New York HOA Records Inspection and Disclosure Law

Section 621(b) sets the general member-inspection right: anyone who has been a member of record for at least six months immediately before the demand, or anyone holding (or written-authorized by holders of) at least five percent of any class of outstanding capital certificates, can demand in writing, on five days notice, to examine the minutes of members proceedings and the membership list, in person or through an agent or attorney, during usual business hours, and to make extracts.

The board can refuse only on the ground in 621(c): the member must first furnish an affidavit that the inspection is not for a purpose in the interest of a business other than the corporation's, and that the member has not sold or offered any corporation's member list within the past five years. Refuse without that ground and the member can apply to the Supreme Court in the judicial district where the corporation's office sits, under 621(d), for an order to show cause; the court hears the matter summarily, by affidavit or otherwise, and if the applicant qualifies the court "shall grant an order compelling such inspection and awarding such further relief as to the court may seem just and proper."

Section 621(e) adds financial statements: on written request from a six-month member, the corporation must produce an annual balance sheet and profit-and-loss statement for the preceding fiscal year, plus the most recent interim statement if one was distributed to members or made public, within a reasonable time to prepare.

Section 621(e-1) is the HOA-specific layer, added on top of all of that: members of a homeowners association incorporated under this chapter can request invoices, ledgers, bank accounts, reconciliations, contracts, and any records tied to the expenditure of association dues directly from the governing board, and this paragraph carries none of the six-month membership or five-day notice conditions that gate the rest of the section. A condominium (not incorporated as a not-for-profit) instead falls under Real Property Law 339-w, which requires the board to keep chronological receipts-and-expenditures records available for unit owner examination at convenient weekday hours and to issue a written summary report at least annually.

A board that stonewalls a qualified demand faces a Supreme Court proceeding under 621(d): the member petitions the court in the district where the corporation's office sits, the court hears both sides summarily on affidavits, and if the member qualifies the court must grant an order compelling inspection "and awarding such further relief as to the court may seem just and proper." Under 621(g), the corporation's own books and records stand as prima facie evidence of the facts they state in favor of the applicant in that same proceeding.