condominium, cooperative, multifamily rental, and commercial property management across New York City, with focused support on financial reporting, compliance tracking, vendor coordination, capital project oversight, and resident communication. The team brings local knowledge and hands-on management to buildings that need clarity and accountability.
For a conversation about how these questions apply to your building, reach out to MD Squared Property Group today.
