— TL;DR

How to look up DOB complaints on any NYC building by address — free — plus what the priority codes mean and what happens after a complaint is filed.

01 · THE SHORT ANSWERHow to look up DOB complaints on any building

DOB complaints are public and free to check. Search the building's address in the DOB NOW public portal (or BIS for older records) and open the complaints tab to see every complaint ever filed, its priority, and its status — or run a free ViolationWatch lookup to see complaints, violations, and stop-work orders on one screen. No account needed for any of these.

02 · STEP BY STEPThe lookup, three ways

  1. DOB NOW public portal — search by address, open the property profile, and view complaints with live status. This is where all new complaints land.
  2. BIS — the legacy system still holds decades of complaint history. Search the address, then choose "Complaints." Older buildings often have history here that DOB NOW doesn't surface. (Confused about which to use? DOB NOW vs BIS, explained.)
  3. ViolationWatch free lookup — one search across DOB complaints, violations, ECB/OATH cases, and HPD records together, so you don't have to repeat the search in four portals.

03 · READING THE RESULTWhat the priority codes mean

Every complaint gets a priority category that drives how fast an inspector is dispatched:

  • Priority A — emergency conditions (structural danger, work endangering the public). Inspectors respond fastest, often same-day.
  • Priority B — non-emergency conditions (illegal work, no permit, quality-of-life). Inspection can take days to weeks.

Status-wise: an open/active complaint means an inspection hasn't resolved it yet; closed means an inspector either found no violation or issued one and moved the case to the violation track. The disposition code on a closed complaint tells you which — the full code table is in our DOB complaint explainer.

04 · AFTER THE COMPLAINTWhat happens next

Most complaints start as a 311 call and route to DOB (here's exactly what happens when a tenant calls 311). An inspector attempts access — if they find a condition, the complaint becomes a violation, and possibly an ECB/OATH summons with a hearing date and fines. A complaint itself carries no fine; the violation it produces does.

05 · FOR OWNERSDo complaints stay on the record?

Yes — complaints remain visible on the building's public history even after they're closed. Buyers' attorneys, lenders, and insurers read them. A pattern of complaints on your building is the earliest warning you get that a violation is coming: the window between "complaint filed" and "inspector arrives" is when the fix is cheapest.

06 · CATCH THEM THE DAY THEY'RE FILEDMonitoring beats searching

A manual lookup shows the past; it can't tell you about the complaint filed tomorrow. ViolationWatch's detection engine watches complaint routing across DOB, 311, and eight other agencies and alerts you the day a new complaint touches your building — while it's still just a complaint. See DOB monitoring or start a 7-day trial.

Last updated: July 2026.

— Data & sources

The figures in this article come from ViolationWatch's analysis of New York City building-violation records — more than 15 million violations across DOB, HPD, ECB/OATH, 311 and DOT. Explore the full data, borough breakdowns, fine trends, and downloadable dataset in our NYC Building Violations Statistics report.

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