Buying? Check the building's record first

A renter who skips checking the record risks a bad winter. A buyer risks inheriting the problem. Violations attach to the building, not to the owner who earned them, and in a co-op or condo the cost of fixing what the record shows arrives later as your assessment. The public record is free and takes minutes to read; here is what to look for before you are committed.

What conveys with the building

Open violations stay open through a sale. Unpaid emergency repair charges and unpaid OATH judgments follow the property as liens and balances, not the departing owner. A facade classified unsafe stays unsafe until repaired, along with the sidewalk shed and the repair bill. None of this is reset by the closing, which is exactly why it belongs in your due diligence alongside the financials and the minutes.

For co-op and condo buyers

You are buying a share of the whole building's condition, so read the whole building's record.

• Facade status, for buildings over six stories: an unsafe classification or a SWARMP list that has aged past its deadlines is a future assessment with your name on it. Long-standing sidewalk shed history usually means stalled repairs.
• Open violations across the building: a wide spread of open HPD violations in other units and common areas describes the building's maintenance culture, which no renovated kitchen in your unit changes.
• Unpaid OATH balances: a board or sponsor that defaults on hearings and lets judgments sit is showing you how it handles obligations.
• Elevator, boiler, and construction records: recent permits can mean healthy investment; violations on the building's systems mean the opposite.
• Vacate orders anywhere in the building, past or present, are worth understanding fully before proceeding.

Ask the seller, the board, or the managing agent about specific open items by number, in writing, and ask who pays for what is already on the record. The answer belongs in the deal, not after it.

For small-home buyers

For a one- to four-family house, the same records apply with a twist: HPD violations exist mostly for non-owner-occupied rental situations, so a house with an HPD history was run as a rental, and its record describes the departing landlord's habits. DOB records matter more: open violations, unpermitted work, and certificates of occupancy that do not match the building as built are the classic closing problems, and an open violation can hold up financing.

Reading it in five minutes

Look up the address here and check, in order: anything open and hazardous, anything open past its deadline, unpaid penalty balances, facade and vacate history, and how the current owner's other buildings look. Then hand the specifics to your attorney; every one of these has a paper trail worth pulling properly. This guide is general information about public records, not legal, financial, or purchasing advice.