Co-op values: why the number looks nothing like your apartment
Updated 2026-07-28.
Shareholders compare the figure to what neighbors sold for and decide the city has made a mistake. Usually the city has done exactly what the statute tells it to.
A condominium owner has a DOF market value for their own unit. A cooperative shareholder does not. DOF values the building, by an income method that runs well below open-market prices, and the surcharge is assessed against the cooperative corporation rather than the shareholder.
How does DOF get to a per-unit number?
It imputes one. Building market value multiplied by the unit's share of total shares, under Administrative Code 11-3205(f). So a unit with 540 of 12,000 shares carries 4.5% of whatever DOF says the building is worth, whether or not that matches what the apartment would fetch. Two consequences follow: the number moves when the building's valuation moves, and a unit can cross the $1 million threshold on share allocation alone.
Where to find your share count?
The share allocation is normally recorded on the stock certificate and in the proprietary lease, and the managing agent can confirm both it and the corporation's total shares. Those two numbers plus the building's market value are everything needed to reproduce DOF's arithmetic, and the share allocation walkthrough goes through it step by step.
One unpaid unit is everyone's problem
Unpaid surcharge becomes a lien on the entire building. The corporation must forward notices to shareholders, boards are expected to collect from tenant-shareholders, typically through maintenance, and DOF declined to regulate the shareholder payment obligation, suggesting instead that cooperatives consider proprietary lease amendments.
What to do with the number?
If the imputed value looks wrong, the first question is which input is wrong: the building valuation or the share allocation. Why does a DOF value read nothing like a sale price? The threshold is DOF's value, not what you paid sets that out. If residency is the real issue rather than value, the response steps are the place to start, and the response deadline is September 18, 2026, extended by DOF on August 1, 2026 for everyone who received a notice.