New York Laws
Title 2 - Private Property
459-B - Physically Disabled Crime Victims.

§ 459-b. Physically disabled crime victims. 1. Where the resident
owner of real property used solely for residential purposes as a one,
two or three family residence, a member of a resident owner's household
or a resident of such property is a victim of a crime as defined in
subdivision five or good samaritan as defined in subdivision seven of
section six hundred twenty-one of the executive law and was physically
disabled as a result of such crime, any improvement to real property
shall be exempt from taxation to the extent of any increase in value
attributable to such improvement if such improvement is used primarily
for the purpose of facilitating and accommodating the use and
accessibility of such real property.

2. To qualify as a physically disabled crime victim or good samaritan
for the purposes of this section, an individual shall submit to the
assessor a certified statement from a physician licensed to practice in
the state of New York on a form prescribed and made available by the
commissioner which states that the individual has a permanent physical
impairment which substantially limits one or more of such individual's
major life activities, except that an individual who has obtained a
certificate from the state commission for the blind stating that such
individual is legally blind may submit such certificate in lieu of a
physician's certified statement. In addition, a copy of a police report
pertaining to the crime from which the injury resulted, a report from
the office of victim services or other evidence or documentation which
would tend to substantiate that a physical disability was inflicted upon
an individual as the result of a crime shall also be submitted to the
assessor.

3. Such exemption shall be granted only upon application by the owner
or all the owners of the real property on a form prescribed and made
available by the commissioner. The applicant shall furnish such
information as the commissioner shall require. The application shall be
filed together with the appropriate certified statement of physical
disability or certificate of blindness and police report, crime victim's
board report or other substantiating documentation with the assessor of
the appropriate county, city, town or village on or before the taxable
status date of such county, city, town or village.

3-a. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section or any other
provision of law, in a city having a population of one million or more,
applications for the exemption authorized pursuant to this section shall
be considered timely filed if they are filed on or before the fifteenth
day of March of the appropriate year.

4. If the assessor is satisfied that the improvement is necessary to
facilitate and accommodate the use and accessibility by a resident crime
victim or good samaritan who is physically disabled and that the
applicant is entitled to an exemption pursuant to this section, the
assessor shall approve the application and enter the taxable assessed
value of the parcel for which an exemption has been granted pursuant to
this section on the assessment roll with the taxable property, with the
amount of the exemption as determined pursuant to subdivision one of
this section in a separate column. Once granted, the exemption shall
continue on the real property until the improvement ceases to be
necessary to facilitate and accommodate the use and accessibility of the
property by the resident crime victim or good samaritan who is
physically disabled.

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