Do ECB/OATH Fines and HPD Charges Follow a NYC Property to the New Owner?

It depends on what the debt has become. In New York City, an unpaid OATH/ECB fine is usually a personal money judgment against whoever was named in the summons, and it stays with that person after a sale. Two kinds of charges do stay with the building:

Emergency repair charges and Alternative Enforcement Program (AEP) charges from HPD, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, billed through the Department of Finance (DOF)
Certain fines from DOB, the Department of Buildings, that the law turns into tax liens

Separately, the violation itself, meaning the physical problem, belongs to the building, whoever owes the fine.

OATH is the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, the City’s administrative court that decides summonses. It took over from the Environmental Control Board (ECB), and the name “ECB” stuck. This guide covers the five boroughs. It walks through four situations: an ordinary sale, buying from a bank, buying at a foreclosure auction, and properties caught up in the City’s tax lien sale. For what each agency’s violations are and how they are cleared at closing, see NYC property violations at closing.

Three separate questions

Every OATH/ECB or HPD item on a search raises three questions, and the answers can differ.

Who owes the money? An ECB fine becomes a judgment against the person or company named in the summons. Under the City Charter, a final penalty order “shall constitute a judgment” that can be entered in court and collected like any money judgment. It lasts eight years. OATH enters these judgments in the NYC Civil Court (2025 court decision). Who is liable is fixed when the violation is written. In a November 20, 2025 OATH appeals decision, a seller was held liable for violations written on the closing day, because it had not shown the deed was handed over before the violations were issued. The appeals board also said an owner cannot shift that responsibility by private contract.

Is it a lien on the building? A lien is a debt attached to the property. A judgment against a person becomes a lien on that person’s real estate only once it is entered (docketed) with the county clerk where the property is (state law). No City source says how OATH judgments reach the county clerks. But title companies treat them as liens. One title insurer tells its agents that the City keeps a citywide ECB judgment index at every NYC county clerk’s office. It treats an ECB judgment entered against the owner’s name in any NYC county as a lien on the property being insured. Its guidelines also describe ECB judgments as personal, enforceable “on ANY property owned by that individual,” not tied to one building. That is one insurer’s guidance, not law.

The result: an ECB judgment entered against a seller while the seller owned the building is handled like any other judgment against the seller. One against an earlier owner is examined like any earlier-owner judgment.

Two kinds of charges are liens on the building by law:

Converted DOB fines. Under a 2017 City law, an ECB judgment against an owner for a Building Code violation “shall constitute a tax lien on the property named in the violation” for: small buildings (three or fewer units, or private homes); illegal conversions adding three or more units; residential buildings of 6 to 19 units once judgments total $30,000; and buildings of 20 or more units, or with non-residential space, once judgments total $60,000. Converted judgments appear on the property tax bill.
HPD repair charges. Any HPD repair charge “billed by DOF and is past due and unpaid for, constitutes a tax lien against the property” (HPD, Emergency Repair Program). HPD lists AEP charges among those billed the same way.

Who has to fix the problem? The current owner. DOB says “property owners must correct the issues listed in the DOB violation.” ECB violations stay open in BIS, DOB’s Buildings Information System, until DOB approves a Certificate of Correction, its filing showing the fix (DOB, Resolving Violations tool kit). For apartment buildings, state law makes the owner keep the building in good repair. You take the building with its open violations. Any new summons for a problem that continues after closing is written against whoever owns it then.

The four situations at a glance

Open violations and the old owner’s ECB judgment:

Situation	Open violation	Old owner’s ECB judgment
Ordinary sale	Buyer fixes	Seller’s debt; paid at closing
Buying from a bank	Buyer fixes	Usually cut off, or old owner’s
Foreclosure auction	Bidder fixes	Cut off if the City was named
Lien was sold	Buyer fixes	Not listed in the sale

City charges that are liens:

Situation	Converted DOB tax lien	HPD repair or AEP charge
Ordinary sale	Paid at closing	Paid at closing
Buying from a bank	Bank pays or credits	Bank pays or credits
Foreclosure auction	Paid from sale money	Paid from sale money
Lien was sold	Check DOF	Owed to the lien holder

Ordinary sale

The title company searches for judgments against the seller. An ECB judgment against the seller shows up as an exception in the title report (an item the policy will not cover unless it is cleared). It is paid from the seller’s money at closing, with proof of payment from DOF (DOF, ECB Debt Information). After the deed is handed over, a judgment against the seller does not become your personal debt.

Tax liens are different. A converted DOB fine or a past-due HPD repair charge sits on the DOF property account and is paid at closing like taxes. Charges for recent HPD work can post after the search. So one title insurer’s standard exceptions also list emergency repair liens that “may have attached” but are not yet on record. That insurer also requires the seller’s sworn statement (affidavit) about City work at the property. HPD will give a payoff figure for charges not yet sent to DOF.

The real trap is the violation, not the fine. For DOB work-without-a-permit summonses, penalties must be paid or waived before DOB approves a Certificate of Correction (DOB, What is an OATH Summons?). If you later need that violation cleared, for a permit sign-off or a refinance, you may end up paying a penalty the seller owed. Who pays, or whether money is held in escrow, can be settled in the contract.

Two programs can lower the bill:

DOF’s settlement program lets a “payor” other than the person named take part.
The temporary Debt Demolisher amnesty opened October 13, 2026. It reduces eligible judgments entered by July 15, 2026, but not those already turned into tax liens. Full payment is due by January 10, 2027.

Buying from a bank (REO)

REO (“real estate owned”) is a property a lender took back and is now selling. The borrower’s ECB judgments are judgments against the borrower, not the bank. If one was a lien while the borrower owned the property, it ranked behind the mortgage unless it was entered before the mortgage was recorded. Lower-ranked lien holders must be named in the foreclosure case, and if they were, the sale wipes out their liens. A lien that was not wiped out is a question for the title company. That happens when the holder was never named, or when the lender took a deed from the borrower instead of foreclosing.

Tax liens survive and come first. Converted DOB fines and HPD repair or AEP charges on the DOF account must be paid at or before the closing. Many bank sale contracts are “as is” and put violation repairs on the buyer. Check whether the contract also puts unpaid City charges on you.

Buying at a foreclosure auction

At a foreclosure auction, a court-appointed referee sells the property and signs the deed. By state law, the referee pays from the sale money “all taxes, assessments, and water rates which are liens upon the property sold.” In New York City, the referee also pays “any liens or incumbrances placed by a city agency” that rank ahead of the foreclosed mortgage. That covers HPD repair and AEP tax liens and converted DOB tax liens.

The court’s standard forms follow this. The property is sold “as is,” subject to building and zoning rules and possible violations, and to earlier recorded liens “except those liens addressed in” that law (Kings County form judgment; Queens form). The posted Terms of Sale can add more, so read them before bidding.

So the winning bidder buys every open DOB and HPD violation. The defaulted owner’s ECB judgments are personal debts. A judgment lien entered after the mortgage is wiped out if the City was named in the case, or if it was entered after the notice of pendency (the filed notice that the foreclosure affects the property). A lien that ranks ahead of the mortgage, or a lower one whose holder was left out of the case, is the buyer’s risk. See liens that survive a foreclosure sale and the pre-auction lien check.

When the lien was sold

The City’s tax lien sale has covered property taxes, water and sewer charges, and “Emergency Repair and Alternate Enforcement charges,” with interest and fees. Once sold, the charge is owed to the lien holder with a 5% surcharge plus interest and fees, and the holder can foreclose. You get the payoff from the lien holder, not DOF. ECB judgments are not listed among the charges sold, and DOF has not said whether converted DOB tax liens are included. For the current status of the sale (none expected in 2026), see checking NYC violations before contract.

What to do

Search the OATH Summons Finder by the address and the seller’s exact name. Check the DOF property account for converted liens and HPD charges.
In the contract, decide who pays penalties tied to open DOB violations, even where the judgment is the seller’s.
Ask for the seller’s affidavit on City work and an HPD payoff for recent repairs.
After closing, register the building with HPD if required. Only owners listed on a current registration can certify that HPD violations were fixed (HPD, Register Your Property).

If a violation turns up after closing, see DOB violation found after closing.

Details for attorneys and title professionals

How judgments become liens on real estate. Under state law on judgments, a judgment binds the debtor’s real property once docketed with the clerk of the county where it sits. A Civil Court judgment reaches the county clerk’s docket by filing a transcript. No City source confirms that OATH files transcripts for ECB judgments; title practice relies on the insurer bulletin described above.
The 2025 decisions. The 2025 trial-court decision is the source for OATH entering its judgments in the NYC Civil Court. The OATH appeals decision turned on the seller’s failure to prove the deed was delivered before the violations were written.
Bank sales. Junior lienholders must be made parties to the foreclosure. The same insurer requires a full review of the foreclosure file for any transfer out of foreclosure, including lapses in the notice of pendency and judgments that attached during a lapse.
Exceptions to tax lien conversion. The 2017 law does not convert a judgment into a tax lien where: the City took the property through its own foreclosure for unpaid taxes (called in rem) and transferred it within five years; a court appointed an administrator in an HPD proceeding; or HPD or the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) closed a rehabilitation loan within five years before the judgment. These matter to investors buying from the City’s in rem pipeline.

Official sources

Korvane Title is preparing to launch in New York. It is not licensed as a title insurance agent and does not accept title orders. Content on this site is general information, not legal advice.