When you buy an apartment in New York City, you are also buying into a building. The Department of Buildings keeps the record of permits and construction. A second agency, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), keeps the record of how the building has been maintained: tenant complaints, housing code violations, court cases and who is responsible for it. That second record is free, public and searchable by address on HPD Online.
Which buildings HPD keeps a record for
HPD's property registration rules cover every residential building with three or more units, including condominiums, cooperatives and hotels, and one- and two-family houses where neither the owner nor a family member lives there. Owners must register every year, between May 21 and September 1, and update the registration whenever ownership or the managing agent changes.
If you are buying in a co-op or condo building, it is almost certainly in HPD's records. If you are buying an owner-occupied single-family house, HPD may have little or nothing on it, and the Department of Buildings record matters more.
Look up the building
Go to HPD Online, type the street address into the search box and pick the matching suggestion. The building page opens on an overview that shows, in one place:
- complaints over the last two years, and how many are open;
- violations, broken down by class;
- litigation and harassment findings;
- whether there is an active vacate order;
- whether the building is in HPD's Alternative Enforcement Program;
- whether it was historically rent regulated, with a pointer to New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) to check;
- the property registration, including the managing agent and when the registration expires.
The page also lists the building's other addresses, its block and lot, and historical image cards when HPD has them. A corner building often has more than one address, and the overview gathers them under one record.
Read the violation classes
HPD classes every housing maintenance code violation by hazard, and the class sets how long the owner has to correct it before civil penalties can apply.
| Class | HPD's description | Time to correct |
|---|---|---|
| A | Non-hazardous | 90 days from service |
| B | Hazardous | 30 days from service |
| C | Immediately hazardous | 24 hours for most; 14 days for self-closing doors; heat and hot water must be corrected immediately |
| I | Orders to repair, and orders to repair and vacate | — |
A handful of old class A violations in a large building is ordinary. Open class C violations, and especially the same condition coming back, are the ones to ask about.
What to ask about before you sign
- Open class B and C violations. Ask the managing agent, through your lawyer or agent, what each one is and when it will be cleared.
- An active vacate order. HPD has ordered all or part of the building vacated. Do not go further without a clear, written answer about why and whether it has been lifted.
- Litigation and harassment findings. These are housing court cases and findings against the owner. In a co-op the owner is the corporation you are buying into, so they are worth raising with your lawyer.
- The Alternative Enforcement Program. HPD designates buildings for it on or about January 31 each year, based on the number of class B and C violations and the dollar value of emergency repairs the city has had to make. A designated owner must correct violations within four months or face an order to correct, more inspections and fees of up to $1,000 per unit. An AEP flag says the building has a serious maintenance history, not just a bad month.
- The registration. Check that it is current and that the managing agent named matches the one you are dealing with.
What HPD Online does not show
HPD's record is about maintenance, not construction. Permits, alterations and Department of Buildings violations are in DOB's own systems; our Bronx guide walks through those, and every borough uses the same ones. If the building is a landmark or in a historic district, the Landmarks Preservation Commission keeps a third record, covered in the Brooklyn guide.
HPD also says nothing about the apartment's own renovations, the co-op or condo's finances, or its board's rules. Those come from the offering plan, the financial statements and your lawyer's review.
A free Before Regret report for the address adds what to inspect for a building of its age, the questions to ask the seller, and links to the records worth pulling yourself.