NYC Property Violations at Closing: DOB, OATH/ECB and HPD Explained

An open building violation does not automatically stop a New York City closing. What matters is whether the item is a lien, a money claim against the property or the owner that the title company must clear or list as an exception, or information only, a record of a condition that the title company reports but does not insure. Most building and housing violations are information only. Unpaid OATH penalties and HPD emergency repair bills can be liens.

This guide covers the five boroughs only. Westchester and the rest of New York State handle permits and violations through local building departments; see open permits and COs at a Westchester closing.

The three City agencies

DOB, the Department of Buildings, enforces the building and zoning rules. It issues its own violations. It also writes summonses that are decided at OATH.
OATH, the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, is the City’s administrative court. It took over the hearings once held by the Environmental Control Board (ECB). That is why title reports and City pages still say “OATH ECB” or just “ECB.” OATH does not inspect buildings. It decides summonses written by DOB, the Fire Department, Sanitation, Environmental Protection and other agencies, and sets penalties.
HPD, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, enforces the housing code in residential buildings. It issues Class A, B and C violations. If an owner does not fix a hazardous condition, HPD can do the repair itself through its Emergency Repair Program and bill the property.

One problem can show up in more than one place. An illegal conversion, for example, can appear as a DOB violation, an OATH summons with a penalty, and an HPD violation.

Which items are liens

The Department of Finance (DOF) is the City office that collects these debts.

Record	Is it a lien?	How it gets cleared
DOB violation	No	Fix the condition, send proof to the DOB unit that issued it, and pay any DOB penalty
Missing or mismatched CO	No	Get a CO, letter of no objection or amended CO from DOB; otherwise it is a contract or lender issue, not a title item
OATH summons, not yet decided	Not yet	Go to the hearing or fix the condition; for a DOB summons, file a Certificate of Correction
Unpaid OATH penalty	Judgment against the person	Pay or settle through DOF and get proof of payment; paying does not close the DOB violation
DOB judgment made a tax lien	Tax lien	Pay through DOF before or at closing
HPD violation (Class A, B, C)	No	Fix it and certify the fix to HPD; if certified late or falsely, request a reinspection
HPD emergency repair charge	Tax lien once past due	Pay through DOF; get a payoff from HPD for charges still pending

A CO, or certificate of occupancy, is DOB’s record of a building’s legal use and number of units.

DOB violations and CO problems: reported, not insured

Your title report includes a set of City searches: DOB violations, certificate of occupancy, HPD, fire, street and highway, among others. These are returned for your information. One title insurer’s New York guidelines for agents (2022) describe them this way: apart from the tax, water and sewer, bankruptcy and Patriot searches, which are always required, these searches are “for information only,” are not insured, and are not part of the title commitment. That is insurer guidance, not law, but it reflects how NYC title reports are generally prepared.

So the title company will not remove or insure over an open DOB violation or CO problem. It will close over it. Whether you accept it as a buyer is decided by the contract of sale and, if you have a loan, by the lender. These are contract and lender issues, not title defects.

One related item can be a lien. DOB can charge for inspections and services, and some of those charges can become liens. The same insurer therefore requires a sworn statement (an affidavit) about whether such charges exist. Sellers should expect to sign one at closing.

To remove a DOB violation from the record, DOB says the condition must be fixed, proof sent to the unit that issued it, and any DOB civil penalty paid. Boilers, elevators, facades and some other categories have their own procedures.

OATH/ECB summonses: from penalty to judgment to lien

A summons is not a lien. It is a charge to be decided at an OATH hearing. The person named can attend the hearing, fix the condition where allowed, or pay. If they do nothing, they get a default penalty, which DOB says can reach $25,000 depending on the violation.

An unpaid penalty becomes a judgment. Under the City Charter, a final penalty order, after a hearing or by default, counts as a judgment. It can be enforced like any money judgment without a new lawsuit, and it lasts eight years. DOF collects these judgments.

The judgment follows the person, not the building. The insurer guidelines treat an ECB judgment as a personal debt of the owner named in it. It can be enforced against any property that owner holds, not only the building in the summons, for eight years from entry. So a judgment against the seller is handled like any other judgment against the seller. It appears as an exception in the title report (an item the policy will not cover unless it is cleared), and the title company expects it to be paid or otherwise resolved at closing. A judgment against a former owner or a tenant is a different question, and the title company will look at who is named.

Some DOB judgments become tax liens on the building. A 2017 City law turns an ECB judgment against an owner for a Building Code violation into a tax lien on the building for these kinds of property:

Private homes and buildings with three or fewer units
Illegal conversions that add three or more units beyond what the CO allows
Residential buildings with 6 to 19 units, once judgments total $30,000 or more
Buildings with 20 or more units, or with any non-residential space, once judgments total $60,000 or more

Certain exceptions tied to HPD programs apply. Once converted, the amount appears on the DOF property tax bill and is paid like any other tax.

Outside those categories, an ECB judgment is a personal debt, not a tax lien. In a March 31, 2026 press release, DOF listed “converting DOB-issued ECB judgments into property liens” among its collection plans, without saying which judgments or when. So the DOF property account is worth checking even when a judgment seems to fall outside these categories.

Paying does not close the violation. For a summons written by DOB, the violation stays open until OATH dismisses it at a hearing or DOB approves a Certificate of Correction. That is a filing showing the problem was fixed. It is made in DOB NOW: Safety, DOB’s newer online filing system. For Work Without a Permit summonses, the penalty must be paid or waived before DOB approves the certificate. If the OATH record says “paid,” expect the DOB violation to still show as open in BIS, DOB’s older Buildings Information System, unless a Certificate of Correction was approved.

HPD violations and emergency repair charges

HPD violations are not liens. They record housing code conditions. HPD gives owners these times to fix them:

Class A, not hazardous: 90 days
Class B, hazardous: 30 days
Class C, immediately hazardous: 24 hours for most conditions, longer for items such as lead paint, mold and pests

The owner fixes the condition and certifies the fix to HPD. If the certification was late or failed an audit, the owner needs a Dismissal Request reinspection, which carries a fee. Since July 1, 2026, Dismissal Requests go to HPD’s Central Violation Administration Unit at 345 Adams Street, Brooklyn.

Emergency repair charges are liens. When HPD or its contractor makes an emergency repair, the City bills the cost and fees through DOF, and the charge appears on the property tax bill. An unpaid, past-due charge “constitutes a tax lien against the property,” earns interest, and can be sold or foreclosed on. While charges are pending, HPD will not accept certifications or Dismissal Requests.

These charges show up in the title report’s emergency repair search and, once sent to DOF, in the tax search. Recent charges may not be on record yet. So the insurer’s guidelines list them as an exception, and the seller signs an affidavit about City work done at the property.

Two other HPD items are true title matters: HPD relocation liens, which need a payoff from HPD to close, and unsafe-building lawsuit notices (lis pendens), which are excepted or cancelled with HPD’s consent.

What happens at closing

Liens get paid or bonded off (covered by a bond instead of a payment). Tax liens from emergency repairs or converted DOB judgments are paid from the seller’s money at closing, using a current DOF balance. ECB judgments against the seller are paid through DOF. Proof of payment includes the “Notification of ECB Payment” letter from DOF e-Services, DOF’s online account system. DOF also offers settlements on some judgments.

Violations are negotiated, not cleared by the title company. Open DOB and HPD violations stay on the record after closing. Buyer and seller decide, in the contract or at the closing, whether the seller fixes them first, gives a credit, or leaves money in escrow.

Money held back (escrow) is a common tool. When an amount is uncertain or a fix is under way, the closing attorney or title company may hold part of the seller’s money until a payment or fix is confirmed. The parties set the amount and release terms; for lien items, so does the title insurer. There is no amount set by law for violations.

Example (hypothetical). You are buying a two-family house in Queens. The City searches show:

An open DOB violation for work without a permit
A related OATH summons with a $6,000 default penalty, entered as a judgment against the seller
Two open Class B HPD violations

The title report excepts the ECB judgment, and it is paid from the seller’s money at closing. Because the house has three or fewer units, this kind of judgment can be turned into a tax lien, so the closer also checks the DOF account. The DOB and HPD violations stay open after closing unless the contract required the seller to fix them. If your attorney negotiated a holdback, it is released once DOB approves a Certificate of Correction and HPD shows the violations certified.

Where to check each record

DOB violations, CO, permits: the property profile in BIS; DOB NOW for newer filings and Certificate of Correction status
OATH summonses, hearing results, amounts due: OATH Summons Finder, by name, address or summons number
ECB judgments, payment proof, settlements: DOF ECB Debt Information and DOF e-Services / CityPay
HPD violations and orders: HPDONLINE, by address (HPD, Clear Violations)
Emergency repair charges and converted tax liens: the DOF property account, “Account Balance” (HPD, ERP)

These public lookups are useful early, before the title report arrives. They do not replace the title company’s searches, and none of them is insured. For how the parties divide this work, see who does what at a New York closing.

Details for attorneys and title professionals

Where each item appears in the title report. DOB violations: the departmental (municipal) search, information only. CO: the CO search, often noting that no CO is on file or that the use differs from the CO. Open OATH summons: the departmental and ECB searches. Unpaid ECB judgment: its own exception in the list of exceptions (Schedule B), plus judgment searches against the owner’s name. Converted DOB judgment and past-due emergency repair charges: the DOF tax search or statement of account. HPD violations: the HPD violation search. Emergency repair charges: the emergency repair search.
Where a judgment can be entered. The City Charter lets a final OATH penalty order be entered in the Civil Court of the City of New York or anywhere else in the state where civil judgments are entered.
Releasing money held back. The insurer guidelines cited here release escrowed funds only on a payment receipt or a later search (continuation search) showing the item cleared.
Certificates of Correction. These are filed in DOB NOW: Safety under Violations & Notices of Deficiency. The old paper AEU2 forms are no longer required.

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.