How to Clear HPD Violations in NYC: A Step-by-Step Guide for Landlords and Owners

An open HPD violation on your property record isn't just an inspection inconvenience. It can block a rent increase application, flag your building on a buyer's due-diligence report, and — if it sits long enough — turn into an OATH judgment with a civil penalty that transfers with title. Clearing violations is a process, not a single call to 311. This guide walks through it step by step.

What "clearing" an HPD violation actually means

HPD violations move through three lifecycle states on the city's record:

• Open — issued and not yet resolved. Counts in the building's open-violation total visible on any public lookup.
• Cured — the physical condition was fixed and an HPD inspector confirmed it at a re-inspection. This is the strongest closure status.
• Cured-NoVerify — the owner submitted a self-certification of cure without a follow-up HPD inspection. The violation is off the active count, but no city inspector confirmed the work. For Class A violations and some Class B violations, this is the normal path.

"Clearing" means getting a violation from Open to either Cured or Cured-NoVerify, depending on the class. The goal is always Cured when HPD requires re-inspection — Cured-NoVerify on a Class C violation is not an option.

Why owners and landlords should care

Open HPD violations create several distinct problems beyond the inspection itself:

• Rent-stabilized buildings: MCI and IAI applications stall. DHCR will not approve a Major Capital Improvement (MCI) rent-increase application when there are open hazardous or immediately hazardous violations on the building record. Class B and Class C violations are the usual blockers. Even a single unresolved Class C can freeze an MCI that would otherwise yield years of above-guideline increases.
• Refinancing and sale complications. Lenders running title searches will flag open violations. A buyer's attorney who pulls the HPD record before contract signing will find them. Violations don't automatically kill a deal, but they give buyers leverage — and if they're Class C, they raise genuine liability questions.
• OATH civil penalties. If HPD refers a violation to OATH and you don't appear or respond, it becomes a default judgment. Judgment balances attach to the lot. The typical civil penalty for a Class C violation is $250–$1,500 per violation per day it remains open, with some heat-and-hot-water violations carrying additional Emergency Repair Program charges if HPD makes the fix itself.
• Tenant rent-strike exposure. Tenants in a building with documented open Class C violations have a stronger foundation for a housing court proceeding, an HP action (order to correct), or a rent-reduction application at DHCR. Open violations create the paper trail.

Step 1 — Identify exactly what's open and when it was issued

Before you touch a wall, know your full open-violation inventory. HPD's public portal (HPDONLINE at hpdonline.hpd.nyc.gov) lets you look up any building by address and see every active violation with its class, the apartment affected, the code section, and the original inspection date.

The cure window starts from the date the violation was issued, not from when you found out about it:

• Class A (non-hazardous): 90 days to cure. Examples: missing window-guard compliance certificates, peeling paint in a common area with no children under 6 present, defective mailbox lock.
• Class B (hazardous): 30 days to cure. Examples: broken self-closing fire door, kitchen-sink leak, cracked bathroom tile exposing subfloor, missing carbon-monoxide detector outside a sleeping area.
• Class C (immediately hazardous): 24 hours to cure. Examples: no heat in winter (below 68°F between 6 AM–10 PM when outdoor temperature is below 55°F, or below 62°F overnight), no hot water, active rodent infestation, lead paint in a unit occupied by a child under 6, gas leak, collapsed ceiling.

If you have more open violations than you can tackle at once, prioritize by class then by age. A 45-day-old Class C is more urgent than a 60-day-old Class B. Any violation past its cure window is already past the point where HPD can refer it to OATH.

Step 2 — Fix the condition and document the work

This sounds obvious, but documentation is what separates owners who clear violations cleanly from owners who keep getting re-cited for the same condition.

For every repair, create a file that contains:

• Before photos — timestamped, showing the exact condition cited in the violation. If the violation says "peeling paint on ceiling of unit 3B," photograph the unit 3B ceiling before any repair begins.
• Contractor invoice or materials receipt — with the address, unit number, scope of work, and date of completion. A licensed contractor's letterhead is better than a generic invoice for Class C work.
• After photos — same angle as the before shots, showing the condition corrected.
• Any required permits — if the repair involved work that requires a DOB permit (replacing a gas appliance, structural repair, new plumbing rough-in), pull the permit first. HPD inspectors will ask.

For lead-paint violations specifically: NYC Local Law 1 requires violations to be remediated (not just painted over) by a certified lead contractor using EPA-approved practices. The contractor must provide an XRF clearance test and a signed clearance report. Keep these in your file permanently — HPD can audit lead-paint clearances years after the violation is closed.

Step 3 — Request re-inspection or self-certify

The path to closing an HPD violation depends on its class.

Self-certification (Class A and eligible Class B)

For Class A violations, owners can self-certify the cure by submitting a signed Certification of Correction to HPD. The form is available on HPD's website and requires the building address, violation number, a description of the corrective action taken, and the owner's signature under penalty of perjury. Submit it before the 90-day cure deadline.

Some Class B violations also allow self-certification. HPD specifies on the violation notice itself whether re-inspection is required. When in doubt, self-certify and also request a re-inspection — the worst outcome is a confirming inspection that finds the work done.

HPD re-inspection (Class C, lead paint, and contested Class B)

Class C violations require an HPD inspector to confirm the condition is corrected. You cannot self-certify a Class C. After making the repair, contact HPD's Housing Inspection Services to schedule a re-inspection. The fastest path is the HPD Online portal; owners can also call 311 and request a re-inspection specifically for an open violation (give them the violation number).

Lead-paint violations always require a clearance inspection by HPD or a third-party certified inspector, not just a self-certification. HPD will typically schedule a clearance visit within a few business days of a request — don't wait for them to call you.

When the inspector arrives, be present or have a building representative there. If access is a problem (tenant refuses entry), document every access attempt in writing. Courts look favorably on owners who can show a paper trail of access attempts before a repair was delayed.

Step 4 — OATH hearing if you're contesting a violation

Some violations are worth contesting — particularly if HPD cited the wrong unit, cited a condition that didn't exist at the time of inspection, or the violation is a duplicate of one already cured. The contest path runs through OATH (the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings), not HPD directly.

When you receive an OATH summons:

• Respond before the hearing date. A failure to appear results in a default judgment — which means the civil penalty is entered without a hearing and you lose the ability to contest the underlying violation.
• Valid defenses include: the condition was cured before the inspection date (bring the contractor invoice and photos); access was denied by the tenant with documentation; the violation was issued to the wrong building or unit (bring the deed or the HPD building record showing the discrepancy); the cited code section doesn't apply to the building type.
• Weak defenses include: "the tenant is responsible," "we didn't know about it," or "the violation is minor." HPD issues violations based on conditions, not on who caused them. Owner responsibility for housing maintenance conditions is strict in NYC.
• Post-hearing cure offer: OATH judges can accept a stipulation — an agreement to cure by a specific date in exchange for a reduced or suspended penalty. If you haven't cured by the hearing date but can commit to a cure timeline with documentation, bring that to the table.

Common mistakes that keep violations open for years

These are the patterns that show up most often in buildings with long-standing open violations:

• Fixing the condition without scheduling re-inspection. The most common mistake. An owner repairs the heat, assumes the violation closes automatically, and checks two years later to find it still open. HPD doesn't monitor contractor activity — the inspection has to be requested, and for Class C violations, an inspector has to physically confirm the work.
• Missing the cure deadline before self-certifying. A self-certification submitted after the cure window has expired gives HPD grounds to refer the violation to OATH for the late period. File the certification before the deadline, even if you haven't finished the documentation — then follow up with the full file.
• Fixing the wrong unit. HPD violations specify the apartment number. If a violation cites unit 4A and the repair was done in 4B because the super mixed up the number, HPD will find the condition still open in 4A at re-inspection. Confirm the unit number on the violation before dispatching anyone.
• Not keeping copies of certifications. HPD's records can show a violation as re-opened even after a certification was filed, particularly if a new complaint is made about the same condition. If you don't have your original cure documentation, you can't prove the timeline.
• Assuming a sold property clears the record. Open violations stay with the lot. If you sold a building with open violations and the new owner didn't cure them, those violations still appear on the record under the property address. They're not your liability anymore, but they will appear in any public lookup of the property.
• Ignoring Class A violations as harmless. Individually they are low-risk, but a building that accumulates 40 open Class A violations looks neglected to any buyer or lender who pulls the record. They also signal to HPD inspectors — who are human — that this building owner isn't engaged. That impression affects how marginal Class B items get classified.

What NYC Property Audit checks in one address search

Running through HPDONLINE, pulling violation numbers, checking OATH for pending summonses, and cross-referencing the cure deadlines takes 20–30 minutes per building when done manually. NYC Property Audit aggregates that into a single report.

One search on any NYC address shows:

• Every open HPD violation with its class (A, B, or C), the unit affected, the condition cited, and the date it was issued — so you can see at a glance which violations are approaching or past their cure windows.
• Lifecycle status — Open, Cured, or Cured-NoVerify — so you can distinguish violations that need action from ones already resolved.
• The violation age in days, which lets you triage a large inventory by urgency rather than reading every line.
• OATH judgment balances from related summonses, so you know whether any HPD violations have already crossed into civil penalty territory.

For a building with multiple open violations, sorting by class and age gives you the prioritized repair list without manually tracking everything in a spreadsheet.

Check your property's open violations now

Before you schedule repairs or call a contractor, pull your current open-violation inventory. Search any NYC address to see every open HPD violation with class, status, and age in one place: Search any NYC address to see open violations →