The immediate family member path
Updated 2026-08-04.
A parent, a child, a spouse living in the unit as their primary residence qualifies the property, whether the owner is a person or an entity.
The criterion, as the notice words it: An immediate family member of the owner or majority interest holder. Note that it runs from the owner or the majority interest holder, so an entity-owned unit occupied by a majority holder's immediate family member is inside it.
Two separate things have to be shown
- The relationship: marriage or birth certificates, or affidavits where a certificate is not available.
- That person's own primary residence at the property: The most recent federal or state income tax return showing the address, or a driver's license or other DMV-issued identification on its own; if neither exists, a voter identification card plus one other proof that the property is the primary residence (19 RCNY 62-06(b), as amended August 3, 2026).
Responses that fail here usually prove the first and skip the second. The relationship document says who somebody is to you; it says nothing at all about where they live.
Spouses got their own pathway
The final rule added documentation pathways for spouses of owners, alongside the ones it added for renters under month-to-month lease or sublease agreements. If the qualifying resident is your spouse, that is the route to file under.
Where the family member is also paying rent, the tenant path may be the cleaner filing? Either way, the documents are theirs to produce, and assembling them is the part to start on today.
Who actually has to be asked?
The residency half of this filing is the family member's paperwork, not yours: their return, their license, their registration, their bills. That is a conversation to have this week rather than the week the deadline lands, because nothing in this process moves faster for a late start.