NYC Housing Maintenance Code § 27-2081 · cited Oct 17, 1977 – Aug 6, 2026
6,420 NYC housing violations have been issued under NYC Housing Maintenance Code § 27-2081, which is 0.1% of every HPD violation attributed to a section. 3,566 are still open, 3,554 of them past the legal deadline on the notice.
The median legal deadline on a § 27-2081 notice is 35 days. The median violation that got fixed took 1,500 days to reach “violation closed”, measured across 2,081 closed violations.
The most common orders written under this section, in HPD’s own wording.
| BROOKLYN | 1,806 | |
|---|---|---|
| QUEENS | 676 | |
| BRONX | 618 | |
| MANHATTAN | 451 | |
| STATEN ISLAND | 15 |
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§ 27-2081 Occupancy of cellars and basements in multiple dwellings; general requirements.
No dwelling unit in a cellar or basement of a multiple dwelling shall be occupied unless:
a. Such cellar or basement is properly lighted and ventilated to the satisfaction of the department; and b.Except for rooms occupied in accordance with section 27-2082 of this article, cellar walls and ceilings are constructed of light-colored material, or are thoroughly whitewashed or painted a light color and are so maintained; such whitewash or paint shall be renewed as required by the department, whenever necessary in the opinion of the department; and c.Such cellar or basement is free from dampness. In all new law tenements or multiple dwellings erected after April eighteenth, nineteen hundred twenty-nine, and in all other dwellings whenever the department determines that the subsoil conditions on the lot so require, the cellar or other lowest floor and all exterior walls shall be dampproofed and waterproofed to the height of the ground level; and d.Every yard, court, or other required open space on the same lot as the dwelling containing a dwelling unit in the cellar or basement is adequately drained to the satisfaction of the department; and e.Such dwelling unit complies with all of the applicable requirements of the multiple dwelling law and of this code for dwelling units which are not located in the cellar or basement of the dwelling, except where more restrictive standards are required in this article.
Current through Local Law 2026/116, enacted July 11, 2026 · enacted municipal law, in the public domain · official publication
NYC Housing Maintenance Code § 27-2081, "Occupancy of cellars and basements in multiple dwellings; general requirements", is cited on a violation when an HPD inspector finds the condition it covers. No dwelling unit in a cellar or basement of a multiple dwelling shall be occupied unless:
Each notice carries its own deadline set by the violation's hazard class. Across 6,420 § 27-2081 notices, the median legal deadline was 35 days from the notice date.
Measured across 2,081 § 27-2081 violations that reached "violation closed", the median took 1,500 days from the notice date, against a median legal deadline of 35 days.
3,566 § 27-2081 violations are open as of Aug 7, 2026, and 3,554 of them are already past the legal deadline on the notice.
Counted from HPD’s Housing Maintenance Code Violations dataset. Each notice is attributed to a section by HPD’s own order number where one is on record, otherwise by the section its notice text cites. 11,131,117 of the city’s 11,136,167 HPD notices are attributed that way; the share above is a share of those. Figures recomputed Aug 7, 2026.
Browse open § 27-2081 records in the live feed · All violation codes
In the glossary: Housing Maintenance Code · order number · Class C violation · rent-impairing · all terms