You Can Now Opt Out Of Real-Estate Solicitations

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — State Sen. Tony Avella recently announced that the New York Department of State (DOS) has informed him that Queens residents will be able to opt out of receiving unwanted real-estate solicitation through the reinstitution of “cease-and-desist” zones.

Residents in Bay Terrace and parts of Bayside, North Flushing, Whitestone, College Point, Auburndale, Murray Hill and Malba will be able to opt out of these solicitations through the Department of State until Sept. 9, according to a recent release.

In 1989, the State legislature designated Queens County as a “cease and desist zone” to curb real-estate solicitation practices, allowing homeowners to add their names and addresses to a cease-and-desist list providing them the option to opt out of receiving real-estate solicitation at their homes. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

When regulation changed in 2014, such solicitous practices returned.

Per the release, under the regulations put out by DOS, “no licensed real-estate broker or salesperson shall solicit the sale, lease or the listing for sale or lease of residential property from an owner of residential property located in a designated cease-and-desist zone if such owner has filed a cease-and-desist notice with the Department of State, indicating that such owner or owners do not desire to sell, lease or list their residential property and do not desire to be solicited to sell, lease or list their residential property.”

“These new zones will also help to promote a better relationship between homeowners and real estate agents who work and live in the community,” Avella said in the release.

“The creation of these zones is a common-sense solution to the aggressive real-estate industry campaign to bully homeowners into thinking it is time to sell their home.”

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