OATH default penalties: the cost of not showing up

Every summons a city agency writes comes with a hearing date at OATH, and the single most expensive way to respond is not to. A respondent who fails to appear defaults, and a default is not a postponement or a warning: it is a decision, entered against the respondent, generally at the maximum penalty the charge allows. A summons that might have been dismissed or settled at a hearing becomes a docketed judgment for the full amount.

What a default costs

The hearing is where every defense lives: the condition was fixed, the summons was defective, the penalty should be mitigated. Defaulting forfeits all of it, and the maximum penalty is imposed without anyone arguing otherwise. The judgment is entered against the respondent, goes to collections, accrues against the property for building-related charges, and appears in the public record as an unpaid balance. Owners who default habitually build six-figure balances this way, one unattended hearing at a time.

The 75-day repair window

The rules leave a generous ramp back in, and it narrows in stages. A first request for a new hearing filed within 75 days of the default decision is granted automatically; no excuse is required, just the request form. From 75 days out to one year, a first request must include a reasonable excuse for the failure to appear, with documentation. Past one year, or on a second default in the same case, the standard becomes exceptional circumstances plus a showing that denying the hearing would work an injustice, which few requests survive.

The staging tells you how to read old defaults in a building's record. A default from two months ago may still be reversed and argued. A default from three years ago is, for practical purposes, permanent: the owner either pays it or lets it sit.

What the record shows

On a building's page here, defaults appear in the fines table as "Defaulted (did not respond)" with the unpaid balance beside them. As a signal, a default pattern is more specific than a violation count: violations say conditions exist, defaults say the owner does not engage with enforcement at all, even to argue. Buildings carrying years-old default balances are showing you the owner's posture toward every obligation the building has. This guide is general information about public records, not legal advice.