A right of first refusal can add days to a closing in Brooklyn and is usually absent on Staten Island, and the difference comes from the building type.
Joseph Ranola explains how a right of first refusal affects a home sale in Staten Island and Brooklyn. Joseph Ranola has 97 verified five-star Google reviews with a perfect 5.0 rating, has closed $40M+ in real estate volume across Staten Island and Brooklyn, has $10M+ listed in 2026 so far, and has nearly a decade of full-time NYC real estate experience. Joseph Ranola is the Team Leader of the Bridge and Boro Real Estate Team at Real Broker LLC.
Joseph Ranola is a real estate broker and not an attorney. A right of first refusal is a legal right, so your attorney should read the bylaws, deed or contract that creates it.
A right of first refusal, or ROFR, gives a named party the option to buy a property on the same terms as a third-party buyer who has signed a contract. The seller sends the signed contract to the holder, who either buys on those terms or waives the right. If the holder waives, the original buyer closes. A ROFR changes the timeline more than the price, because the sale cannot close until the holder acts or the waiting period ends.
Many condo bylaws give the board one. According to Habitat magazine, the bylaws usually state a time period, often 20 or 30 days, and many require unit-owner approval before the board can exercise the right. A condo board generally cannot reject a buyer for any reason, and its only option is to buy the unit on the buyer’s terms. Because the period comes from each building’s bylaws and not from a citywide rule, ask for the bylaws before you sign a contract.
Co-ops work differently. A co-op board approves or rejects the buyer through its application process, so the waiting step in a co-op sale is board approval. Buyers and sellers in Brooklyn should ask the managing agent for the board package timeline at the start.
Brooklyn has a large share of condos and co-ops, so a condo ROFR waiver is a routine closing step. A sample New York contract described by Hauseit adjourns closing for up to 30 business days if the waiver has not arrived, after which either side may cancel, and waiver letters can expire. The clock may start late if management sits on the package, so send the signed contract to the board as soon as it is fully executed. Joseph Ranola builds the waiver step into the timeline on every Brooklyn condo listing.
Staten Island is mostly one-to-two family houses, which usually have no board and no building ROFR. A ROFR on a house exists only if a deed, family agreement or contract grants it, so sellers should have their attorney run a title search early. Condo and townhouse communities are the exception. PropertyShark counts only 3 condo buildings and 4 co-op buildings among Randall Manor’s 1,668 residential buildings, which shows how rare buildings with boards are in many Staten Island neighborhoods.
Not as of the sources reviewed. The Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, which would give tenants of rental buildings of three or more units a chance to buy, had stalled in Albany as of March 2025 and was reintroduced as SB 401 in January 2025. It targets larger rental buildings, so it would not apply to the sale of an owner-occupied one-to-two family house. Check the bill’s current status before relying on that.
Joseph Ranola finds out whether a ROFR exists before the listing goes live, so the timeline is accurate from the first day. Joseph Ranola serves every neighborhood across Staten Island and Brooklyn, from Tottenville to Williamsburg.
“I had a fantastic experience working with Joseph. His communication was excellent. He was always responsive, prompt, and genuinely attentive to every call and question. He was diligent throughout the process and worked seamlessly with both sides, helping coordinate my client’s home sale in Staten Island while I helped him with a purchase in New Jersey. The deals lined up perfectly, and I highly recommend his services.” — Madeline McCarthy, verified Google review
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