New York Condo Law Protects American Flag Display

Section 339-j sits in Article 9-B of the Real Property Law, New York's Condominium Act, and governs the relationship between a condominium's board of managers and its unit owners. The baseline rule is strict: 'Each unit owner shall comply strictly with the by-laws and with rules, regulations, resolutions and decisions adopted pursuant thereto.' A board that finds a violation can go to court. The statute says failure to comply 'shall be ground for an action to recover sums due, for damages or injunctive relief or both maintainable by the board of managers on behalf of the unit owners or, in a proper case, by an aggrieved unit owner.' For owners who violate repeatedly or flagrantly, the board can go further and demand a bond: the law lets the board require the owner 'to give sufficient surety or sureties for his future compliance with the by-laws, rules, regulations, resolutions and decisions.'

Into that enforcement framework, the legislature carved one specific exception. No matter what a condominium's by-laws or house rules say about exterior displays, decorations, or uniformity requirements, the board loses its enforcement power the moment the object in question is a United States flag no larger than four feet by six feet: 'no action or proceeding for any relief may be maintained' over that flag. The protection is narrow on its face. It names only the U.S. flag, so a state flag, service flag, sports banner, or political flag gets no statutory shield and remains subject to whatever the by-laws say. It also caps size at 4 by 6 feet; a larger flag falls back outside the carve-out and into ordinary enforcement. And because Section 339-j sits in the Condominium Act, its text runs to condominium unit owners and boards of managers specifically; New York has no comparable statute for homeowners' associations or cooperative corporations, which instead look to the federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 for similar protection.

A board of managers that catches a genuine by-law violation, anything other than a qualifying U.S. flag, can sue in state court for the sums due, money damages, or an injunction ordering the item removed; an aggrieved neighbor can also sue directly in a proper case. Flagrant or repeat offenders face a harsher remedy: the board may demand the owner post a surety bond guaranteeing future compliance. None of that reaches a flag of 4 feet by 6 feet or smaller; for that flag, litigation itself is barred.