NYC Building Violation Lookup by Address — All 7 Agencies (2026)

Most people who try to look up violations on a NYC building stop after one portal — usually DOB BIS, because it's the one Google surfaces first — and walk away thinking they have the full picture. They don't. A single property can have open complaints, active violations, and outstanding judgments scattered across seven different city systems, and not one of those systems talks to the others.

This guide walks you through every official portal a property owner, buyer, broker, lender, or compliance manager should check before signing anything in 2026. It covers the exact URL, what to type into the search box, what the results actually mean, and where each system silently leaves things out. At the end we'll show you the one shortcut that pulls all of them at once — but first, the manual path.

You'll learn:

• Which portal lives where, and what each one is authoritative for
• How to convert a street address to BIN and BBL (the IDs the systems actually use)
• Why a "clean" DOB record doesn't mean a clean building
• The two systems that close most due-diligence gaps brokers miss
• What "open" vs "closed" vs "dismissed" vs "in default" each mean in dollar terms

01 · GROUND TRUTHThe seven systems you actually need to check

Every NYC compliance signal lives in one of these seven public portals. Each is operated by a different agency — they have different data refresh cycles, different ID schemes, different search behaviors, and (critically) different meanings of "violation." Here's the map:

The single most common mistake — among brokers, attorneys, and even building owners — is treating BIS as the "full picture." BIS is a 25-year-old database that DOB itself has been migrating away from since 2018. Anything filed in DOB NOW after 2020 may not appear in BIS at all, and vice versa.

02 · IDSAddress, BIN, BBL — and which one you need

NYC compliance systems use three different identifiers. Some let you type a street address directly; others demand a numeric ID. If a portal can't find the building you're searching for, it's almost always because you used the wrong identifier — not because the building is "clean."

The three IDs explained

• Address — the postal address. Good for human users. Some portals geocode it for you (DOB NOW, HPD Online, 311), others don't (BIS only accepts an exact format).
• BIN — Building Identification Number. A 7-digit code unique to a single building (one BIN per physical structure). Required for BIS-only deep links.
• BBL — Borough-Block-Lot. A 10-digit code for the tax lot the building sits on. One BBL can contain multiple BINs (a campus, a co-op, a condo). DOF and OATH use BBL.

How to convert in 30 seconds

1. Open DOF Property Tax Public Access.
2. Enter the street number, street name, and borough.
3. The result page shows the BBL at the top. Click the address to open the property profile, where the BIN is also listed.

Save both. You'll paste them into different portals over the next ten minutes.

03 · DOB BISStep 1: The Buildings Information System

BIS is the Department of Buildings' legacy database. Open it at a810-bisweb.nyc.gov. The interface looks like 2003 because it is from 2003, but it remains the system of record for any DOB filing made before the agency's DOB NOW migration began in 2018.

What to do

1. Click Property Profile Overview on the home screen.
2. Enter the house number and street, select the borough, and submit.
3. On the property profile page, scroll to the violations sub-section. You'll see two columns: DOB Violations and ECB Violations.
4. Click the count next to each to expand the list. Each violation row will show date issued, status (OPEN / RESOLVED / DISMISSED), and a violation #.

What this surfaces — and what it misses

BIS shows you legacy DOB and ECB violation history. It does not show:

• HPD violations (different agency, separate database)
• FDNY violations (separate database)
• DOB filings made after the relevant module was migrated to DOB NOW (façade, electrical, elevator, plumbing, sustainability)
• Fine balances (BIS shows the violation existed; DOF shows whether the fine was paid)

If a building shows zero DOB violations on BIS, you've cleared one sub-system. You haven't cleared anything else.

04 · DOB NOWStep 2: The post-2020 DOB filings

DOB NOW is the modern Department of Buildings portal. The public side is at nyc.gov/buildings/dob-now-public-portal. It hosts everything DOB has migrated from BIS — and that list is now extensive.

What lives in DOB NOW (and not in BIS)

• Local Law 11 facade reports (FISP)
• Local Law 97 emissions reports
• Local Law 87 energy audit / retro-commissioning filings
• Local Law 152 gas piping inspection filings (GPS1, GPS2)
• Elevator filings (ELV1)
• Boiler filings (BLR1)
• Plumbing, electrical, sprinkler, standpipe filings
• Most permits issued post-2020

For a meaningful DOB picture, you must check both BIS and DOB NOW. If you only check one, you're seeing roughly half of the agency's record on that building.

05 · HPD ONLINEStep 3: Housing maintenance violations

For any residential building of three or more units, HPD Online at hpdonline.nyc.gov is the second most important portal after DOB. HPD enforces the NYC Housing Maintenance Code, which governs habitability — heat, hot water, leaks, mold, pests, lead, and more.

What to do

1. Type the street address into the search bar; HPD's geocoder is forgiving.
2. Click the property card.
3. Use the left-side tabs to navigate: Open Violations, Complaints, Registration, Litigation.

What HPD violation classes mean (in fine terms)

• Class A — non-hazardous. 90 days to cure. Common: minor paint, missing window guards in non-child units. Penalty $10–$50/day after expiration.
• Class B — hazardous. 30 days to cure. Common: rodent infestation, holes, broken windows. Penalty $25–$100/day.
• Class C — immediately hazardous. 21 days to cure (24 hours for heat / hot water in season). Common: lead paint with a child under 6, active mold over 10 sq ft, no heat. Penalty $50–$1,250/day plus HPD's emergency-repair lien when they fix it themselves.

HPD Online's Complaints tab is where most owners get blindsided. A complaint is the precursor to a violation: 311 calls, tenant reports, neighbor reports. They don't carry fines on their own, but every open complaint is an inspection waiting to be scheduled. We've covered the full complaint-to-violation timeline elsewhere; the short version is that an HPD complaint can become a Class C violation within 5–10 days.

06 · OATHStep 4: Hearings, judgments, and fine balances

Every ECB violation issued by DOB, FDNY, DEP, DSNY, or any other city agency is adjudicated at OATH. The Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings is where you find out whether a NOV (Notice of Violation) is still pending, was upheld, was dismissed, or went into default.

Open OATH HearWeb and search by respondent name, BBL, or summons number.

The four states that determine whether a NOV is a financial problem

1. Pending hearing — NOV issued but hearing not yet scheduled. The owner has the chance to fight it. No fine yet.
2. Decided / upheld — owner lost or admitted. The fine schedule applies. Owner must pay and file a Certificate of Correction.
3. Dismissed — owner won. No fine. The violation may still appear on BIS as historical record.
4. In default — owner failed to appear. Default judgment is the maximum fine + 9% interest accruing immediately. Becomes a property tax lien on DOF if unpaid for 30+ days.

If you're doing pre-closing diligence, the default judgments are the ones that bite. They convert to liens and follow the property — meaning the next owner inherits them. Always pull OATH on every BBL you're acquiring. We have a more detailed breakdown of what happens when ECB fines aren't paid.

07 · FDNYStep 5: Fire violations, certificates of fitness, and standpipe filings

FDNY enforcement is its own world. Their public portal — fires.fdnycloud.org — covers fire-code violations, certificates of fitness for fuel-burning equipment, sprinkler and standpipe inspections, and FDNY-issued permits.

Why this matters

An FDNY violation can sit unflagged in BIS and HPD Online for the entire ownership of a building. Common FDNY violations include expired sprinkler hydrostatic test, missing or expired certificate of fitness, blocked egress, and fuel-storage violations. Penalties typically range $1,200–$10,000 per violation, and they convert to OATH judgments if not cleared.

For office buildings over 100 feet, FDNY filings interact heavily with Local Law 26 sprinkler retrofit obligations. Pull both portals when assessing tower-class assets.

08 · 311Step 6: The early-warning system most owners ignore

311 service requests are filed by tenants, neighbors, passers-by, anyone with a concern about a building. Most don't become violations — but every formal HPD or DOB complaint started life as a 311 call.

Search at portal.311.nyc.gov by address. Filter by service type (housing conditions, illegal construction, noise, etc.) and date range.

What 311 patterns predict

• 3+ heat/hot-water calls in November–December → HPD inspection coming, Class C violations likely if conditions confirmed.
• 1+ "after-hours construction" 311 call → DOB Stop-Work Order risk. WNP violation often follows within a week.
• Repeat noise complaints → DEP NOVs typically follow at the third or fourth call.
• Mold or pest reports → likely Local Law 55 inspection on the way.

If you check 311 at the same cadence as the formal violation portals, you get a 5–10 day head start on most enforcement actions. We've documented the full HPD complaint timeline for owners who want the deeper data.

09 · DOFStep 7: Liens, judgments, and the tax-bill backdoor

Last stop: the Department of Finance. Open DOF Property Tax Public Access, search by BBL, and pull the property tax bill PDF.

Why? Because every unpaid OATH judgment, HPD emergency-repair charge, and ECB fine over $25 eventually shows up on the tax bill as a charge against the property. If a building has a history of compliance issues that were nominally "resolved," the DOF property bill will show whether the owner actually paid up. It's the cleanest indicator of true compliance hygiene.

10 · WHY THIS BREAKSThe hidden costs of the manual approach

The manual route across all seven portals takes a competent compliance person about 25–35 minutes per building, assuming the systems are responding normally. It also requires:

• Knowing the URL for each portal (some change quarterly)
• Reconciling three different ID schemes (address, BIN, BBL)
• Reading status codes that mean different things in different systems (an "OPEN" violation in BIS is a different state than an "open" violation in DOB NOW)
• Manually de-duplicating cross-listed records (the same violation can appear in BIS, DOB NOW, and OATH simultaneously, with different "current" statuses)

If you do this monthly across a portfolio of 10 buildings, it's roughly 5 hours of compliance labor per month — and the risk of missing a new violation between checks compounds. Most owners we talk to don't realize a violation has appeared until they receive a paper notice in the mail, weeks after the city's own systems have it.

11 · THE SHORTCUTWhat ViolationWatch actually does

ViolationWatch is the multi-signal detection engine that runs the seven portals above continuously, plus several others (DEP, DOT, DSNY, PRM). Our pipeline re-scans each source every few minutes, normalizes the records into one timeline per building, de-duplicates cross-listings, and pushes any change to your inbox or WhatsApp within 10–20 minutes.

You don't have to remember URLs, juggle BIN/BBL conversions, or interpret 14 different status codes. You add an address, the engine takes over.

Free, no signup: our free violation lookup tool runs the multi-agency check across the seven portals above for any NYC address — instantly. It's the same scan a paid customer gets, run on demand.

Continuous monitoring: $9/month per building, alerts in real time across all 10 agencies we cover. Most customers describe it as the difference between "I check once a quarter and hope" and "I get notified the same day a violation is issued."

12 · BOTTOM LINEThe 7-portal cheat sheet

If you remember nothing else from this guide, remember the order:

1. BIS — legacy DOB & ECB violations
2. DOB NOW — modern DOB filings, post-2020
3. HPD Online — housing maintenance violations & complaints
4. OATH HearWeb — hearing outcomes, judgments, fines
5. FDNY Business — fire violations, fitness certs
6. 311 — early-warning complaint signal
7. DOF — has any of the above turned into a property lien

Run all seven on every building, every time. Or run our free lookup tool and have it done for you in under five seconds.