The Department of Buildings (DOB)

The DOB is responsible for the safe and lawful use of more than 950,000 buildings and properties throughout the five boroughs by enforcing the City’s Building Code, Electrical Code, Zoning Resolution, and other laws applicable to the constructions and alteration of buildings. DOB’s main activities include performing examinations of building plans, issuing construction permits, inspecting properties, and licensing of construction trades. It also issues Certificates of Occupancy and Place of Assembly permits.
In response to complaints and requests for inspections that come from the public, community boards, or other City agencies, DOB inspects buildings and issues violations when a building does not comply with applicable codes. The most common type of violation issued is called an ECB violation.
The Department also issues a DOB violation, which notifies a property owner that a property is not in compliance with some provision of applicable law and includes an order from the DOB Commissioner to correct the condition. Although there is no fine or penalty attached to a DOB violation, it can be used as the basis for a Criminal Court summons and prosecution, which may result in the imposition of a fine and/or imprisonment. IN 2007 DOB issued 31,486 DOB violations, the majority of which were administrative violations (computer-generated violations issued to owners that fail to submit evidence of annual inspections on time).
Violations (both ECB and DOB) data are entered in DOB’s Building Information System (BIS) mainframe computer application. Violations must be corrected before a new or amended Certificate of Occupancy can be obtained.
Uncorrected ECB and DOB violations may impair the sale or refinancing of a property because a title search will show outstanding violation against it.
The requirements to remove DOB violations from the property’s record vary depending on the type of violation issued, i.e, Fire Safety, Elevators (Local Law 10/81). The respondent must correct the condition and submit proof of that correction to the unit issuing the violation; if there is a hazardous condition, a re-inspection is conducted to confirm compliance before a DOB violation is cleared from the property’s record in BIS.