NYC Co-op Gift Letter: The $19,000 Number to Know About
Go Back To Previous PageA gift letter is a signed statement confirming that money toward your co-op purchase is a genuine gift, not a loan you’ll quietly repay. It names the donor, the amount, and states plainly that repayment isn’t expected. The 2026 IRS annual gift tax exclusion is $19,000 per giver, well above what a typical letter needs to address.
A letter, not a wire transfer, is what convinces the board it wasn’t a loan in disguise.
What is a gift letter, in plain terms
A gift letter is short, usually under a page, and does one job. It tells your lender and the co-op board that a specific sum of money is a gift, with no strings and no repayment plan.
That’s it. It’s the five sentences a board has seen a thousand times, but skip one of them and the whole document stops working. A usable letter states the exact dollar amount, the donor’s name and relationship to you, and the date of transfer. It also needs a clear line saying repayment is not expected or required.
What the letter actually has to say
Boards and lenders both want the same core facts, worded plainly rather than left to interpretation.
| Element | What it must say |
|---|---|
| Amount | The exact dollar figure being gifted |
| Donor | Full name and relationship to the buyer |
| No repayment | A direct statement that the money is a gift, not a loan |
| Source of funds | Where the donor’s money came from |
| Signatures | Donor and recipient, sometimes notarized |
Say a buyer gets $300,000 from a parent toward a purchase with $1,500 monthly maintenance. The letter alone doesn’t change the math the board runs. It just confirms that $300,000 didn’t come with a repayment schedule attached. That matters enormously to how the board reads your debt-to-income picture on the REBNY financial statement.
Who can actually give you the money?
Fannie Mae’s own Selling Guide defines who qualifies as an acceptable donor for a conventional loan. It’s a relative by blood, marriage, or adoption, a domestic partner, a fiancé or fiancée, or someone in a documented, longstanding relationship that functions like family. A generous landlord does not count, and neither does your real estate agent, your building’s sponsor, or anyone else connected to the transaction itself.
On a primary-residence purchase at or under 80% loan-to-value, gift funds can cover the entire down payment, closing costs, and reserves. No minimum contribution from the buyer’s own funds is required at that threshold. Above that threshold, or on a 2-4 unit property, the rules tighten, and a portion typically has to come from you.
The 2026 gift tax exclusion, and why it rarely matters here
The annual gift tax exclusion for 2025 and 2026 is $19,000 per giver, per recipient, confirmed directly on the IRS’s own site. A married couple can split a gift to give $38,000 combined without either of them filing a gift tax return.
Most parental down-payment gifts in NYC exceed that figure by a wide margin, surprising buyers who assume a large number triggers a tax bill. It doesn’t, not directly. Exceeding the annual exclusion just means the donor files IRS Form 709 to track the excess against their lifetime exemption. The IRS has never once rejected a co-op board package over paperwork like this because that’s simply not what the form is for.
What we see buyers get wrong
The mistake isn’t the amount. It’s timing: the transfer that shows up two days before the board package is due, sitting in a bank statement with no explanation attached.
“A real estate transaction remains a business deal,” says NestApple co-founder Georges Benoliel. Deposit gift funds early, ideally weeks before you’re assembling documents, and let the paper trail sit long enough to look ordinary rather than urgent. A board that has to ask where a deposit came from is a board that’s already slower to say yes.
Gift funds can also directly boost post-closing liquidity, not just cover the down payment. If your liquidity is tight relative to a building’s expectations, ask whether the same gift can be structured to help both numbers at once. Our post-closing liquidity guide breaks down exactly what counts toward that figure. Run your own numbers with NestApple’s closing costs calculator before deciding how much of a gift you actually need.
Where the gift shows up on your paperwork
The gift letter itself is a standalone document, but its dollar amount flows directly into your REBNY Financial Statement and, eventually, into your full board package. Keep the letter, the bank transfer confirmation, and a copy of the donor’s own statement showing the funds leaving their account. A thorough board or lender wants all three together, not just the letter looking pretty on its own.
Once you’ve got the financing side settled, our co-op board process hub covers everything else in the sequence. That’s reference letters, the interview, and final approval. If buying with NestApple, our buyer rebate can offset part of the total purchase cost.
Common questions
Does a gift letter need to be notarized? Not always. Some lenders and boards require notarization; others accept a signed letter alone. Confirm with your lender and the specific building before assuming either way.
Can I use gift funds for the entire down payment? Often yes, especially on a primary-residence purchase at 80% loan-to-value or below. Above that threshold, expect to contribute some of your own funds.
Do I owe tax on a gift I receive? No. Gift tax, when it applies at all, is the donor’s responsibility, not the recipient’s, and even then it usually just reduces the donor’s lifetime exemption rather than triggering an actual bill.
What if the gift comes from someone who isn’t family? Standard conventional-loan rules restrict gifts to relatives, domestic partners, or documented family-like relationships. A gift from an unrelated party may need a different structure entirely, so ask your lender early.
How far in advance should I deposit gift funds? As early as possible. A transfer that’s sat in your account for weeks reads very differently to a board than one that landed two days before your package was due.
Nicole Fishman Benoliel co-founded NestApple in 2017. She's a lawyer admitted to the New York bar - her law degree is from La Escuela Libre de Derecho in Costa Rica, with further study at IE Business School in Madrid and an LLM from Fordham in New York. She does not act in a legal capacity at NestApple; every client is referred to an attorney who handles real estate deals full time.
