N.Y. SCP Law § 1118

§ 1118. Powers before issuance of letters\n Before letters are issued to him and subject to the provisions of\nsection 1128 of this article the public administrator is authorized to:\n 1. Take possession of, collect and secure the personal property within\nhis county of any person who shall die intestate or testate within this\nstate or elsewhere or whose property shall arrive with the county after\nhis death whenever there is no person eligible to act as fiduciary of an\nintestate or of a testator, if the executor named in the will refuses or\nneglects to act or is dead or his whereabouts are unknown or if he is\nnot eligible to receive letters.\n 2. Take possession of, manage and collect the rents of the real\nproperty of an intestate whose distributees are unknown or, whose\ndistributees if known, are non-domiciliaries or of a testator if the\nexecutor named in the will refuses or neglects to act or is dead or his\nwhereabouts are unknown or if he is not eligible to receive letters.\n 3. Pay the funeral expenses of the decedent.\n 4. Sell as and when authorized by the court perishable property or\nsuch other property of the decedent as the preservation of the estate\nrequires.\n 5. Sell at public auction all property delivered to him as the effects\nof persons whose deaths have been reported to him by the department of\nhospitals, the police department or any other department or person.\n 6. Defray the expenses of the foregoing activities and the expenses\nincidental to his application for letters.\n