A right of first refusal is the condominium board's statutory authority under the declaration and NY Real Property Law Article 9-B to either waive a unit sale and allow it to proceed, or to exercise the right and have the building purchase the unit on the same terms as the prospective purchaser. It is not — and cannot be used as — an approval-or-rejection right over the purchaser.
No. The board's authority is limited to waiving or exercising the right of first refusal — and exercising means the building actually buys the unit on the same terms. There is no mechanism in the declaration or in Article 9-B for the board to reject a specific purchaser while allowing the sale to proceed to a different one.
Rarely. Exercising requires the building to fund the purchase, take title, hold the unit, and ultimately re-sell or rent it — a significant capital and operational commitment. Most boards waive in nearly every transaction and use the package process only to confirm deal terms, collect rule acknowledgments, and onboard the new unit owner.
Most declarations provide that failure to act within a stated window (commonly 30 days from receipt of a complete waiver package) constitutes a deemed waiver, and the sale proceeds. Boards should treat the waiver deadline as a hard operational date and have the managing agent's completeness review running in parallel.