HPD rates a Class C violation "immediately hazardous," and for most Class C conditions the owner has 24 hours from service to correct it. Heat and hot water violations get no time at all. That is HPD's own correction timeline. The part owners miss comes after the repair: a violation stays open on the city's record until the correction is certified to HPD or the violation is dismissed, so a condition fixed last year can still read as open today.
I started in NYC real estate in November 2001, and for 15 of those years I reviewed every deal in my office before it went out, not just my own. Most agents only know what their own deals look like. The pattern that matters here is simple: open violations are public. HPDONLINE shows them to anyone who types the address, including everyone on the other side of a sale.
This guide covers what the HPD violation classes mean, what an open Class C can cost, and the paperwork that actually closes one. If you want your building's list first, Building Check pulls open HPD and DOB violations for an address in one step.
The four letters on an HPD violation
HPD, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, enforces the city's Housing Maintenance Code and the state's Multiple Dwelling Law in residential buildings. Every Notice of Violation it issues carries a hazard class. The clock in the table below is HPD's "time owner has to correct from notice before civil penalties apply if sought in Housing Court."
| Class | HPD's label | Time to correct from service |
|---|---|---|
| A | Non-hazardous | 90 days |
| B | Hazardous | 30 days |
| C: lead-based paint, window guards, mold, mice, cockroaches, rats | Immediately hazardous | 21 days |
| C: self-closing doors | Immediately hazardous | 14 days |
| C: heat and hot water | Immediately hazardous | No time |
| All other C | Immediately hazardous | 24 hours |
| I | Orders to Repair and Vacate Orders appear with this class | Not on HPD's class timeline |
Two filings that owners forget also show up on HPD's list as orders rather than as repairs: the annual property registration and the annual bedbug report. Neither involves a physical condition. They are covered in their own guides, HPD registration and the bedbug annual report, and the first one matters more than it looks, as you will see below.
What an open Class C can cost
Local Law 71 raised HPD's civil penalties for violations issued on or after December 8, 2023. These penalties are imposed by the Housing Court when an owner fails to correct and certify, according to HPD's penalties and fees page.
| Violation, issued on or after December 8, 2023 | Civil penalty |
|---|---|
| Class A | $50 to $150, plus $25 a day |
| Class B | $75 to $500, plus $25 to $125 a day |
| Class C, 5 or fewer units | $150 to $750, plus $50 to $150 a day |
| Class C, more than 5 units | $150 to $1,200, plus $150 to $1,200 a day |
| Class C, heat and hot water | $350 to $1,250 a day; $500 to $1,500 a day for subsequent violations |
| Class C, lead-based paint hazard | $250 a day, up to $10,000 |
| Class C, self-closing doors | $250 to $500, plus $250 a day until corrected |
The daily figures are what turn a small item into a large one. The second cost is less visible. When an immediately hazardous condition is left open, HPD can correct it itself through the Emergency Repair Program and bill the property. Those Emergency Repair charges are among the debts the Department of Finance can sell in the tax lien sale, so an ignored Class C can end up as a lien. The lien sale notice guide explains that chain from the other end.
HPD can also charge inspection fees. Where it has performed two or more complaint inspections in the same apartment within twelve months, each producing a hazardous or immediately hazardous violation that has not all been certified, it may charge $200 for the third and each later inspection that finds another one.
See your building's open violations before a buyer does
Building Check reads the city's public records for one address: open HPD violations by class, open DOB violations, and the lien sale list, with what each item means and how it is cleared.
Check Your BuildingFixed is not closed: certification
This is where most open violations on a building actually come from. HPD's certification of correction is a free process, and the owner has to submit it within the timeframe printed on the Notice of Violation. Without it, the violation stays open even if the work is finished.
- How to certify. On paper, using the certification that comes with the notice, or online through eCertification. Lead-based paint, mold and pest violations cannot be certified through eCertification and follow their own forms.
- Certify only after the work is done. HPD may audit any certification, and tenants are notified when HPD receives one and can challenge it, which triggers a reinspection. A violation found uncorrected goes into False Certification status and stays open.
- False certification has its own penalty. For each immediately hazardous violation falsely certified, $500 to $1,000.
- When it closes. Except for lead-based paint, a properly certified violation is deemed complied and closed 70 days from HPD's receipt of the certification, unless a reinspection within that period finds it still uncorrected.
If the building has tenants, that tenant notice is worth planning around. The guide to selling with a tenant in place covers access and timing, which matter just as much when an inspector needs to get into an apartment.
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When the deadline already passed: the Dismissal Request
A violation that was not certified on time, or was found falsely certified, generally needs a reinspection before HPD will dismiss it. The owner applies for that reinspection with a Dismissal Request, and the details on HPD's form are the ones a seller should plan a calendar around.
| Dwelling classification | Dismissal Request fee |
|---|---|
| Private dwelling (1 to 2 units), or a single co-op or condo apartment | $250 |
| Multiple dwelling (3+ units), 1 to 300 open violations | $300 |
| Multiple dwelling, 301 to 500 open violations | $400 |
| Multiple dwelling, 501 or more open violations | $500 |
The season changes the wait
HPD says it will use its best efforts to inspect within 45 business days of receiving a Dismissal Request submitted between June 1 and September 30, and within 90 business days for one submitted between October 1 and May 31. A request filed in the fall can take roughly twice as long to reach an inspection as one filed in the summer. If you are thinking about listing in the spring, the request belongs on the calendar well before then.
Two more lines on the form deserve attention. The inspector also checks for basic health and safety conditions and may issue new violations during the visit. And HPD may reject the request outright when the building has no current, valid property registration.
There are two cheaper exits. Lead-based paint, mold and pest violations that HPD has already reinspected and found physically corrected, but that show a "Defect" status, can be closed through a free documentation submission. And HPD's Violation Reissuance program lets owners of certain buildings certify old violations by new dates; the application lists which buildings and which violations qualify.
DOB violations are a separate list
The Department of Buildings keeps its own violations, for conditions that do not meet the Building Code or Zoning Resolution. According to DOB, removing one means correcting the condition, giving proof of the correction to the unit that issued it, and paying any applicable DOB civil penalty. DOB's Buildings Information System shows open violations without an asterisk and dismissed ones with an asterisk. Boiler, elevator, facade and fire safety violations each follow their own DOB instructions.
The order to work in before you list
- Pull the list. Run the address through Building Check or HPDONLINE, and note each open item's class and date.
- Confirm the registration is valid. Without a valid registration HPD will not accept a certification or a Dismissal Request, so this comes before everything else.
- Correct the Class C items first. They carry the shortest clocks and the largest daily penalties. Certify each one inside its window.
- Sort the older items. Certification where the window is still open, a Dismissal Request where it is not, and documentation for lead, mold and pest items in "Defect" status.
- Clear the paperwork orders. The bedbug report and the registration have no physical condition behind them, so they are the fastest items to close.
- Handle DOB separately. Different agency, different proof, different unit.
- Check for Emergency Repair charges. Unpaid ones can reach the lien sale list.
Once the record is where you want it, the money side is the next question. The seller closing costs guide and the net proceeds calculator show what you keep, a home valuation sets the starting price, and the ACRIS guide covers the deed and mortgage side of the public record.
Selling a building with open violations?
Milton Coste, Licensed Real Estate Associate Broker, Keller Williams NYC, in NYC real estate since November 2001. Run the check, then ask for a written plan: which items to clear first, who handles each one, and how they affect your price and timing.
Check Your BuildingThis is general information, not legal advice. Correction timelines, certification rules, and the class definitions are from HPD's Clear Violations page; civil penalties, the 70-day closing rule, false certification penalties and inspection fees are from HPD's Penalties and Fees page; Dismissal Request fees and inspection windows are from HPD's Dismissal Request application; DOB removal steps are from DOB's Violations page; and Emergency Repair charges in the lien sale are from the Department of Finance's lien sale page, all read September 23, 2026. Fees and procedures change, so confirm current requirements with the agency and a New York real estate attorney before relying on them.
