Five agencies, five websites, five ways to get fined. Here's what each one covers, and how to see all of it for any address in one search.
A NYC building can be cited by half a dozen city agencies, and each keeps its own records on its own website. HPD Online has housing violations. DOB has construction violations and complaints. OATH has tickets from DOB, Sanitation, the Fire Department and others. 311 has everything tenants and neighbors called in. Owners who only check one of these are the ones who get surprised.
Who Writes What
| Source | What it covers | Why landlords care |
|---|---|---|
| HPD violations | Housing conditions: heat, leaks, mold, pests, lead, window guards (Class A, B, C) | Daily penalties, Housing Court, and they follow the building when you sell |
| HPD complaints | Tenant calls to 311 about conditions in an apartment | The warning before an inspector shows up. Fix it first and there may be no violation. |
| DOB / ECB violations | Building code, work without permits, facades, boilers, elevators | Large fines, OATH hearings, stop-work orders, and they can block permits and refinancing |
| DOB complaints | Complaints about illegal work, conversions, unsafe conditions | Often lead to a DOB inspection and violations |
| OATH tickets | Summonses from DOB, Sanitation, FDNY, DEP, DOT and Health, heard at OATH | Miss the hearing and you can lose by default |
| DSNY tickets | Set-out times, NYC Bin, recycling and compost, dirty sidewalks | Small fines that add up fast across a portfolio |
| 311 service requests | Noise, illegal parking, sanitation, street conditions and more | Shows what neighbors and tenants are reporting about the building |
Why One Search Matters
The agencies don't talk to each other, and the paper notices are slow. A tenant's heat complaint can lead to an HPD inspection, which turns up a window-guard violation, while a DSNY agent writes a sidewalk ticket outside the same week. If you're only checking HPD Online, you see one of the three. And if you're buying a building, open DOB and OATH records can affect financing and title, so you want all of them before you make an offer.
How to Check Everything at Once
- Type any NYC address into the search box on NYC Violation Search and pick it from the list.
- The building page pulls HPD, DOB/ECB, OATH (including DSNY), DOT and 311 records together, with counts by agency and tabs for each.
- Click an owner's name to see every building registered to them with HPD, with open violation counts for each.
The same page now shows the building's garbage pickup days and street-cleaning times, so you get the whole picture of what the city expects from that address.
Don't Check Every Day. Get a Report.
Add your buildings to a free account and you'll get one email every morning at 8 AM, seven days a week. It lists anything new since yesterday from HPD, DOB, OATH (including DSNY tickets) and 311, anything that was resolved, what's still open, and that day's garbage and parking reminders. If you'd rather only hear about changes, flip one switch on your dashboard.
Owners who get caught off guard rarely ignored a violation on purpose. They didn't know it existed. One search, and one morning email, fixes that.