Cold Calling Still Prohibited in New York

Real estate licensees may not make any unsolicited phone calls to a member of the public during a State of Emergency. General Business Law §399-z(5)(a) states, “It shall be unlawful for any telemarketer doing business in this state to knowingly make an unsolicited telemarketing sales call to any person in a county, city, town or village under a declared state of emergency or disaster emergency as described in sections twenty-four or twenty-eight of the executive law.” All other types of marketing such as mailers, billboards, social media, internet, etc., are permitted. You may call a FSBO if you have an identifiable purchaser interested in the property.  You are prohibited from calling the FSBO to solicit the listing.  You may still perform business-to-business calls as long as you call the number provided as the business number. 

NYSAR is monitoring all the current Executive Orders declaring a State of Emergency.

The following States of Emergency are still in effect:

EO 29.1: Disaster Emergency in the 46 Counties due to storms
Declared: July 10, 2023 (Original EO 29 declared July 9, 2023)
Expires: August 9, 2023

EO 28.2: Support Asylum Seekers
Declared: Extended on June 26, 2023 (Original EO 28 declared May 9, 2023)
Expires: July 26, 2023

EO 3.22: Disaster Emergency related to Gun Violence
Declared: Extended on June 14, 2023 (Original EO 211 declared July 6, 2021)
Expires: August 13, 2023

If you have any questions about Cold Calling, please contact the NYSAR Legal Hotline. The Legal Hotline is available Monday-Friday from 9:00am-4:00pm at 518-436-9727.