How Do You File the HPD Bedbug Report and Clear the Violation?

Every owner of a New York City multiple dwelling has to file a Bedbug Annual Report with HPD between December 1 and December 31, and the filing is required even when no apartment in the building had bedbugs all year. HPD's own FAQ answers that question with one word: yes. It also says what happens to an owner who skips it: "A violation will be issued to the property owner for failure to file the report."

I started in NYC real estate in November 2001, and this is one of the few items on a building's record that involves no repair at all. It is a form. That makes it one of the cheapest things to clear before a sale and one of the most annoying to find open when a buyer's side pulls the building's history.

Below: who has to file, what the report asks, how to file it, what the owner owes tenants afterward, and how the violation for a missed filing gets closed. To see whether your building has one open, run the address through Building Check.

Who has to file

The requirement comes from Local Law 69 of 2017, now in Housing Maintenance Code sections 27-2018.1 and 27-2018.2. It applies to owners of multiple dwellings, which HPD's registration rules define as residential buildings with three or more units. According to HPD's bedbug page and FAQ:

• Rental buildings with three or more units file.
• Co-ops and condominiums file. HPD names cooperatives and condominium corporations among the owners that must file electronically.
• Hotels file.
• A building with no bedbugs still files, reporting zeros.
• An owner of several buildings can file for all of them under one log-in.

The window and what the report asks

The filing window is December 1 to December 31, and the report covers the prior twelve months, November 1 through October 31. HPD asks for building-wide totals, not a history for each apartment.

Before filing, the law requires the owner to try to get the infestation history from each tenant or unit owner. If a tenant will not answer, HPD's FAQ says the owner must use best efforts to get the information from all units. HPD publishes what owners submit on HPDONLINE, so the numbers on the report are public.

How to file, and the two things that block a filing

The report is filed online through the portal linked from HPD's bedbug page. It is free. HPD says so directly and warns that some companies have been contacting owners to charge significant fees for a filing that costs nothing and asks for a handful of numbers.

Active NYC Listings

What is on the market now across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens

View All

Active

$625,000

32-86 41st Street #3D

Long Island City

1 bd 1 ba 686 sf

View Details Tour

Condo · 1900 RLS #RLS20110674

Active

$899,000

29-18 41st Avenue #5A

Long Island City

1 bd 1 ba 631 sf

View Details Tour

Condo · 2023 RLS #RLS20117792

Listing information provided courtesy of the Real Estate Board of New York's Residential Listing Service (RLS). Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Sale listings verified. ©2026 REBNY. RLS data displayed by Keller Williams NYC.

What the owner owes tenants after filing

Filing is not the last step. When submitting, the owner certifies one of two methods for getting the report to tenants, and has to follow through:

• Hand it out. Give each tenant a copy of the filing receipt when a new lease starts and with each renewal. HPD's FAQ says this applies to new or renewal leases that begin after the report was submitted.
• Or post it. Post the receipt in a prominent location in the building within 60 days of filing, and keep a record that it was posted.
• Use HPD's form. The FAQ says owners cannot make their own version of the receipt; they distribute or post the one HPD provides.
• Add the health guide. The owner must also distribute or post the Health Department's Stop Bedbugs Safely guide.

This is separate from a New York State rule that HPD points to on the same page: owners must disclose a building's bedbug history for the prior year to new tenants on the state's Bedbug Disclosure Form. For a seller with tenants in place, both belong in the file the buyer's side will ask for. The guide to selling with a tenant in place covers the rest of that file.

How the violation for a missed filing gets closed

On HPD's Dismissal Request application, the missed bedbug filing appears as order number 1507. It is listed among the violations that are not added to a reinspection "because there is no physical condition to inspect." The instruction for 1507 is to comply by going online through HPD's bedbug page and filing, and it points to the posting and distribution steps as part of compliance.

1. Check the registration first. If it is not valid, the portal will not accept the report.
2. Collect the numbers. Total units, and infested, eradicated and re-infested counts for the reporting period.
3. File online. Or on paper only if the building is registered to an individual or joint owner.
4. Distribute or post the receipt. Plus the Stop Bedbugs Safely guide, and keep a record of how you did it.
5. Confirm the status. Check HPDONLINE afterward. If the item still shows open, HPD's enforcement desk handles filing problems at the address in its FAQ.

Not the same as a bedbug violation

A missed report is a paperwork violation. An actual infestation is a different one, and it closes differently. If an HPD inspector visually confirms live bedbugs, the owner gets a Notice of Violation plus a Health Department Order of the Commissioner. That order requires inspecting the cited apartments, and if bedbugs are found, inspecting the units next to, above and below them and the common areas, and hiring a pest professional licensed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The owner closes it with HPD's certification of correction, a sworn statement that those steps were taken. The guide to HPD violation classes covers how certification and dismissal work for physical conditions like this one.

Why it matters when you sell

A missed filing sits on the same public list as every other violation, and every open item is a question to answer during a sale. This one can be answered with a filing and a posted receipt rather than a contractor. If you own a two-to-four family and are weighing a sale, the small multifamily guide shows how buyers look at these buildings, the net proceeds calculator shows what you keep, and the selling guide covers the steps from listing to closing.

This is general information, not legal advice. Filing requirements, the reporting period, the paper-filing rule, tenant notice obligations and the infestation violation process are from HPD's Bedbugs page and its Bedbug Annual Reports FAQ; order 1507 and its compliance instruction are from HPD's Dismissal Request application; the multiple dwelling definition is from HPD's Register Your Property page, all read September 23, 2026. Requirements change, so confirm current rules with HPD before relying on them.