Reference
Every NYC agency that regulates your building
Local Laws tell you what to do; these are the agencies that enforce them. Here’s who regulates NYC buildings, what each one covers, and where to look up your records — with the agencies NYC Building Compliance monitors live clearly marked.
DOB Live lookup
Department of Buildings
The lead building regulator — construction, permits, occupancy, and most building-safety Local Laws.
What it regulates →HPD Live lookup
Housing Preservation & Development
The housing regulator — maintenance-code violations, registration, heat and hot water, and lead.
What it regulates →FDNY Live lookup
Fire Department
The fire-code regulator — inspections, Certificates of Fitness, fire-protection systems, and fire violations.
What it regulates →DEP Live via OATH
Department of Environmental Protection
Water and sewer, backflow prevention, asbestos, boiler emissions, industrial air, and the noise code.
What it regulates →DSNY Live via OATH
Department of Sanitation
Trash and recycling rules, set-out times, commercial carting, and dirty-sidewalk / failure-to-clean summonses.
What it regulates →DOHMH Live via OATH
Health & Mental Hygiene
Cooling-tower / Legionella rules, rodent (rat) inspections, food-service permits and grades, and childcare.
What it regulates →DOF
Department of Finance
Property tax and assessments, deed and mortgage records (ACRIS), and tax abatements and exemptions.
What it regulates →DOT Live via OATH
Department of Transportation
Sidewalk sheds and scaffolding permits, sidewalk repair, vaults, canopies, and street-opening permits.
What it regulates →LPC
Landmarks Preservation Commission
If your building is a landmark or in a historic district, exterior work needs LPC approval before DOB.
What it regulates →OATH Live lookup
OATH / Environmental Control Board
The city’s tribunal — where summonses from DOB, DSNY, DOT, DEP, DOHMH, FDNY and more are heard and penalized.
What it regulates →DCWP Live via OATH
Consumer & Worker Protection
Licenses businesses that operate at an address and enforces licensing and consumer-protection summonses.
What it regulates →DCP
Department of City Planning
Writes the Zoning Resolution — the use, bulk, height, and parking rules that shape what you can build. DOB enforces it.
What it regulates →Loft Board
NYC Loft Board
Governs Interim Multiple Dwellings (former manufacturing lofts converted to residences) under the Loft Law.
What it regulates →DHCR
NYS Homes & Community Renewal
The State agency behind rent stabilization and rent control — annual rent registration, filings, and tenant complaints.
What it regulates →LL97 Office
Office of Building Energy & Emissions Performance
The office that administers Local Law 97 and the city’s building-decarbonization mandate.
What it regulates →OSE
Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement
Enforces the rules on illegal short-term rentals (Local Law 18 registration) and illegal hotel/transient use of residential buildings.
What it regulates →BSA
Board of Standards & Appeals
Grants zoning variances and special permits, and hears appeals of DOB and FDNY determinations.
What it regulates →Tax Commission
NYC Tax Commission
The independent agency where owners challenge the Department of Finance’s property-tax assessment.
What it regulates →RGB
Rent Guidelines Board
Sets the annual percentage by which rent-stabilized leases may be increased.
What it regulates →OER
Office of Environmental Remediation
Runs voluntary cleanup and (E)-designation programs for building sites with potential soil or groundwater contamination.
What it regulates →Beyond the City
A few non-City bodies also affect NYC buildings: NY State HCR/DHCR (rent regulation, above), NYSERDA (state energy-efficiency incentives that help fund Local Law 97 work), FEMA (flood-zone maps and flood-insurance requirements for buildings in special flood hazard areas), and HUD / EPA (federal fair-housing, and the EPA Renovation-Repair-Painting lead rule that overlaps NYC’s lead law). These have no per-building NYC open-data feed, so NYC Building Compliance points to their official resources rather than pulling live data.
Skip the agency maze.
Enter your address and we’ll pull obligations and violations across agencies for you.
Frequently asked questions
How many agencies regulate a NYC building?
More than a dozen touch buildings — DOB, HPD, FDNY, DEP, DSNY, DOHMH, DOF, DOT, LPC, OATH, the Loft Board, and the State’s DHCR for rent-regulated buildings, among others. Which apply depends on your building’s size, use, location, and systems.
Where are most NYC building fines decided?
At OATH (through the Environmental Control Board tribunal), which adjudicates summonses from DOB, DSNY, DOT, DEP, DOHMH, FDNY and more. Missing an OATH hearing usually means a maximum default penalty.
Which agencies does NYC Building Compliance pull live?
The compliance profile and violation lookup pull live DOB, ECB/OATH, and HPD violations by your building’s BBL and BIN. The other agencies are covered as guides with links to their official lookup portals.