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The secrecy shrouding the exclusivity of co-op apartments and subjective rules for membership may come to an end with a City Council bill that would require co-op boards to disclose the reason why a potential buyer was rejected.

The Fair and Prompt Co-op Disclosure Law, Intro 119, was introduced by Councilman Hiram Monserrate (D-Corona) after he was approached by the Anti-Discrimination Center of Metro New York with concerns about the enforcement of Fair Housing laws that prohibit discrimination.

Under current conditions, co-op boards are not required to tell a person why they were refused a purchase, thus creating an easy way for boards to turn away people based on race, religion, or sex, bill advocates said. People cannot be turned away “on the basis of race, color, national origin, marital status, creed, sex, age, disability, and familial status,” according to the National Fair Housing Alliance.

“The problem does exist; it’s been outlined in numerous publications and personal interviews here in this office,” Monserrate said of the people who were unable to purchase a co-op. “We receive numerous complaints of individuals who clearly had the qualifications (and) were not given the opportunity to do so.”

Craig Gurian, the executive director of the Anti-Discrimination Center of Metro New York, said the bill does not take away the co-ops’ right to make its own rules for membership, but ensures that if a person is denied, a reason is provided, which he said would deter boards from illegally turning people away.

“The secrecy within which co-ops operate is the perfect environment in which discrimination flourishes,” he said.

But bill opponents, like Frederick Bedell who is a co-op owner in Glen Oaks Village in Bellerose, said he is worried the bill could cause frivolous claims of discrimination and create legal skirmishes.

“My main concern, according to the bill, is a detailed reason behind the rejection,” Bedell said. “It can be read and re-read in many different ways. It may not be the facts.”

Gurian does not believe the law will create misunderstandings as much as it will help clear them up. He said it would actually prevent discrimination suits because it would create transparency in the process. He uses a hypothetical example of a Latino applicant who believes he was turned down because of his ethnicity—until he gets back the real reason.

“(It) says we looked at your credit report and there’s a late payment on a student loan,” Gurian explained. “All of a sudden it’s, ‘oh, it’s a late payment on my student loan. I’m not going to sue for discrimination.’”