Data Analysis: NYC Building Code Violations & Safety Trends
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New York City is the most densely populated city in the United States, with millions of people living, working, and moving through its areas each day. In a place this crowded and active, it’s important for all to feel safe in the many streets and buildings that define the city. For this reason, various safety regulations are in place that set standards for building maintenance, fire prevention, traffic safety, and more. When those are broken, property owners may face fines, penalties, and, when applicable, injury lawsuits.
In New York City, the Department of Buildings (DOB) enforces building and construction codes by issuing summonses. These cases are handled by the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH). Recipients may need to correct the cited condition, certify the correction with DOB, and, in some cases, appear at an OATH hearing. Furthermore, these notices can result in a monetary penalty if the recipient is found to have violated the code. OATH absorbed the Environmental Control Board in 2009, though “ECB” remains as commonly used as the “DOB” shorthand.
At the Law Offices of Jay S. Knispel, our New York City premises liability attorneys have decades of experience representing people seriously injured by dangerous property conditions in New York. Building code violations aren’t just an inconvenience; they can negatively impact lives.
To better understand the types of code violations that occur throughout the city, we analyzed NYC’s DOB-ECB summons records issued from January 1, 2022–July 25, 2026. We identified the most common alleged violations and patterns across the five boroughs. We also looked at injury claims filed against the city related to sidewalks and city property such as slip or trip and fall injuries.
Keep reading to uncover what we’ve learned.
Thirteen types of DOB-ECB summons categories were identified, totaling more than 200,000 violations over the nearly four-and-a-half-year study period. On average, that is 49,800 summonses a year. Summonses categorized as Construction greatly outweighed all others, making up 73% of all records, with 166,272 recorded during the study period. This may be explained by how broad the category is defined, encompassing all building work that violates code or was done without DOB-approved permits.
Elevator-related summonses ranked second, totaling 16,622 during the study period. These summonses may cite elevators that failed required periodic inspections, were not properly maintained, or lacked current certificates of operation.
Among known categories, boiler-related summonses ranked third, with 7,546 recorded during the study period. Like elevator summonses, boiler-related cases may involve missed inspections, inadequate maintenance, or failures to maintain required operating documentation.
| Summons Category | Number of Summonses |
|---|---|
| Construction | 166,272 |
| Elevators | 16,622 |
| Unknown | 16,464 |
| Boilers | 7,546 |
| Electrical | 6,477 |
| Local Law | 4,953 |
| Quality of Life | 2,433 |
| Zoning | 1,712 |
| Site Safety | 1,574 |
| Plumbing | 1,006 |
| Signs | 909 |
| Cranes and Derricks | 903 |
| Public Assembly | 24 |
| Total | 226,895 |
Each broad summons category contains multiple, more specific alleged violations identified by the section of city law or code cited in the summons. For example, 28-105.1 refers to a provision in Title 28 of the NYC Administrative Code that generally requires owners to obtain DOB permits before performing certain construction, alteration, or repair work.
Across all five NYC boroughs, the single most commonly cited provision was the same: 28-301.1, failure to maintain a building in a code-compliant manner. This broad maintenance provision is a general obligation to keep a structure in safe condition. Violations may involve a wide variety of issues related to a building’s exterior, structural integrity, fire safety, building systems, or overall condition.
The second most commonly cited provision was work without a permit (28-105.1), and the third was failure to certify correction of a violation with the DOB (28-204.4). The prevalence of these citations suggests that many cited conditions remained open in DOB’s records because responsible parties had not yet completed the required correction and documentation process, or were not approved.
Among the summons records in our analysis with a monetary penalty recorded, penalties ranged from $50 to $70,000, with a median of $2,500.
Across the 13 summons categories, Quality of Life summonses had the highest median penalty at $17,000, roughly seven times the median for any other category. The category includes illegal-conversion summonses citing 28-210.1, which addresses converting, maintaining, or occupying a multiple dwelling with three or more units than approved.
During the study period, 237 summons records citing illegal conversions had a $70,000 penalty recorded. In fact, among all summonses with the maximum penalty, 94% of them cited illegal conversions, helping explain why the Quality of Life category had a substantially higher median penalty than the others.
Additionally, each dwelling unit beyond the legally authorized number may be charged separately, so a single subdivided building that gets inspected on one day can receive multiple $70,000 summonses. For example, a property owner in the Bronx received 10 separate $70,000 penalties for allegedly converting a two-family residence on Bryant Avenue into a 13-family residence.
These penalties may reflect the inherent dangers of illegal conversions, which are a major issue in NYC. Landlords squeeze tenants into spaces that lack crucial safety measures, such as the required number of smoke detectors and sprinklers, as well as proper electrical and plumbing systems. In 2010, five people died in a Brooklyn building because they couldn’t escape a fire due to the landlord’s illegal partitions and subdivisions. This example is just one of many dangerous situations associated with illegal conversions.
When looking at the total recorded penalties by NYC property, the highest-ranked properties were dominated by Construction and Quality of Life summonses.
Of the 20 properties with the highest total recorded penalties, nine were located in the Bronx. However, the property with the highest total was in Brooklyn, located at 1131 Hancock Street, receiving 42 summonses and accumulating $1.29 million in penalties. A second Brooklyn property, located at 429 Wythe Avenue, ranked next, reaching $1.16 million in penalties across 46 summonses.
When examining the number of summons per borough, Brooklyn had the highest total with 78,584 records over the study period. While this may be partly explained by the fact that it also houses the most residents out of the five boroughs, totals do not consistently follow population size. Manhattan, while roughly 29% smaller in population than Queens, recorded slightly more summonses with 49,963 compared with 48,830.
Moreover, Manhattan files far fewer new-building permits than Queens. Queens has historically accounted for the highest share of new building permits filed, while Manhattan generally records the smallest share. In 2021, Queens was responsible for 32% of new-building permits filed citywide. However, it should be noted that Manhattan tends to build taller and denser projects than Queens.
The Bronx recorded a comparable total to the top three with 41,443 summons records. Staten Island stands out for its significantly lower total of 8,075.
Construction-related summonses make up the large majority of summons records in every borough. They were most common in Staten Island, making up 82% of all its summonses, and least common in Manhattan (68%). The most common violation within the category in all boroughs was failure to maintain building in code-compliant manner (28-301.1); it had the largest share in the Bronx, however, with 34%. Summonses citing work without a permit (28-105.1) were highest in Staten Island and Queens.
Instead, Manhattan had the highest share of Local Law summonses. The most common violation was failure to submit a required critical examination report on the condition of a building’s exterior surfaces (28-302.4).
Quality of Life summonses, which are nearly always illegal conversions, were rare across all boroughs, but were most prevalent in the Bronx with a share of 1.4%, versus 0.7–1.0% elsewhere. The Bronx’s share was twice that of Staten Island.
Using keyword research across all summonses for words and phrases related to structural deterioration, the Bronx appeared to have the most instances containing at least one of these terms, with 5.6%. This is consistent with the earlier finding that the Bronx had the highest share (34%) of summonses citing failure to maintain themselves in a code-compliant manner.
Building-code violations and unsafe property conditions do not just lead to penalties; they can also contribute to injuries or fatalities, as shown by the fatal Brooklyn fire involving an illegal conversion.
When the city shares liability for injuries that occur, victims can file a personal injury lawsuit against NYC in an attempt to recover damages. NYC Open Data has claims report data containing the individual claims filed against the City of New York. These claims shed more light on how often and where people report injuries linked to dangerous conditions in the city’s buildings and streets. However, it should be noted that these claims only represent a portion of all related injuries. Under New York City Administrative Code 7-210, property owners are responsible for the maintenance of adjacent sidewalks to remain in safe conditions. Injuries caused by defects may result in liability. Similarly, injuries connected to privately owned buildings may result in claims against the property owner rather than the City. As a result, this dataset does not capture all injury claims related to unsafe sidewalks or properties across New York City.
Over the study period, for example, there were 3,535 sidewalk injury claims filed against the city, and 1,307 city property injury claims. In 2020, one sidewalk injury claim involved a man who fell through a sinkhole in a NYC sidewalk. He sued the city and the landlord of the building who was responsible for maintaining that sidewalk, which was in “disarray.” A more common example is tripping and falling on uneven sidewalks, which the city may be held responsible for.
City property injury claims may include an injury caused by broken stairs, wet floors, defective entrances, or unsafe conditions at city-owned buildings, parks, or other public facilities. In 2025, injured individuals sued the city after a building facade collapsed onto them in Queens.
Across the five boroughs, Brooklyn had the most sidewalk injury claims. Moreover, in the Bronx, claims involving city property made up about seven for every 10 sidewalk-related claims, which is more than double the rate in Queens and Staten Island.
We analyzed two public New York City datasets: the DOB ECB Violations dataset and the City Government Claims Report dataset. For the DOB analysis, we included Class 1 (Immediately Hazardous) and Class 2 (Major) violations dated from January 1, 2022–July 25, 2026. We examined the most common violation types and cited code provisions, penalty amounts, property-level totals, and patterns across the five boroughs. We also reviewed City claims related to sidewalks and city property recorded from January 2, 2022–June 30, 2023.
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