DOB Safety Violations: Boilers, Elevators, Benchmarking and LL97

The Department of Buildings issued 149,069 safety violations in 2025, at 115,944 different buildings. Almost all were for paperwork an owner did not file on time: 60% were for gas piping inspections, and elevators and boilers made up most of the rest. Local Law 97 emissions violations were rare in 2025 (633) but reached 4,468 in 2026 through 2026-10-12.

What these violations are

DOB Safety Violations are civil penalties issued in DOB NOW for the city's periodic compliance programs: gas piping, boilers, elevators, facades, energy benchmarking and building emissions. Unlike a violation written by an inspector who saw a dangerous condition, most of these are for a required report or correction that DOB did not have on record by the deadline. Many codes start with FTF (failure to file) or FTC (failure to file a correction after defects were found). The dataset's own remarks describe each code; we translate them in the table below.

The most common violation types

Gas piping: 89,163 in 2025

Under Local Law 152, buildings other than one- and two-family homes (and other R-3 occupancies) must have a licensed master plumber inspect their gas piping at least once every four years, on a schedule set by community district. Failing to file the certification can bring a $5,000 civil penalty. DOB says it began issuing notices of deficiency for Cycle 1 in January 2025, and the data matches: every 2025 gas piping violation cites Cycle 1, issued in three batches covering sub-cycle D (32,111), sub-cycle B (29,763) and sub-cycle C (27,289). In 2026 so far DOB has issued 21,505 more, all for Cycle 2 sub-cycle A. Nearly every 2025 notice went to a different building, and 95% were still active on 2026-10-12.

Elevators: 30,175

DOB's elevator rules require an annual periodic inspection and an annual Category 1 safety test, with defects fixed within 90 days and a correction filed within 14 days after that. The 2025 violations cover the 2024 cycle. More than half (18,799) were for corrections not filed, not for missing inspections. See our elevator report for the full breakdown.

Boilers: 24,545

Low-pressure boilers in buildings with six or more apartments, and in commercial and mixed-use buildings, need an annual inspection, with the report due within 14 days (DOB boiler compliance). DOB lists a $1,000 failure-to-file penalty per boiler. The single code LBLVIO, a low-pressure boiler report not filed for 2024, accounts for 18,473 violations. Another 4,329 were for boiler defects whose correction was never filed.

Benchmarking and Local Law 97

Buildings over 25,000 gross square feet must report energy use every year by May 1 under Local Law 84, and DOB's violation notice warns of $500 penalties each quarter, up to $2,000 a year (DOB sample notice). Benchmarking violations have fallen from 9,981 in 2019 to 2,720 in 2025, though DOB has already issued 3,467 in 2026 through 2026-10-12, so the drop may partly reflect batch timing.

Local Law 97 also covers buildings over 25,000 gross square feet. Article 320 buildings must file an emissions report every May 1, starting May 1, 2025, and Article 321 buildings (certain affordable housing and houses of worship) had to file a report of compliance by May 1, 2025. DOB issued its first batch of LL97 violations in this dataset in December 2025: 488 Article 320 and 145 Article 321. In 2026 through 2026-10-12 it has issued 3,712 more tied to Article 320 and 756 tied to Article 321. Most of these are for reports not filed; they do not tell you whether a building is over its emissions limit.

By borough

Brooklyn had the most 2025 safety violations (57,823), then Queens (36,171). That ranking mostly reflects which community districts the 2025 gas piping batches covered, since gas piping makes up 70% of Brooklyn's total. Manhattan, with the most elevators, had the most elevator violations (14,353).

Every 2025 code, explained

Two smaller codes are about real hazards rather than missing paperwork. FISPHAZ (82) marks a facade inspection report that found unsafe conditions, which under FISP means public protection such as a sidewalk shed must go up right away. FTC-AEU-HAZ (1,095) means DOB has not accepted a certificate of correction for a Class 1 immediately hazardous summons at a construction site (DOB service notice).

Limits of this data

• DOB issues these in batches after each filing cycle closes, so year-to-year totals swing with batch timing. We do not compare annual totals across categories for that reason.
• "Active" is the status on 2026-10-12. An active violation can mean the penalty is unpaid even if the report has since been filed.
• The dataset only holds violations issued or payable in DOB NOW. Older violations and OATH/ECB summonses are in other DOB datasets and are not counted here.
• A violation for a missing report is not proof the equipment is unsafe. It means DOB had no filing on record by the deadline.