As a NYC building owner, there are dozens of violations you can get for noncompliance with City law. Three City departments, the HPD, DOB and ECB, issue the majority of building violations. Let’s take a look at each of these departments and the violations they issue.

The HPD, or the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, issues violations when a property is not compliant with building codes. HPD violations have unique requirements for corrections and cannot be challenged at an ECB hearing. In most cases of an HPD violation, a Notice of Violation will be sent to the property. Each HPD violation is issued with a class designation which determines its timeframe for correction and its penalty for failing to complete the correction. These are the HPD violation classes:

C – IMMEDIATELY HAZARDOUS
Depending on the circumstances, a Class C violation will allow 24 hours or up to 5 days for a correction. The two notable exceptions are lead and window guard corrections, which allow 21 days for a correction, and heat and hot water violations, which must be resolved immediately at risk of a penalty of $250/day and are eligible for the ERP.

B – HAZARDOUS
A Class B violation allows anywhere from 5 to 30 days for a correction, depending on the nature of the violation. Hazardous violations can also have civil penalties and litigation.

A – NON-HAZARDOUS
Class A violations can allow a full 90 days for correction, or just 14 days, depending on the violation. Non-hazardous violations can be joined by fines and civil lawsuits.

B – HAZARDOUS-ORDER TO CORRECT
This violation can have a wide variety of time for correcting, sometimes requiring immediate correction, and sometimes allowing for months. They may also be accompanied by penalties and municipal litigation.

Fixing an HPD violation: The Notice of Violation that is generally sent with each HPD violation will include the permitted timeframe for performing the correction. The violation must be corrected within that timeframe and the party that performed the correction must mail a CIV-194 form or submit an eCertification stating that the necessary work has been done.

A DOB violation is issued by the Department of Buildings and states that a property is not compliant with the law. These violations will always include an Order for Correction from the Commissioner of the DOB. Every DOB violation will also be added to the DOB’s Building Information System. The violation must be corrected before a new or amended Certificate of Occupancy can be obtained.

THERE ARE MORE THAN 25 KINDS OF DOB VIOLATIONS LISTED BELOW.

Note: Violation codes followed by an * indicates that the violation was dismissed.

It’s important to note that a DOB violation is public information and will pop up with a simple title search of a property. Also, an open violation can prevent a building owner from refinancing an existing mortgage on a property and from selling the building.

ECB/OATH violations are issued by the Environmental Control Board when a property is noncompliant with construction codes or zoning regulations as determined by the New York City Construction Codes or Zoning Resolution. The DOB issues a Notice of Violation for all ECB violations.

As with DOB violations, each ECB violation will be accompanied by an Order for Correction and include the conditions that must be amended. Some ECB violations will also specify that the building owner must certify the correction. There are three classes of ECB violations:

CLASS 1 – IMMEDIATELY HAZARDOUS
CLASS 2 – MAJOR
CLASS 3 – LESSER

ECB violations can be challenged at a hearing, but opting to do so is risky—if the violation is found to be valid at a requested hearing, the resulting penalties can be as steep as $25,000.

Staying compliant with NYC law can be challenging, but the Jaffa team makes it easy!

Check out our useful links page for all the resources you need to stay compliant and avoid these violations or contact us to see how we can help