Subject 6 of 19
Public and private controls that shape how land may be divided, built on, occupied, and changed.
2 chapters 9 lessons 5 free practice questions
Read the rule, try the recall check, then continue to the next lesson.
Chapter 1
Start with the owner's rights, then identify the private limit, public power or environmental review that can restrict those rights.
Exam rule
The bundle of legal rights includes possession, control, enjoyment, exclusion and disposition. These rights are broad. They are not unlimited. A deed restriction or restrictive covenant is a private promise about land use, and it may bind later owners when it runs with the land. A public zoning approval does not cancel it. The holder of the covenant's benefit normally asks a court to enforce it, and a long, harmful delay may support the doctrine of laches and block an equitable remedy. An easement gives a nonowner a limited right to use land. A right-of-way is an easement used for passage. Air rights concern the usable space above land, and abutting parcels touch at a boundary. A survey shows boundaries, dimensions and physical features. Buyers should review the deed, survey and title report as well as the zoning rules.
Why it matters
One parcel can face both private and public limits. A lawful project must satisfy each system, and either one can stop it.
New York scenario
A town allows a six-foot fence, but a recorded covenant limits fences to four feet. The permit does not erase the covenant, so the owner must satisfy both rules.
Common misconception: A building inspector enforces public law, not a private covenant. Also, an easement is a use right, not ownership of the land beneath it.
Check your recall
Possession, control, enjoyment, exclusion and disposition.
A private party who holds its benefit, usually through a court action.
An easement is a limited use right. A right-of-way is an easement for passage.
Exam rule
Land use planning looks ahead. Demography studies population, and a census tract is a small area used for census data. Planners also study topography, roads, water, sewers and other infrastructure. A temporary moratorium can pause certain development while a lawful planning issue is studied. Government has four tested powers over land. Police power regulates for health, safety and welfare, and zoning and building codes rest on it. Eminent domain is the power to take property for public use. Condemnation is the legal process. Just compensation is required. A regulation can also become a regulatory taking if it goes too far. Taxation raises public revenue. Escheat sends intestate property to the state when there is no lawful distributee to inherit it. New York Real Property Law Article 9-A covers certain offers of subdivided vacant land on an installment plan to New York residents, and when it applies the subdivider files a Filing Statement and Offering Statement with the Department of State. The federal Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act is a separate law. For many covered, nonexempt subdivisions the buyer receives a property report before signing and may have a seven-day cancellation right. Building and fire codes set construction and safety rules. A building permit authorizes covered work. A certificate of occupancy, or CO, confirms approved occupancy. Outside New York City, the 2025 Uniform Code took effect on December 31, 2025. As of September 23, 2026, the state page says the fossil-fuel provisions named in its July 2 court update remain suspended and unenforceable.
Why it matters
Classify the issue before choosing an answer. Ask whether the facts show planning, regulation, a taking, a tax, an ownerless estate, a land-sale disclosure or a construction approval.
New York scenario
A town limits building height through zoning. The owner keeps title, so this is police power. If the town takes part of the lot for a road, condemnation and compensation rules apply.
Common misconception: Ordinary zoning does not usually require payment, but never say a land-use regulation can never be a taking. Also, New York Article 9-A and federal ILSA are different laws.
Check your recall
Eminent domain, carried out through condemnation.
Certain offers of subdivided vacant land on an installment plan to New York residents.
The permit authorizes covered work. The CO confirms that the approved occupancy may begin or continue.
Exam rule
SEQRA is New York's environmental review law. It applies when a state or local agency carries out, funds or makes a discretionary approval for an action. A private transfer with no such agency involvement does not trigger SEQRA, and a purely ministerial permit does not by itself require review. Some routine matters are Type II actions and need no further review. For other actions an environmental assessment form, or EAF, helps the lead agency study the possible effects of what is proposed. The lead agency runs the review and decides whether those effects may be significant. A negative declaration means no major harm was found. No impact statement is needed. A positive declaration means major harm may occur, and it leads to an environmental impact statement, or EIS. The EIS studies impacts, mitigation and reasonable alternatives. It informs the final choice. It does not guarantee approval or denial. Rules effective June 12, 2026 add another question. Could the action cause or increase a disproportionate pollution burden on a disadvantaged community? Historic and archaeological resources can also matter, and OPRHP and the State Historic Preservation Office may take part when a state or federal historic review applies.
Why it matters
SEQRA questions are a sequence. Find the agency action, the lead agency, the significance decision and what comes next.
New York scenario
A developer asks a town to rezone a site. The town has a discretionary approval, so SEQRA applies. A positive declaration means the environmental study continues through an EIS.
Common misconception: An EAF is a study form, not the final finding. An EIS is not a permit. SEQRA makes the agency consider environmental effects before it decides.
Check your recall
An agency carries it out, funds it or approves it.
An environmental impact statement that studies impacts, mitigation and reasonable alternatives.
Consideration of a possible disproportionate pollution burden on a disadvantaged community.
Chapter 2
Match each land use request to the correct document, local board, legal test, enforcement step and route for court review.
Exam rule
A comprehensive plan, also called a master plan, states a community's goals for growth, housing, services and protection. Zoning must be made in accordance with it. A zoning ordinance or local law divides land into districts and controls use, density, setbacks, height and lot size. Common classes include residential, commercial, industrial, vacant, agricultural, public open space, park land, recreational and institutional. An official map is different. It shows mapped public streets, parks and drainage systems. An as-of-right use needs no use variance. It must still meet all other rules and approvals. An accessory use is secondary and customary to the main use. An accessory apartment is a second dwelling unit controlled by local law, and a home occupation is work carried on in a home within the same local limits. Incentive zoning trades a stated zoning benefit, such as added density, for an approved public amenity. Transfer of development rights, or TDR, shifts development potential from a sending area to a receiving area under a local program that the municipality adopts. Spot zoning gives a small parcel special treatment for a private benefit that conflicts with the plan. Policy belongs to the local legislative body, not to the ZBA.
Why it matters
The exam tests the job of each document and tool. The plan guides, the ordinance regulates, the map reserves public features and the legislative body changes policy.
New York scenario
A plan favors shops near a station, but the parcel is still residential on the zoning map. A shop is not allowed as of right until the zoning law changes or lawful relief is granted.
Common misconception: As of right does not mean free of review. A permitted use may still need a building permit, site plan approval, setbacks, code compliance and a CO.
Check your recall
The plan states policy and goals. The ordinance creates enforceable land-use rules.
The use is allowed by zoning without a use variance, subject to the other rules and approvals.
Incentive zoning exchanges a zoning benefit for an approved amenity. TDR shifts development potential between designated areas.
Exam rule
A planning board is an administrative body created under local law. It commonly reviews subdivisions and site plans. A subdivision divides land into lots. The plat is the map submitted for approval. Subdivision regulations may address lot layout, density, topography, streets, traffic, access, water, sewers, drainage and other infrastructure. Residential density is the number of dwelling units divided by land area. For example, 24 homes on 8 acres equals 3 homes per acre; always identify whether the local rule uses gross or net acreage. A cul-de-sac is a street closed at one end with a turning area, and a right-of-way can provide legal passage for a street or utility. The board may require improvements or lawful financial security for development costs. It may also advise on the comprehensive plan, zoning actions and capital budgeting for public projects. Site plan review studies the arrangement, layout and design of one proposed use. It does not divide title into new lots. A planned unit development, or PUD, uses one coordinated plan and can mix uses under a local PUD district. Cluster development groups buildings on part of a site while preserving open space or other resources, without raising the total permitted unit count unless another law allows it. Local plat or site approval is not FHA loan approval. FHA-insured financing has separate federal property and lender rules.
Why it matters
Start with what the owner is changing. New lots point to subdivision review. The layout of one use points to site plan review.
New York scenario
An owner divides twenty acres into eight home lots and proposes a new cul-de-sac. The planning board reviews the plat, access, drainage, traffic and required improvements.
Common misconception: A PUD and cluster plan are not the same. A PUD can mix uses. Clustering mainly rearranges permitted development to protect open land.
Check your recall
It is the map submitted for approval when land is divided into lots.
Site plan review studies the layout of a proposed use. Subdivision review creates and lays out lots.
It groups the allowed development so open space or other resources can be preserved.
Exam rule
A zoning board of appeals, or ZBA, is administrative and quasi-judicial. It applies the zoning law, hears appeals from enforcement officers and interprets unclear provisions, but it cannot write zoning policy or rezone land. For a town ZBA, a person generally has sixty days to appeal after the officer files the challenged decision. After the ZBA hearing, the board usually has sixty-two days to decide; the applicant and board may agree to more time. It then files its decision with the town clerk within five business days. Village and city laws have parallel rules, although New York City has its own zoning appeal process. Some applications near county or state features must also go to the county planning agency or regional planning council before final action. General Municipal Law Section 239-m sets the 500-foot trigger and its exceptions. The Open Meetings Law lets the public attend, listen and observe the board's work. The law does not create an unlimited right to speak at every meeting. To close a meeting, a board must state a lawful ground, make a public motion and vote to enter executive session. Controversy alone will not do.
Why it matters
Choose the board by the relief requested. An appeal or interpretation goes to the ZBA. A policy change goes to the local legislative body.
New York scenario
A code officer denies a permit because of a zoning interpretation. The owner appeals to the ZBA within the filing period. The owner does not ask the planning board to overrule the officer.
Common misconception: Do not count the sixty-day appeal period from an informal conversation. The statute ties it to the filing of the officer's determination.
Check your recall
It is an administrative, quasi-judicial body that applies and interprets existing zoning law.
Generally, 60 days after the officer files the determination to appeal, 62 days after the hearing to decide unless extended by mutual consent, and 5 business days to file the decision.
No. It protects public attendance and observation, subject to lawful executive sessions.
Exam rule
A use variance allows a use that the zoning district does not permit. The applicant must prove unnecessary hardship with competent financial evidence. All four parts are required. The property cannot earn a reasonable return from each permitted use. The hardship is unique and does not affect a substantial part of the district. The proposed use will not alter the neighborhood's essential character. The hardship was not self-created. An area variance gives relief from a dimensional rule, such as a setback, frontage, lot area or height limit. The ZBA balances the benefit to the applicant against harm to the neighborhood or community. It weighs five factors: an undesirable neighborhood change or harm to nearby property, a feasible alternative, whether the variance is substantial, harm to physical or environmental conditions, and whether the difficulty is self-created. A self-created difficulty matters, but it does not by itself bar an area variance. The board must grant only the minimum variance needed while protecting the neighborhood. The phrase practical difficulty is often used to describe an area problem, but New York's statute tests it through the five-factor balance.
Why it matters
This is the central comparison in the subject. Identify whether the owner wants a forbidden use or relief from a size rule before applying any factor.
New York scenario
A store in a residential district needs a use variance. A home addition two feet inside the setback needs an area variance.
Common misconception: Self-created hardship blocks a use variance because all four parts are required. For an area variance, it is only one factor and does not preclude relief.
Check your recall
No reasonable return, unique hardship, no essential neighborhood change and no self-created hardship.
Neighborhood impact, a feasible alternative, substantiality, physical or environmental harm and self-created difficulty.
No. It is relevant, but the board must weigh it with the other four factors.
Exam rule
A lawful use may no longer match a later zoning rule. If it was legal when it began, it is a lawful nonconforming use, and local rules may let it continue. Rules on abandonment, expansion, change or rebuilding after damage can still limit it. A special use is different. The zoning law already allows it when stated conditions are met. The owner seeks a special use permit rather than a use variance, and the board applies the written standards and may add reasonable conditions tied to them. Local family definitions, group homes, accessory apartments and home occupations must follow state and federal housing law. A local label cannot excuse unlawful discrimination. Enforcement can involve the building department, the building inspector or the code enforcement officer, while engineers, planners and environmental professionals review the technical issues that arise. A board of health handles assigned health matters. Local courts can enforce violations and remedies. The code officer acts under local authority, issuing or denying permits, inspecting work, issuing notices and checking occupancy. A building permit does not replace zoning approval. A certificate of occupancy does not settle a private title dispute.
Why it matters
First ask whether the use was once lawful, is conditionally permitted now or is prohibited now. That answer points to continuation, a special permit or a use variance.
New York scenario
A zoning law allows a day care center if traffic and screening standards are met. The owner seeks a special use permit because the use is conditionally allowed.
Common misconception: A special use permit is not a favor for a forbidden use. A nonconforming use is not the same as unpermitted work that was illegal from the start.
Check your recall
It was legal when it began but does not match a later zoning rule.
A special use is conditionally allowed by the zoning law. A use variance permits a use the district otherwise bars.
The building department, building inspector or code enforcement officer, with other professionals and courts as needed.
Exam rule
An Article 78 proceeding asks New York Supreme Court to review government action. In a land use case the challenger usually must wait for a final determination and use the administrative route first. The court does not hold a new zoning hearing. It does not decide which project it prefers. It reviews the agency's record and asks the legal questions allowed by CPLR 7803, which include whether the body acted without lawful authority, used an unlawful procedure, made an error of law or acted arbitrarily and capriciously. When a substantial-evidence issue from a required evidentiary hearing is raised, transfer rules may apply. Town Law gives a special deadline for ZBA review. The proceeding must generally begin within thirty days after the ZBA decision is filed in the town clerk's office. Article 78 deadlines can differ elsewhere, so use the rule tied to the facts. The remedy may include annulment, confirmation or an order sending the matter back to the local body.
Why it matters
Keep the stages in order. Get a final local decision, preserve the record, identify the claimed legal error and file within the correct deadline.
New York scenario
A ZBA denies a variance and files its decision with the town clerk. The owner who seeks court review generally has thirty days from that filing to start the proceeding.
Common misconception: Article 78 is review of government action, not an appeal for a completely new trial. Do not use the general four-month period when Town Law supplies the shorter ZBA deadline.
Check your recall
New York Supreme Court.
The record made before the agency or local board, not a new zoning hearing.
Thirty days after the decision is filed in the town clerk's office.
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Name the legal, financial or factual issue the question is testing.
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Use the controlling rule. Ignore facts that do not change that rule.
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Choose the answer that follows the rule without adding assumptions.
Scenario lab
Scenario 1
A town allows a six-foot fence, but a recorded covenant limits fences to four feet. The permit does not erase the covenant, so the owner must satisfy both rules.
The bundle of legal rights includes possession, control, enjoyment, exclusion and disposition. These rights are broad. They are not unlimited. A deed restriction or restrictive covenant is a private promise about land use, and it may bind later owners when it runs with the land. A public zoning approval does not cancel it. The holder of the covenant's benefit normally asks a court to enforce it, and a long, harmful delay may support the doctrine of laches and block an equitable remedy. An easement gives a nonowner a limited right to use land. A right-of-way is an easement used for passage. Air rights concern the usable space above land, and abutting parcels touch at a boundary. A survey shows boundaries, dimensions and physical features. Buyers should review the deed, survey and title report as well as the zoning rules.
Scenario 2
An owner divides twenty acres into eight home lots and proposes a new cul-de-sac. The planning board reviews the plat, access, drainage, traffic and required improvements.
A planning board is an administrative body created under local law. It commonly reviews subdivisions and site plans. A subdivision divides land into lots. The plat is the map submitted for approval. Subdivision regulations may address lot layout, density, topography, streets, traffic, access, water, sewers, drainage and other infrastructure. Residential density is the number of dwelling units divided by land area. For example, 24 homes on 8 acres equals 3 homes per acre; always identify whether the local rule uses gross or net acreage. A cul-de-sac is a street closed at one end with a turning area, and a right-of-way can provide legal passage for a street or utility. The board may require improvements or lawful financial security for development costs. It may also advise on the comprehensive plan, zoning actions and capital budgeting for public projects. Site plan review studies the arrangement, layout and design of one proposed use. It does not divide title into new lots. A planned unit development, or PUD, uses one coordinated plan and can mix uses under a local PUD district. Cluster development groups buildings on part of a site while preserving open space or other resources, without raising the total permitted unit count unless another law allows it. Local plat or site approval is not FHA loan approval. FHA-insured financing has separate federal property and lender rules.
Scenario 3
A ZBA denies a variance and files its decision with the town clerk. The owner who seeks court review generally has thirty days from that filing to start the proceeding.
An Article 78 proceeding asks New York Supreme Court to review government action. In a land use case the challenger usually must wait for a final determination and use the administrative route first. The court does not hold a new zoning hearing. It does not decide which project it prefers. It reviews the agency's record and asks the legal questions allowed by CPLR 7803, which include whether the body acted without lawful authority, used an unlawful procedure, made an error of law or acted arbitrarily and capriciously. When a substantial-evidence issue from a required evidentiary hearing is raised, transfer rules may apply. Town Law gives a special deadline for ZBA review. The proceeding must generally begin within thirty days after the ZBA decision is filed in the town clerk's office. Article 78 deadlines can differ elsewhere, so use the rule tied to the facts. The remedy may include annulment, confirmation or an order sending the matter back to the local body.
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Start here
Bundle of rights and as-of-right development
Private controls, deed restrictions, covenants, and easements
Police power, eminent domain, taxation, and escheat
Comprehensive planning and municipal planning boards
Zoning districts, maps, ordinances, and permitted uses
Variances, special-use permits, nonconforming uses, and zoning appeals
Subdivision review, building permits, and certificates of occupancy
A use variance and an area variance solve different zoning problems.
Private restrictions can remain relevant even when zoning permits a use.
The zoning board of appeals is not the municipality's policy-making body.
Public and private controls that shape how land may be divided, built on, occupied, and changed. This guide covers 9 lessons with New York scenarios, common mistakes, documents, worked examples, selected web practice and direct links to the sources used.
Subject vocabulary
Open any term for a direct definition, the exam cue, a New York example, the common mix-up and links to the source material.
Exam traps
Ownership rights and private limits on land
A building inspector enforces public law, not a private covenant. Also, an easement is a use right, not ownership of the land beneath it.
SEQRA from the first action to an impact statement
An EAF is a study form, not the final finding. An EIS is not a permit. SEQRA makes the agency consider environmental effects before it decides.
Planning boards, plats, site plans, PUDs and clustering
A PUD and cluster plan are not the same. A PUD can mix uses. Clustering mainly rearranges permitted development to protect open land.
Use variances and area variances without mixing the tests
Self-created hardship blocks a use variance because all four parts are required. For an area variance, it is only one factor and does not preclude relief.
Article 78 review of a final land use decision
Article 78 is review of government action, not an appeal for a completely new trial. Do not use the general four-month period when Town Law supplies the shorter ZBA deadline.
Forms and records
The exam often gives you a document and asks who uses it, what it proves or when it belongs in the transaction.
Show the municipality's policy direction and mapped zoning districts.
Exam cue: A plan guides policy. The zoning law controls permitted uses.
Requests relief from a zoning requirement and records the board's findings.
Exam cue: A use variance and an area variance use different standards.
Shows proposed lots, access, buildings, drainage, utilities and other review details.
Exam cue: Subdivision approval does not replace building permits or other required approvals.
Authorize construction and document the approved use or occupancy when issued.
Exam cue: A property may physically exist yet lack approval for its present use.
Primary sources
These are the government, statutory and other authoritative materials cited in the lessons and questions above.
12 CFR §1010.29: Use of Property Report
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Interstate Land Sales Registration Program
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
24 CFR Part 203: Single Family Mortgage Insurance
Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
New York Open Meetings Law
New York Committee on Open Government
Effect of Private Restrictive Covenants on Zoning Decisions
New York Department of State
Legal Aspects of Municipal Historic Preservation
New York Department of State
Legal Memorandum: Subdivided Lands
New York Department of State
Local Government and State Agency Enforcement Programs
New York Department of State
Notice of Adoption: 2025 Uniform Code and Energy Code
New York Department of State
Real Estate Salesperson 77-Hour Curriculum
New York Department of State
Zoning Board of Appeals Overview
New York Department of State
2026 Amendments to 6 NYCRR Part 617
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Abandoned Property Law §200: Escheated lands
New York State Senate Open Legislation
CPLR §7801: Nature of an article 78 proceeding
New York State Senate Open Legislation
CPLR §7803: Questions raised in an article 78 proceeding
New York State Senate Open Legislation
CPLR §7804: Article 78 procedure and venue
New York State Senate Open Legislation
ECL §8-0105: SEQRA definitions, including action
New York State Senate Open Legislation
ECL §8-0109: Preparation and content of environmental impact statements
New York State Senate Open Legislation
General Municipal Law 239-m: County planning referrals
New York State Senate Open Legislation
New York Constitution Article I §7: Just Compensation
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Town Law §261-a: Transfer of development rights
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Town Law §261-b: Incentive zoning
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Town Law §261-c: Planned unit development zoning districts
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Town Law §261: Grant of power to regulate land use
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Town Law §262: Division of a town into zoning districts
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Town Law §263: Purposes in view for zoning regulations
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Town Law §267-a: Zoning board of appeals procedure
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Town Law §267-b: Zoning board of appeals variance standards
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Town Law §267-c: Judicial review of zoning board decisions
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Town Law §268: Zoning enforcement and remedies
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Town Law §270: Official map, establishment
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Town Law §271: Planning board creation and appointment
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Town Law §272-a: Town comprehensive plan
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Town Law §274-a: Site plan review
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Town Law §274-b: Special use permits
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Town Law §276: Subdivision review and approval of plats
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Town Law §278: Approval of cluster development
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Town Law Article 16: Zoning and Planning
New York State Senate Open Legislation
Separate required course
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110
mobile questions
5
free web samples
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Editorial record
Built from the mobile app's reviewed New York lesson and question bank, then checked against the official curriculum and cited sources.
Scope note
This guide supports exam study and issue recognition. It does not replace an approved 77-hour course or advice from an attorney, tax professional, lender, engineer, inspector or other qualified specialist.
