A closed HPD violation can record an inspector who went back and saw the repair or an owner's sworn statement that the repair happened. The city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development closes most certified violations 70 days after it receives the owner's certification, whether or not anyone from the agency looked. Telling the two apart takes a minute once you know which fields to read.
Start with the building's full violation history. You can search the building's address in the lookup to get every violation with its date and status, then work through the closed lines using the checks below.
What an Owner Signs to Certify a Correction
HPD calls the filing a certification of correction. The code lets the registered owner sign it, or a registered officer or director of a corporate owner, or the registered managing agent, and HPD's form adds a box for anyone else registered as responsible. A superintendent cannot certify, and neither can the contractor who did the work.
The oath carries a limit worth noticing. The signer swears under penalty of perjury that they examined the area containing the violation and that, to their knowledge, the condition was corrected on the date they listed. The form makes them name the agents or employees who did the work, and the code requires a sworn statement from whoever performed it. Paper filings go to the borough office with a notarized signature, under a footer calling a false certification a crime. Lead-based paint and mold stay on paper; everything else can go through eCertification.
No inspector takes part in any of that. HPD's own guide warns owners that an inspection finding the condition still present invalidates the certification.
The 70-Day Clock After a Certification
Once HPD receives a certification it may audit the filing, which means sending a Housing Inspector back to look at the condition. Auditing is a choice in most cases. The code deems the violation corrected 70 days from the date HPD received the certification unless a reinspection inside that window finds the condition uncorrected. Lead-based paint and class B or C mold violations sit outside that rule and need a completed reinspection.
The 70-day close shows up in the data as a cluster. Of the 119,217 class C violations carrying a 2025 certification date that have since closed, the median took 72 days to close and 48.4% closed in a band of 72 to 74 days, logged as violation dismissed rather than violation closed. Under a quarter, 23.6%, closed inside 21 days. Measured on NYC Open Data dataset wvxf-dwi5, certification dates in calendar year 2025, retrieved October 12, 2026.
HPD records a false certification when a reinspection finds the condition still there, notifies the person who signed by registered or certified mail, sends the complainant a copy, and leaves the violation open. HPD logged 17,811 false certifications in calendar year 2025, 32% of the reinspections of certifications it completed. Owners certified 42% of the class C violations HPD issued that year, and HPD attempted a reinspection on 63% of those certifications.
The refusals accumulate on the open side of the record. As of October 12, 2026, 60,068 open HPD violations carry a status recording a certification HPD would not accept, 49,187 marked invalid certification and 10,881 marked false certification, out of 2,870,737 open violations citywide. For what each status code on a still-open violation means, the open-violation walkthrough runs the full list.
Mandatory Reinspection and HPD's Discretion
Three categories take the reinspection out of HPD's hands. Lead-based paint certifications have required one since 2004. Watchlist buildings lost the discretionary route in 2025. Self-closing door violations have carried a mandated inspection of the certification since January 1, 2023.
Self-closing doors run on a different clock. The correction period lasts 14 days from service of the notice, shorter than the correction window attached to most other conditions. HPD's self-closing door rule then obliges the agency to reinspect no later than 20 days after that period expires, in the code's words notwithstanding any submission of a certification of correction. The inspection is owed whether or not the owner filed anything. For most other common conditions, silence from the owner leaves the record open, and a certification followed by silence from HPD closes it at day 70.
Owners notice the difference. They certify about 52% of self-closing door violations and 50% of pest violations, against 30% of all other class C conditions. Self-closing doors account for 49% of every false certification HPD records; lead-based paint, the other mandatory category, comes back false on 2%.
The Certification Watchlist
Local Law 71 of 2023 built a second check for repeat offenders. By January 15 each year starting in 2025, HPD compiles and posts a list of 100 multiple dwellings where owners certified more than 20 hazardous or immediately hazardous violations as corrected in the previous calendar year and at least four of those turned out to be falsely certified. Buildings with the highest counts of false certifications go on first. Pest violations count toward neither threshold.
For the calendar year a building sits on the list, the code bars HPD from deeming any hazardous or immediately hazardous violation there corrected until it has attempted at least two reinspections. Pest violations are carved out of that rule as well, which matters because pests are the condition owners certify falsely most often. A building stays listed for one year from selection, and HPD's Certification Watchlist page sets out the criteria and carries each year's list.
The first year showed what the extra inspections turn up. Owners of the 2025 buildings certified 20,317 of the 26,905 violations HPD issued them, and of those reinspected, 7,563, or 37%, came back falsely certified against a citywide class C average of 29%. The January 15, 2026 list again names 100 buildings, 78 in the Bronx, 44 of them carried over, published as a table of addresses.
A Tenant Challenge to a Certification
HPD tells you when the owner certifies. It has to mail the complainant a copy within twelve calendar days of receipt, on a notice called the CIV-14, which offers you the option to challenge the certification by phone, by email, or by mail. A challenge makes HPD record the dispute and try to schedule an appointment so an inspector can reinspect the condition.
Few tenants use it. HPD recorded 3,701 tenant challenges in 2025, covering 1% of certified class B violations and 1% of certified class C violations. Speaking up also protects a second remedy: when you notify HPD that a violation has not been corrected and the agency does not inspect, the code gives any tenant affected by the false certification the right to ask the court for a determination of violation.
Reading a Building's Record for the Certify-and-Recur Pattern
Work through a closed violation in this order.
- Read the closing status alongside the gap between the certification date and the closing date. A line that closed as dismissed 72 to 74 days after certification went out on the deemed-corrected route; a gap under three weeks points to an inspector.
- Look for the same condition in the same apartment after that closing date.
- Count rejected certifications on the open side. Invalid certification and false certification mark filings HPD refused, and several in one building describe how the owner handles repairs.
- Check the address against the current Watchlist, where two reinspection attempts stand behind every closed hazardous violation.
The second step is the measurable one. On the 16,845 certified roach and mice violations that closed in the first half of 2024, the recurrence rate inside a year was 27.2%, and it moved little between lines that closed as dismissed, at 27.5%, and lines HPD closed itself, at 26.2%.
Read that figure with HPD's caveat attached. The agency reports that pest conditions can take many treatments and need sustained work from the owner and the tenant, so an owner can do the work, certify it in good faith, and watch the condition come back. One repeat proves nothing. A column of them in the same apartment line, or a building where HPD has refused several certifications outright, describes a problem no paperwork will close out. HPD's own report to the City Council carries the figures by condition.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Can I Tell Whether an HPD Violation Was Really Fixed?
Compare two dates on the closed line. A certification date followed by a closing date three weeks later usually means an inspector went back and recorded the repair. A certification date followed by a closing date 72 to 74 days later means the clock ran out and HPD closed the record without a finding. Then look for the same condition in the same apartment after that closing date, which is the signal that carries the most weight.
What Does Violation Status Dismissed Mean on an HPD Record?
Dismissed shows up where a violation closed without HPD recording a reinspection that contradicted the owner. The agency deems most violations corrected 70 days after it receives a certification unless a reinspection inside that window finds the condition uncorrected. Of the 119,217 class C violations with a 2025 certification date that have since closed, 48.4% closed in a band of 72 to 74 days, and those rows carry the dismissed status.
What Happens if the Condition Is Still There After the Owner Certifies?
HPD mails you a notice, the CIV-14, saying the owner has certified the repair, and you can dispute it by phone, by email, or by mailing a response using the contact details on the notice. HPD then records the challenge and tries to book an appointment so an inspector can look at the condition. Tenants filed 3,701 of these challenges in 2025, covering 1% of certified class B and class C violations.
What Does a False Certification Mean for a Tenant?
It means an inspector went back, found the condition the owner swore was corrected, and HPD recorded that finding. The agency notifies the person who signed, sends you a copy, and leaves the violation open rather than closing it, so the record keeps showing the problem. HPD logged 17,811 false certifications in calendar year 2025, 32% of the reinspections of certifications it completed. Repeat false certifications can put a building on the Certification Watchlist.
Can a Closed HPD Violation Reopen?
The closed line stays closed. What happens instead is a new violation for the same condition, which appears as its own record with its own dates. Of 16,845 roach and mice violations that carried a certification date and closed in the first half of 2024, HPD issued a fresh violation for the same pest in the same apartment within a year on 27.2% of them, with a median gap of 113 days.