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 so long as you are calling the number provided as the business number. NYSAR is monitoring all of the current Executive Orders declaring a State of Emergency. To view the States of Emergency that are still in effect, click here.