What Is a Condo Offering Plan? The NYC "Condo Book" Explained

Updated Sep 25, 2026 · 4 min read

If you are buying a new or converted condo in New York, the offering plan is the most detailed document you can read about the building. Here is what it is, what is in it, and where to find it.

The Condo Book, Defined

A condo offering plan is the disclosure document a sponsor (the developer or seller) files with the New York State Attorney General before offering condominium units for sale. Buyers, brokers and lawyers often just call it the offering plan, the plan, or the condo book.

The requirement comes from New York's securities law for real estate, the Martin Act (General Business Law § 352-e), which treats the sale of condominium and cooperative interests as offerings that have to be disclosed in a filed plan. Each plan gets a plan ID from the Attorney General; for condos it starts with CD. (What a CD number means.)

What's Inside a Condo Offering Plan

Plans are long, often several hundred pages, but most follow a familiar structure. The parts buyers read most:

Special risks. A section near the front that flags what the sponsor considers the key risks of the offering. Read it first.
Schedule A. The unit-by-unit table: each unit's offering price, approximate size, share of the common interest, and estimated monthly common charges and real estate taxes. How to read Schedule A and Schedule B.
Schedule B. The projected budget for the condominium's first year of operation, with the assumptions behind each line.
Description of the property. The building, its amenities and the units, including what is included in each unit.
Floor plans. Drawings of each unit line, usually near the back of the plan.
Declaration and by-laws. The condominium's governing documents: how the board works, how common charges are set, and the rules on leasing and alterations.
Purchase agreement. The form of contract buyers sign with the sponsor.
Identity of parties. The sponsor, its principals, the selling agent, the managing agent, the architect and the sponsor's lawyers.
Unsold units and sponsor obligations. What the sponsor must pay while it owns unsold units, and what it has committed to build or fix.

Why the Condo Book Matters

The offering plan is the sponsor's formal disclosure, filed with the state. Marketing materials and listings summarize; the plan commits. If a listing says a unit comes with parking or that common charges are a certain amount, the plan and its amendments are where you check it. Reading it before signing a contract is standard advice from New York real estate attorneys.

It is also useful after the sales office closes. Owners, boards, appraisers, lenders and researchers use offering plans to see how a building was set up: which units carry storage or parking rights, what the original budget assumed, and who the professionals were.

The Plan Changes: Amendments

An offering plan is not frozen on the day it is filed. The sponsor files numbered amendments to report changes such as new prices, a revised budget, a change in the managing agent, updated closing dates, or the plan being declared effective. The latest amendment is often more important than the original plan. See how to find and read offering plan amendments.

"Accepted for Filing" Is Not an Endorsement

When the Attorney General accepts a plan for filing, the sponsor can go ahead with the offering. It does not mean the state has reviewed the building's quality or the fairness of the prices; offering plans carry a statement on the cover that the Attorney General has not passed on the merits of the offering. Treat the plan as disclosure, not as a recommendation.

Condo vs. Co-op Offering Plans

Co-ops file offering plans with the Attorney General too, including when a rental building converts to co-op or condo ownership. The structure differs: in a condo you buy real property (the unit and a share of the common elements), while in a co-op you buy shares in a corporation that owns the building. Open Book covers condominium plans, including conversions, plus a small number of combined co-op/condo plans: of the 8,822 New York City plans on the site, 78% are new construction and the rest are rehab or conversion offerings.

How to Find a Building's Condo Book

Search the building's address or name on Open Book, or browse the buildings directory by borough.
On the building's page, open the original offering plan from the Attorney General's site and check the amendments table.
If the plan is searchable on Open Book, search inside it for what you need, like "parking" or "managing agent", and jump to the page.
Or go straight to the source: search the NY Attorney General's offering plan database.

Open Book holds 8,960 offering plan records, with 1,926 searchable in full text. The newest NYC condo filings are listed with their CD numbers.

Common Questions

Is a condo offering plan public?

Yes. Filed plans are public records. The Attorney General posts plan records online and, for many filings, the plan and amendment PDFs.

Does every NYC condo have an offering plan?

Condominiums offered for sale by a sponsor generally do. Very old or unusual buildings may have records with no documents posted online, in which case copies can be requested from the Attorney General through a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request.

Do I still need a lawyer if I read the plan?

Yes. Offering plans are legal documents, and a New York real estate attorney can tell you what the terms mean for your purchase. Open Book helps you find the language; it is not legal advice.