What sets Jack Jaffa & Associates apart in the NYC real estate and construction compliance industry? It’s simple: we have a team of experts in every area of compliance, so your compliance management is seamless and always expertly handled. Some people would even call us compliance superheroes. Why not find out for yourself what makes our team so SUPER?

 

Why You Should Be Digitizing Your Inspection Process

New York City is notorious for its rigorous compliance landscape. With frequent audits and strict regulations governing what seems like almost every aspect of property management, navigating these compliance requirements can be a daunting task for property owners and managers, often leading to headaches, stress, and, most painfully, violations. However, embracing digital solutions like the Jaffa deFINEd app can offer a transformative approach to compliance management, revolutionizing operations while ensuring adherence to NYC’s complex regulatory environment.

In addition, the high frequency of audits in NYC underscores the importance of digitizing your compliance management, as traditional manual processes are time-intensive and susceptible to errors and delays, putting properties at risk of non-compliance and penalties. By adopting the Jaffa deFINEd app, property owners and managers can proactively address these challenges, reducing the likelihood of mistakes and streamlining their compliance efforts.

Digitization brings several key advantages, particularly in the context of audits.

1. Seamless Audit Preparation: The Jaffa deFINEd app centralizes compliance-related data, documentation, and tasks, facilitating comprehensive audit preparation. Property owners and managers can easily access and present the necessary information during audits, reducing the stress and time required to compile and submit physical documents.
2. Document Management: The Jaffa deFINEd app facilitates seamless document management by allowing property owners and managers to capture, upload, and store photos, signatures, and files directly within the app. This feature eliminates the need for physical paperwork, making documentation easily accessible during audits and inspections.
3. Accurate and Transparent Reporting: Digitizing compliance management ensures accurate and transparent reporting. The app’s robust record-keeping capabilities maintain precise compliance records, eliminating discrepancies and providing an audit trail for regulatory authorities.
4. Real-time Collaboration: The app promotes real-time collaboration among in-office and in-field team members. Property owners or management companies, on-site managers, inspectors, and contractors can communicate, share updates, and collaborate on compliance-related tasks, ensuring streamlined operations and efficient decision-making.
5. Proactive Compliance Monitoring: The Jaffa deFINEd app’s automated reminders and notifications are crucial in staying ahead of compliance requirements. Property owners and managers receive real-time alerts for upcoming inspections, certifications, or renewal deadlines, reducing the risk of missed deadlines and non-compliance issues that could trigger audits.
6. Multilingual Support: NYC is a diverse city with a multicultural workforce. The Jaffa deFINEd app offers multilingual support, ensuring employees from different linguistic backgrounds can effectively use and navigate the app. App users can choose English, Spanish, Albanian, and Russian, making it accessible to everyone on your team. Clear communication in their preferred language fosters understanding and improves compliance management across the board.
7. Remote Access and Data Sync: The app allows property owners and managers to access compliance data anytime, anywhere, through secure remote access. Real-time data sync ensures that all team members are working with the most updated information, enhancing collaboration and streamlining compliance management processes.
8. Complete overview of your portfolio: The Jaffa deFINEd dashboard provides a comprehensive overview of all your buildings, upcoming deadlines, tasks, upcoming HPD violations, ECB hearings, and open corrections, so you’re always confident of the status of any of your properties.
9. Geo-location Verification: The app incorporates geo-location verification, enabling property owners and managers to validate inspections and document their occurrence at specific locations. This feature adds an extra layer of accuracy and accountability, enhancing the integrity of compliance management.

 

But the Jaffa deFINEd app is about more than just inter-team communication and staying ahead of your audits. Its complete set of features allows for in-app compliance task completion. That’s right! Those pesky tasks that used to involve hours of work and mountains of paperwork you can now do with a few clicks of a button on your phone.

1. Customizable Inspections with Automated Recurring Inspections: The Jaffa deFINEd app allows you to schedule, perform, and track inspections directly on your phone. It also offers customizable inspection templates, empowering property owners and managers to tailor inspections to their specific compliance requirements. And with the ability to combine inspections and automate recurring inspections, keeping up with all your required and preventative inspections has never been easier.
2. Work Orders Management: With the app’s streamlined work order management feature, property owners and managers can easily assign tasks, track progress, and communicate with their team members who are completing work orders. This automated system ensures that compliance-related work orders are efficiently executed, reducing the chances of errors and delays and ultimately contributing to overall compliance.
3. Safety Mailing Processing: For NYC property owners and managers, safety mailings are a tedious task they must complete once a year. And if the initial job of sending out these mailings isn’t annoying enough, chasing after tenants for their responses makes this one task we all genuinely dread. The Jaffa deFINEd app allows for in-app responses, making it easy to both record your attempts (in the case of those aforementioned audits) and get your tenants’ responses.
4. In-App Support: Because we all need some help sometimes, the Jaffa deFINEd app offers plenty of that. Featuring a complete help section with resources for the NYC property owner or manager, the ability to view open violations on BIS, and an Ask-a-Question button to ask a Jaffa representative your compliance questions, the Jaffa deFINEd makes it easy to get you the help you need. You can even hire Jaffa to resolve your violations for you directly in the app.

 

As NYC property owners and managers continue to be inundated with NYC’s high audit frequency and stringent regulations, the Jaffa deFINEd app has emerged as a powerful and revolutionizing tool. Embracing digital solutions is the key to simplifying NYC property compliance, and through digitizing compliance processes, property owners and managers can focus on delivering exceptional property management services while ensuring full compliance with NYC’s ever-evolving requirements. As NYC’s compliance landscape continues to evolve, adopting digital solutions like the Jaffa deFINEd app is a strategic investment that paves the way for efficient compliance management and success in the property management industry.

Find out why NYC property owners and managers are using The Jaffa deFINEd app to manage their compliance. Explore the various features that are, simply put, making compliance so much simpler. From managing your deadlines to performing work orders, safety mailings, and inspections to streamlining inter-team communication, the Jaffa deFINEd app puts all the power of Jaffa plus more right on your phone.

Q: I recently installed a pool in one of my buildings. Now that summer is coming, we’ll be opening it to our tenants. What inspections and obligations do we need to fulfill to meet safety and health standards?

JA: Firstly, good for you for putting a pool in your building, and even better that you’re being proactive about its compliance!

Pools are a great addition to any building, but they do require proper maintenance and inspections. Therefore, you will want to be sure to do regular water quality testing and proper maintenance of pool equipment.

You should also make sure to comply with fencing and barrier requirements and adhere to safety standards for pool operations and local health department regulations.

And more importantly, you’ll want to perform regular inspections of your pool.

If you’re already using our Jaffa deFINEd app, then you can use our pool inspection template and tweak it to your specific requirements. The easy-to-use inspection portal for all preventative inspections such as pool inspections coupled with the ability to customize inspections, makes the task of inspections as easy as clicking some buttons. Now if only everything in your life was this simple, you might actually be able to enjoy a few laps in your building’s pool yourself.

If you want more information about how the inspection portal works, you can check out our tutorial video on our PREdeFINEd module here.

And if you’re not using our app yet?
It’s worth a try, especially for all your inspections. Our clients are loving how easy it is to manage their compliance but are especially blown away by the inspection options. Trust us, it will revolutionize the way you stay compliant and help you to ensure your entire building, including your pool is always safe & compliant.

Try it out today.

JJ Blog-End-of-Year Deadlines

‘Tis the season of the endless to-do lists! Between the gift shopping, cooking for the holidays, and the million other tasks you need to tend to before year’s end, the days are packed. And as you wrap up the year, don’t forget your end-of-the-year compliance deadlines. Make sure to remember to file all the paperwork and schedule all the inspections necessary before the end of the year.

Stressing over which tasks you need to do before the New Year? No worries—we’ve done the legwork for you! Below, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of all the year-end deadlines so you can see exactly what you need to do before the old year blows out and the new one blows in.

 

1.   File your annual bedbug report

The last day to file your building’s annual bedbug report is Dec. 31 of each calendar year. The report will cover the period of 11/1/21 through 10/31/22 and can be filed anytime from 12/01/22 through 12/31/22.

Here’s how it’s done:

• Make an attempt to obtain the bedbug infestation history from the tenant or unit owner of each unit in your multiple-dwelling property.
• Complete your bedbug report and file it online with the HPD. The report must include the number of dwelling units in your building, the number of units that had a bedbug infestation during the period in question, the number of units in which eradication measures were employed during this time, as well as the number of units that had a bedbug infestation after eradication measures were employed.
• Distribute a copy of the form to every tenant in the building upon each new or renewed lease and post it in a prominent location within the building.
• In addition to filing the annual report, you are also required to maintain your property so that it is free from pests, which includes, but is not limited to, providing extermination services and keeping the building free of excess debris. You are also required to take appropriate measures if a tenant complains of an infestation.

 

2.   File your annual elevator and boiler inspections

Dec. 31 is the last day to file your annual elevator and boiler inspection with the DOB NOW: Safety DOB. All high-pressure and low-pressure boilers must be inspected annually, and reports must be submitted to the DOB within 14 days after the inspection. Elevators must have periodic inspections as well, and Category 1 tests at any time throughout the year. The annual inspections, periodic inspections and Category 1 tests must be performed by Dec. 31, 2022. Reports for the periodic inspection must be submitted to the DOB within 14 days of the test, and reports for the Category 1 test must be submitted within 21 days of the test. 

If you haven’t had your elevators and boilers inspected yet, make sure you schedule your inspection today!

 

3.   Inspect your buildings for allergen hazards and pests

NYC property owners are required by law to perform indoor allergen hazard investigations by Dec. 31 of each year. 

Here’s what that means for you.

• All owners of buildings with three or more units must keep their apartments free of molds and pests. If the presence of an allergen or pest is discovered, the owner must take appropriate eradication measures. 
• Inspect each dwelling unit and common area in the building annually for allergen hazards like mold, as well as household pests like mice, cockroaches and rats. 
• Provide notice to tenants informing them of the presence of an allergen or pest.
• Submit a certification of correction for any violation for this law.
• Respond appropriately to any tenant’s complaints of allergen or pests.
• Remove asthma triggers upon apartment turnover. 
• Provide tenants with the allergen fact sheet.

 

4.   Perform a lead-paint inspection 

Dec. 31 is the final day for performing the required annual lead-paint inspection. In addition, below is a list of all your lead-based paint requirements for the year. 

• Send an annual notice to tenants to inquire as to whether children under the age of 6 reside in the unit.
• Conduct an annual visual inspection of any unit in which a child under the age of 6 resides.
• Inspect and repair all lead-based paint hazards during tenant turnover.
• Use lead-safe work practices during repairs and renovations.
• Hire EPA-certified lead abatement professionals for any repairs of lead-based paint hazards.
• Inform tenants of owner responsibilities towards lead paint hazards and provide them with a copy of the Lead Paint Hazards in the Home pamphlet.

 

5.   Submit EER for  buildings due in 2022 on the covered building list

Dec. 31 is the final day to submit the EER for all buildings on the 2022 covered building list. This includes all buildings of 50k square feet with the last digit of 2 in the building’s tax block number. You can find the complete list of covered buildings here. If your building is on this list, be sure to submit your EER to the DOF before the end of the year. 

 

6.   Perform a gas piping inspection

Dec. 31 is the final day to perform a gas piping system inspection or submit certifications to the DOB for Community Districts 2, 5, 7, 13, and 18 in all boroughs. Gas piping systems must be inspected annually in all multi-family buildings. Inspections must be performed by a Licensed Master Plumber (LMP) or a qualified individual working with a LMP. 

Make sure to cross this task off your to-do list before the end of the year.

 

We get it, it’s the end of the year and your days are packed. Which is why we’re here to help with this part of your to-do-list. So if you’re feeling overwhelmed with your compliance tasks, don’t hesitate to contact us today. We’re always happy to keep your buildings compliant and your work life stress-free.

The DOB’s recently made a total of 26 changes for small businesses as part of an executive order to help NY’s small businesses recover from setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. All new changes take effect on Nov. 20, 2022. As a NYC building owner, you’ll need to know about these changes to the NYC compliance code so you can avoid getting slapped with a violations and incurring a penalty. No worries, though; we’ve done the legwork so you don’t have to. Here’s what you need to know about the recent DOB changes.

Who do these changes affect?

The DOB’s recent changes apply to small businesses. Small businesses, as defined by the DOB, generally refer to businesses that employ fewer than 100 workers. However, in regards to specific requirements and regulations, the definition expands to include more kinds of businesses. As we explore the recent DOB reforms, we’ll note the exact criteria for businesses to which each DOB change applies.

Changes to violation enforcement

As part of the recent changes, the City extended the cure period for all Class 2 (Major) and Class 3 (Lesser) violations from 40 days to 60 days from the date of NOV service. This change will provide more time for named respondents to submit a Certificate of Corrections (COC) and avoid getting hit with a penalty or hearing.

It’s important to note that this change does not apply to Class 1 violations, in which a COC must be submitted immediately. In addition, Aggravated I and Aggravated II penalties are never eligible for a cure.

The DOB will eliminate the following violations:

• Approved Place of Assembly plans not available for inspection (Class 2)
• Failure to conspicuously post electrical work permit while work is in progress (Class 3)
• Place of Assembly contrary to Approved construction documents (Class 2)
• Electrical closet not dedicated to electrical distribution equipment only (Class 2 and 3)
• Failure to provide cover/faceplate/lampholder/luminaire canopy for electrical outlet (Class 2)

The DOB is reducing penalties for the following violations:

• Electrical work without a permit (Class 3)
• Work without a permit (Class 3)
• Failure to post or properly post permit for work at premises (Class 2)
• Change in occupancy/use of C of O as per §28-118.3.1 – §28-118.3.2 by operating a Place of Assembly as per when current C of O does not allow such occupancy (Class 2)
• Luminaires and Lampholders not installed in an approved manner (Class 2)

Most penalty reductions are 50% or more.

There are no qualifiers for differently-sized business in regards to the above in the DOB’s notice. Also, all language extending the cure period for one- or two-family homes have been removed. It is therefore assumed that these changes apply to all named respondents.

Civil penalties for work without a permit

Small businesses may be granted a waiver of civil penalties for work without a permit after demonstrating (as per the DOB’s requirements) that they are a small business. The DOB specifies here that a small business refers to a business that employs fewer than one hundred employees.

High-pressure and low-pressure boilers

Small businesses may now be granted a first-time waiver of penalties for failure to file an annual boiler inspection report for both low-pressure and high-pressure boilers. These penalties are typically seen in the form of LBLVIO and HBLVIO violations, as issued by the DOB.

The penalty waiver applies to small businesses that employ fewer than one hundred employees. Owners can take advantage of the penalty waiver by demonstrating, in the manner specified by the DOB, that they are the owner of the business.

Don’t forget—annual boiler inspections are due by Dec. 31 each year.

There are lots of changes detailed here, but all of them were established to help your business recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the full update on the DOB reforms here.

If you’re still confused about what you need to know, we can help. We’re always happy to work with you and make sense of NYC’s compliance code. Don’t hesitate to contact us today.

8 Reasons You Should Be Digitizing Your Inspection Process

Unless you’ve been living on a different planet, you know that the business world is moving online, one industry at a time. And property management isn’t far behind. Across the City and beyond, dozens of property managers have gone mobile, turning to apps that use cutting-edge technology to make their job easier. Team management, annual mailings, and more are quicker and more efficient when digitized.

While every part of property management is more manageable when digitized, the inspection process, which can be tedious and time-consuming, can significantly benefit from being digitized. It’s time to stop stressing about inspections and go mobile. If you haven’t already made the switch, here are eight reasons why you should.

1. Customized Inspections

Does anything say easier to manage than the ability to customize? You and I both know that with inspections, there isn’t a one form fits all. Not only will inspections vary from property manager to property manager, but what you need to inspect will vary unit to unit. So why would you want to deal with tons of paperwork that has nothing to do with YOUR inspection.

Plus, there are so many times that your inspection is not just for one purpose.  After all, why would you visit the same apartment multiple times for multiple inspections if you don’t have to? Apps such as the Jaffa deFINEd app allow you to customize your inspection on their platform so you can choose what inspections you are performing and what information you need included. You can find out more about the Jaffa deFINEd app HERE.

With the Jaffa PredeFINEd Inspection module, you can even create, track and document preventative tasks and inspections on your properties and devices, such as inspections for elevators, boilers, backflow, sprinkler, water towers, cooling towers, HVAC systems, and so much more.

The app also allows you to customize the frequency of inspections, so you can enter precisely how often you need or want to inspect each item.

With the ability to customize the inspection according to YOUR needs, apps allow you to create in-app inspection forms that have everything you need to inspect without anything you don’t need.

2. Never Miss a Step in the Inspection Process

Your team is in the process of completing an inspection, and it’s Bob’s turn to do his job. There’s just one issue: Bob is out on sick leave, or maybe he’s sunning himself on a beach in Cancun. And no one knows the exact details about Bob’s role in the inspection process.

Digitizing your inspections means that every step of the process is clearly detailed and accessible to all team members. When one or more team members are out, you can still get the job done perfectly and on time, too. How’s that for a hassle-free inspection?

3. Communicate with Your Team throughout the process

You’ve got enough on your plate without being on-site at every building, all the time. And when you digitize your inspections, you no longer need to. When your team runs into a hurdle while getting a job done—and they will—they can instantly reach out to you and update you on the latest. You can view their progress on an app. Or, better yet, with apps such as the Jaffa deFINEd app, which automatically syncs their app with their online portal, you can even check the status, pictures, or files your team in the field has uploaded without even leaving your desk. Using an app, especially one integrated with a more comprehensive online portal, can help keep your entire team in the loop about the next step with one quick communication.

Playing phone tag is so last year. 2022 is all about instant communication and easily shared data, files, and images.

4. Instantly Record and Track Inspections

Do you spend half your workday searching for important files and forms? If you’d made the change to a digitized property management app, you wouldn’t have to. When your management is digitized, every filled-out form and captured photo is instantly recorded, tracked, and organized in your platform. There’s no longer a need to search through piles of papers to pull up the one you want; your tech tool will do the job for you with just a few swipes.

Plus, some property management apps, like the Jaffa deFINEd app, allow you to perform inspections directly in the app, so there isn’t any paperwork to fill out, file, scan, or find. That’s definitely saving you a lot of time, stress, and heartache.

Even more incredible, the Jaffa deFINEd app complies all the date from your inspections and auto-prepares all required city forms for a truly 1-step inspection process. These customized (there’s that magic word again) forms (you can check them out HERE) help you file your inspection reports with complete ease and assurance that nothing has been left out of your report.

5. Centralize Operations for Optimal Oversight

Managing a large team of employees is always challenging. When those employees are spread across several sites, proper oversight becomes next to impossible.

Again, it’s the mobile management model to the rescue! When operations are centralized in one online platform, checking on a team member’s work is a matter of a few swipes—and employee management is easy again. You can check up on anyone at any time and review and appraise all kinds of jobs as they’re being completed in real-time.

When your team is working through a multi-step inspection process, centralized oversight is key to its success. Nothing can fall through the cracks when it comes to inspections. With a digitized process and employee oversight at your fingertips, it doesn’t.

6. Get More Work Done, Anywhere and at Anytime

Insomnia got you tossing and turning at 3 a.m.? Stuck on the train for a half-hour ride in rush hour traffic? Instead of battling with frustration over the wasted time, you can use the opportunity to get some work done! Review and approve recent inspections, communicate with team members about an ongoing job, or simply look over your schedule for the next month or week to see what’s coming up on the compliance calendar.

When your office is in your pocket, you can get work done anywhere and at any time.

7. Ease of Use

Some inspection forms can seriously put a cramp in your hand for all the writing you need to do. With an in-app inspection, many tasks are as easy as pressing yes or no to the provided questions. Plus, the ability to take pictures in the app, obtain signatures, and upload files, allow you to easily have all the information right where you need it.

8. Everything is Going Digital

There’s no denying it. The world is going digital. And in the world of property management, it’s no different. Some of the biggest property managers firms have already switched to mobile management and are enjoying the benefits of a quicker, more streamlined inspection process. Our clients already on the app are blown away by how much the apps’ capabilities are making their compliance, especially inspections EASIER, BETTER & LESS STRESSFUL.

If you’re ready to digitize your compliance management, ask a Jaffa representative about the Jaffa defined app or DOWNLOAD it today. Want to see how our app works? Check out our Video tutorials HERE for a quick run-through of all the Jaffa deFINEd features and functions