"tax abatement pending" consequence

You can do whatever you want in your contract. But good luck, as this would be a huge sum.

Look at it that way. The seller is disclosing only a potential tax benefit of the property. The result is beyond his/her control. Any final offer should take into the consideration of the probability of the building actually will get the abatement. No seller with a rational mind will entertain any contingency clauses to pay you back should such application fails.

thanks for your replies. so i will get to know the tax abatement result before signing the contract?

You will generally not know the results before you sign. If the abatement is approved at a later period typically the city will give you a refund from the effective date of the abatement. Back in '09 I had the same issue with a condo purchase that did not have the abatement in effect at the time I signed the contract and actually took more than 6 months after I closed to go through. I negotiated with the sponsor and as part of the contract he had to reimburse me for the difference between the abated tax amount in the offering plan and the actual tax amount due (granted any refunds would go back to the sponsor). Good luck negotiating this type of deal in the current market...