Zoning and land use
Certificate of no harassment
For covered buildings, HPD must certify no tenant harassment before DOB issues a demolition or major alteration permit. It is a hard gate on the schedule.
When does a building need a certificate of no harassment before DOB will issue a permit?
Quick Answer
What the building may be used for
Who does this land on?
Owners and buyers of single room occupancy buildings and older multiple dwellings in covered areas, and any development schedule that assumes a permit will issue on filing.
What governs it?
- The Administrative Code provisions requiring a certificate of no harassment before certain permits issue for covered buildings
- The Housing Maintenance Code provisions applying to single room occupancy multiple dwellings, and the Zoning Resolution special districts and anti-harassment areas that carry the requirement of their own
- The HPD covered-building list under the Administrative Code program, a pilot created in 2018 and currently set to expire on September 27, 2026, which extends the requirement to additional buildings by distress, vacate order and harassment-finding criteria
- The Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which runs the application, the investigation and the determination
- The cure provisions, which can allow a permit where the owner accepts an affordability commitment after an adverse finding
How does the process run?
- Determine coverage before the acquisition, using the building type, the location and the program criteria
- File the application with Housing Preservation and Development and post the required tenant notices
- Expect an investigation covering the lookback period, including tenant outreach and a review of the building’s complaint and litigation history
- Respond to the record the agency builds, because a finding of harassment turns on documented conditions and conduct
- On a clean determination, take the certificate to the Department of Buildings with the permit application
- On an adverse determination, evaluate the cure path, which trades a permit for a recorded affordability commitment
Where does it bite in a transaction?
- A development schedule assumes a filing date and the certificate adds months to the front of it
- A buyer is held up by conduct that predates the deed, because the lookback period reaches the prior owner
- A gut renovation is treated as cosmetic until the Department of Buildings refuses the permit
- An adverse finding turns a market-rate plan into an affordability commitment the pro forma never contemplated
Does the lookback period reach the previous owner?
Yes. The investigation covers the lookback period regardless of who owned the building during it, so a purchaser can be held up by conduct that predates the deed. That is a diligence item on any covered building, and it is a reason the contract should address the certificate rather than assume it.
Which buildings are covered?
Single room occupancy multiple dwellings are covered by the underlying requirement. So are multiple dwellings in four areas mapped by the Zoning Resolution: the Special Clinton District under section 96-107, the Special Hudson Yards District under section 93-90, the Special West Chelsea District under section 98-70, and the Greenpoint-Williamsburg anti-harassment area under section 27-20. Housing Preservation and Development also lists a Special Garment Center District, but the current Zoning Resolution contains no such district and no harassment provision for it. Beyond those areas, coverage follows the HPD covered-building list under the Administrative Code pilot. The Council voted on August 13, 2026 to make that pilot permanent, but the bill is with the Mayor and carries no Local Law number, so the program stays a pilot in law until the Mayor signs it or the Charter section 37 window lapses. Coverage is checked against the current criteria for the specific building rather than assumed from the building’s age or size.
What happens if the determination is adverse?
The permit does not issue on the ordinary path. The available route is the cure: the owner agrees to a recorded affordability commitment in exchange for the permit. Whether that is acceptable is an economics question, and it is answered before the acquisition rather than after the determination.
What else should you read before you file or sign?
In the glossary
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The violation code
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