Before You Sign: 589,259 Active DOB Violations in NYC
Published August 15, 2026. Based on public records from the NYC Department of Buildings.
New York City's building record contains 589,259 standard DOB violations listed as active, spread across 122,300 buildings. Brooklyn alone accounts for 241,018. The number is enormous, but it is not a list of 589,259 unsafe apartments.
A DOB violation can concern construction, equipment, maintenance, permits, filing duties, or another Building Code or Zoning Resolution issue. Some active records are old. Some concern one device or area. Others deserve an immediate explanation before a renter signs.
The short version: Search the exact building, read the violation description and status, match it to the apartment or equipment you will use, and ask how it was corrected. “Active” is a reason to investigate, not a one-number verdict on a building.
What 589,259 actually counts
RentReboot reviewed 2,390,368 public records across the three standard DOB violation status categories:
- 1,128,637 dismissed records
- 672,472 resolved records
- 589,259 active records
Nearly 2.4 million standard DOB violation records
Standard NYC DOB violation statuses analyzed on August 15, 2026.
The article's 589,259 headline counts standard violations listed as active. Separate work-without-permit and other specialized groups are not included.
The headline deliberately counts only standard violations that DOB lists as active. Separate groups cover work without a permit, unserved ECB violations, hazardous violations, and combinations of those labels. Including every specialized group that mentions an active status would produce a larger number, but it would also mix unlike records into one less transparent total.
The 589,259 violations map to 122,300 buildings, identified by DOB's official Building Identification Number (BIN). That is roughly 4.8 standard active records per affected building. It is not a citywide average for all buildings; it is the average among buildings with at least one active violation.
One building can have several records for the same broader condition, different devices, or violations issued at different times. Count alone cannot tell you whether the condition affects your apartment or whether corrective work happened but the dismissal has not yet appeared.
Brooklyn has the largest share
Brooklyn has 241,018 standard active violations, or 41% of the total. Manhattan follows with 136,070, Queens with 119,051, the Bronx with 74,213, and Staten Island with 18,804. Another 103 records could not be assigned to a borough.
Brooklyn carries 41% of the active total
Standard active DOB violations by borough.
The five borough counts sum to 589,156. Another 103 records could not be assigned to a borough.
This is not a borough safety ranking. Brooklyn has many buildings, and these totals are not adjusted for housing units, building age, inspections, or construction activity. Manhattan's dense commercial and residential stock differs from Staten Island's. A count chart shows workload and scale, not the probability that a random apartment is unsafe.
For a renter, the citywide and borough totals have one practical use: they show why checking an address is normal due diligence, not an edge case. With 122,300 buildings represented, many otherwise ordinary listings will sit in a building with at least one active DOB record.
DOB violations are not HPD violations
NYC renters often see “building violations” treated as one category. The agencies and records are different.
The Department of Buildings enforces construction codes, zoning rules, equipment requirements, and related filings. Its records appear in the Building Information System and DOB NOW. Housing Preservation and Development handles housing-maintenance conditions such as heat, hot water, pests, lead paint, and other habitability issues in residential buildings.
A thorough pre-signing check may need both:
- DOB: construction, occupancy, elevators, boilers, permits, jobs, and code violations.
- HPD: complaints, housing-maintenance violations, registration, bedbug reports, and related enforcement.
An address can look quiet in one system and have relevant history in the other. Use the exact building address and BIN so similarly named or adjoining buildings do not get confused.
How to read an active DOB record
Start from DOB's Find Building Data page, which links to the DOB NOW Public Portal and BIS. Search the exact address or BIN, then open the violations section.
For each active record, capture five things:
- Issue date. A violation from last month deserves a different question from one issued decades ago.
- Description and type. Read the actual condition instead of inferring it from the word “active.”
- Location or device. Determine whether it concerns the apartment, facade, elevator, boiler, construction area, or another part of the property.
- Related number. A device, ECB/OATH, job, permit, or violation number can lead to the next record.
- Disposition. Look for a dismissal, accepted correction, permit, or later filing that explains what happened.
DOB says removing a violation from a property record requires correcting the condition and giving proof of that correction to the issuing unit; applicable civil penalties must also be paid. An active status can therefore reflect an unresolved condition or a correction that has not completed the agency's removal process. The individual record and issuing unit tell you what applies.
Do not rely on a broker's screenshot of the property overview. Open the individual record and preserve the URL or identifying number so management can answer the exact item.
Which records should slow a signing decision
No universal count makes a building a “pass” or “fail.” Prioritize relevance and recency.
Pause for a written explanation when an active record appears to concern:
- a cease-use condition or equipment you need;
- unsafe or unpermitted occupancy;
- structural, facade, egress, fire-safety, gas, electrical, boiler, or elevator work;
- active construction that could materially affect access, noise, or services;
- repeated similar violations without a visible resolution story; or
- a condition that conflicts with what the listing or agent represented.
Administrative or filing violations still matter, but they may call for a different response. Ask what was filed, when, and for the tracking number. For an elevator-specific record, use our elevator inspection guide. If the apartment's legal use is unclear, use the certificate-of-occupancy guide.
For dangerous conditions happening now, do not wait for a lease negotiation. Follow the emergency direction on NYC311 or call 911 where the city instructs you to do so.
The message to send management
Keep the question factual and tied to the record:
“DOB shows active violation [number], issued [date], describing [condition]. Please confirm whether it affects this apartment or access to it, what corrective work was completed, and the filing or dismissal number I can use to verify the current status.”
For construction, add the expected schedule and working hours. For equipment, ask whether it is currently operating and whether shutdown work is planned during the lease. For occupancy, ask management to identify the current Certificate of Occupancy or other DOB record supporting the apartment's use.
A useful answer includes dates, scope, and a record number. “The building is fine” does not resolve a specific public record. A stale active status accompanied by a clear correction filing is different from a recent relevant violation management refuses to discuss.
A fast pre-signing workflow
Run this check when an apartment becomes a serious contender:
- Confirm the exact address, unit, building entrance, and BIN.
- Search DOB NOW and BIS from the official Find Building Data page.
- Filter active from dismissed records.
- Open recent or relevant records and note their identifiers.
- Check jobs, permits, occupancy, and equipment records that connect to them.
- Search the address separately in HPD Online.
- Ask management focused written questions before sending move-in funds.
- Save the records and answers with the lease documents.
RentReboot can surface building information alongside apartment discovery, but it cannot determine structural safety, certify that work was corrected, or replace an official agency status. Use it to spot the question, then verify the answer in DOB and HPD systems.
How we measured this
RentReboot analyzed public DOB violation records on August 15, 2026. The headline counts standard DOB violations listed as active and counts each affected building once for the building total.
Borough totals include records under both current and older borough labels. We leave 103 records that could not be assigned to a borough outside the five borough bars.
These are administrative records, not a building-risk model. They include multiple violations per building, old active items, and groups with different enforcement histories. We do not infer present physical danger from status alone.
Questions renters ask
Does an active DOB violation mean an apartment is unsafe? Not by itself. Read the description, date, location, related records, and correction status. Some conditions are serious; others are administrative or do not affect the unit.
Is 589,259 every open violation in NYC? No. It is the count of standard DOB violations listed as active in our August 15 analysis. Specialized active groups are separate.
What is a BIN? The Building Identification Number is DOB's identifier for a building. Use it to avoid confusing adjoining addresses or similarly named properties.
Should I check HPD too? Yes. DOB and HPD cover different records. HPD Online may show housing-maintenance complaints and violations relevant to daily living conditions.
👉 Set up RentReboot alerts to find matching NYC apartments, then run the DOB and HPD address checks before signing.