10 Warning Signs of a High-Risk NYC Building

Before signing a lease, check the building's open violations, repeat heat complaints, pest findings and vacate orders. Those records can reveal problems you may not see on a tour. A property with eight or more open Class C violations, for example, falls in the worst tenth by that count among the 172,485 residential lots we checked.

Method Behind the Thresholds

The universe is every tax lot in the Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output file, PLUTO, dataset 64uk-42ks, with three or more residential units, joined by borough, block and lot to HPD's violations, complaints and housing court cases, DOB violations, evictions, bed bug reports and vacate orders. Every threshold below carries the share of buildings reaching it, counted across all 172,485 lots including those scoring zero. A threshold called the worst tenth is reached by between 9% and 11% of buildings.

Citywide grouped queries time out on the violation file, so each metric ran one query per borough and the chunks were summed. HPD's open violations sit on 166,038 distinct building ids but 159,069 block and lot pairs, a 4.4% gap from lots holding more than one building.

One limit applies to all ten signs. Every record is a report, so it reflects what was reported, not what is true in the apartment you stand in.

The Ten Signs at a Glance

Each row gives the dataset, the citywide normal, and the red flag cut with the share of buildings that reach it.

Open Violations Against the Apartment Count

Class C means immediately hazardous, and the correction clock is 24 hours for some of those conditions but not for most. Lead paint, window guards, mold and vermin get 21 days, self-closing doors 14, and heat and hot water no grace period at all. Of the 581,999 open Class C violations citywide, 316,817, or 54.4%, sit in the 14-day or 21-day groups.

Across these lots, 2,298,734 violations of any class sit open, 80.1 per 100 apartments, and 506,130 are Class C, 17.6 per 100. The median building carries two open violations and zero Class C, while 41.2% have nothing open and 66.2% no open Class C.

Thirty-four or more open violations reaches the worst tenth at 10.1% of buildings, and 8 or more Class C at 10.1%. Sixty of any class and 15 Class C are the worst 5%; 154 and 43 are the worst 1%, and the highest single lot carries 806 Class C. Size-adjusted, 0.75 open Class C per apartment is the worst tenth at 10.5%.

Age adds little. There are 379,220 Class C violations open with a deadline more than a year past, and 6 or more reaches 10.6% of buildings, but that is not a second sign: 89.8% of every open violation is already past its correct-by date, so the overdue flag lands on almost the same buildings as the count. Self-closing doors and pests dominate the Class C mix citywide, so read the descriptions not the total. The limit: a violation stays open until the owner certifies the repair, so the count includes conditions already fixed but never signed off.

Heat Complaints in Two Seasons Running

Heat season runs October 1 to May 31, with a 68 degree minimum indoors between 6am and 10pm when it is below 55 outside, 62 overnight, and hot water at 120 all year. Tenants filed 340,196 heat and hot water complaints with HPD in the 2025-26 season and 279,188 in 2024-25.

In a single season 17.5% of buildings pick up at least one complaint, and many of those are one bad week during a cold snap. The signal is repetition. Complaints in both seasons reaches the worst tenth at 10.5% of buildings, and three or more in both seasons narrows to 5.7%. A building's heat complaint record carries a received date and a status for each call, so you can separate one failure from two bad winters. The limit: tenants who stopped calling leave no trace.

Complaints From Three or More Apartments

A single complaining apartment can be one apartment's problem. Three separate apartments point at the building. HPD records an apartment number on apartment-level complaints, so you can count distinct units rather than repeat calls.

Over the 12 months to September 25, 2026, 210,501 distinct apartments filed a complaint citywide. Three quarters of buildings, 74.3%, had none. Three or more different apartments reaches 11.3% of buildings, a little wider than a true tenth, and six or more narrows to 5.4%. The limit: complaints about a lobby or a boiler carry no apartment number and drop out of this count, so the measure understates buildings where the shared systems are the problem.

Open Class C Pest Violations

Roach, mouse and rat infestations are Class C violations with a 21-day correction window rather than 24 hours. There are 141,580 open on these lots.

Most buildings are clean: 85.5% have none. Two or more reaches the worst tenth at 10.3%, five or more the worst 5% at 4.9%, and 17 or more the worst 1% at 1.0%. Two open pest violations means two separate infestation findings still on the record. The limit: an open pest violation says an inspector found an infestation on the day of the visit, not that it is still there, and buildings treated without an inspection never appear.

Lead Paint Violations in Pre-1960 Buildings

Lead paint is the one sign where the building's age changes what the number means, so it is measured against pre-1960 buildings alone. Of the 172,485 lots, 126,937 predate 1960, and 14.1% of those carry an open Class C lead violation, against 2.6% of buildings from 1960 onward.

Inside that older stock, 85.9% have none. Two or more open lead violations reaches the worst tenth of pre-1960 buildings at 10.2%, five or more the worst 5% at 5.0%, and 15 or more the worst 1% at 1.0%. With a child under six, this is the record to read line by line. The limit: the lead category mixes hazards an inspector found with an owner's failure to notify, investigate or keep records under Local Law 1 of 2004, so the count measures the paperwork and the paint together.

Bed Bug Filings That Report Infested Apartments

Owners of buildings with three or more apartments file an annual bed bug report with HPD. The most recent complete period runs November 1, 2024 to October 31, 2025 and holds 115,014 filings. In 97.4% of them the owner reported zero infested apartments.

Any reported infestation is unusual, so this is a stricter cut than a tenth. Only 1.5% of buildings reported an infested apartment and 0.2% one treated and then re-infested: 6,952 infested apartments and 1,011 re-infested across the city. Owners file once a year, so a building's bed bug history is a run of annual snapshots rather than a live status, and the re-infested line is the one that matters, because the treatment failed. The limit: the owner writes the numbers, so 97.4% zeros is a filing pattern as much as a pest count.

An Unrescinded Vacate Order

A vacate order is the city telling people to leave, either part of a building or all of it. There are 4,526 orders never rescinded, 609 covering an entire building, and they cover 10,638 apartments citywide. Like the bed bug sign this is a rarity cut, not a tenth: 1.4% of buildings in the universe carry one, covering 7,770 apartments.

Across the file, 2,437 live orders were issued for illegal occupancy, 1,720 for fire damage and 369 for habitability, and 568 took effect during 2026. The illegal occupancy group matters most to a renter, because those orders cover cellars, attics and partitioned rooms let out as homes the certificate of occupancy does not allow. The limit: the record stays open until an inspector rescinds it, so an old order can outlive the condition.

Executed Evictions Over Five Years

The evictions file records marshal-executed evictions only, from 2017 onward. Over the five years to September 25, 2026, marshals executed 61,372 residential evictions, 3,746 of them with no usable lot number in the file.

Most buildings never appear: 88.7% have none in five years. One executed eviction reaches 11.3%, a little wider than a true tenth, and two or more is the worst 5% at 5.3%. Read it as a signal about the owner, and against size: a 200-unit building with two evictions is not a six-unit building with two. The limit: nothing counts cases that settled or tenants who left before the marshal arrived, so the file is a floor.

Active DOB Violations and Work Without Permit

The Department of Buildings tracks the structure, not the housekeeping, and its file holds 576,224 active violations. Two thirds of buildings, 68.3%, have none. Five or more reaches the worst tenth at 9.8%, nine or more the worst 5% at 5.0%, and 22 or more the worst 1% at 1.1%.

Two categories inside it are rare enough to be flags on their own. Active work-without-permit violations number 12,969 citywide and touch 1.6% of buildings: somebody altered the building and DOB caught it. Active unsafe-building violations number 1,853 and touch 0.2%. With either on the address, ask what the work was. The limit: DOB violations cover paperwork such as missed boiler and elevator filings alongside physical defects, so the total needs reading by type.

A Housing Court Case Against the Owner

HPD's housing litigation file lists housing court cases over building conditions, whether a tenant brought them or the city did. Over the five years to September 25, 2026 it holds 50,787 cases across 23,740 addresses: 24,299 tenant actions, 10,852 harassment cases and 10,397 heat and hot water cases.

Nine buildings in ten, 89.7%, have no case in five years. One case reaches the worst tenth at 10.3%, two or more the worst 5% at 4.9%, and five or more the worst 1% at 1.2%. A judgment against the owner is rarer: 946 cases ended that way, on 0.3% of buildings. Only 51% of the buildings this flags also sit in the worst tenth by Class C count, which is why it earns its own line. The limit: the file records that a case was filed, not who was right, and 86.9% of the cases are already closed.

The City's Own Worst-Case Benchmark

On February 9, 2026 HPD published the 19th round of its Alternative Enforcement Program, the city's list of the most distressed buildings in New York. The round covers 250 buildings holding 7,038 homes and 54,909 open housing code violations, with owners owing the city nearly $4.5 million for emergency repairs HPD already carried out.

Those 250 buildings average 780 open violations per 100 apartments, against 80.1 per 100 across all buildings with three or more apartments. That is the ceiling of the distribution. HPD selects on the number of Class B and Class C violations and the dollar value of emergency repair charges, and to leave inside four months an owner has to clear every heat and hot water violation, every Class C mold violation and at least 80% of the Class B violations.

Reading the Numbers Before You Sign

Pull the record first, then decide. You can look up any NYC address and see HPD violations by class and status, complaints, DOB violations, permits, evictions and bed bug records in one place, with no login. Ask the agent about anything in the worst tenth.

If you already live in the building, the records are the start of a repair case rather than a reason to move. The Legal Aid Society's repair rights guidance sets out the sequence: report the condition to 311 so an inspector creates a record, then file an HP action in housing court if the owner does not act. These ten checks sit alongside the rest of the checks before signing an NYC lease, most of them done with your eyes.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many HPD violations is too many?

Judge it against the city and against the building's size. The median NYC building with three or more apartments carries two open violations, and 41.2% carry none. Thirty-four or more reaches the worst tenth and 154 or more the worst 1%. For immediately hazardous Class C violations the median is zero, 8 or more reaches the worst tenth and 43 or more the worst 1%.

How do I find out about building violations before signing a lease?

Look them up yourself. HPD violations and complaints, DOB violations, housing court cases, executed evictions and the annual bed bug filings are all public records tied to the address, so you can read them before viewing the apartment. Note the status of each violation as well as the count, since a violation closed three years ago reads differently from one that has been open for three years.

What is the difference between an open and a closed violation?

Open means HPD has not confirmed the repair. The owner either never fixed the condition or fixed it and never filed the certification, and the record looks identical either way. Of every open HPD violation we counted, 89.8% are already past their correct-by date, so an open status alone is weak evidence. The count of open Class C violations carries more weight than their age.

Should a single vacate order rule out a building?

Treat it as a question rather than a verdict. Only 1.4% of buildings carry an unrescinded vacate order, but 2,437 of the 4,526 live orders citywide were issued for illegal occupancy, and many cover one unlawful cellar or attic rather than the whole building. Find out which part the order covers and whether the apartment you are viewing sits inside it.