The NYC Compliance Calendar for Small Condos and Co-ops

If you sit on the board of a small NYC condo or co-op, you've probably found that nobody hands you a list of what to do and when. The NYC compliance rules are spread across HPD, the Department of Buildings, the Department of Finance and the Health Department, and most guides are written for 200-unit buildings with a managing agent and a compliance consultant.

This calendar is for the rest of us: small buildings with roughly 3 to 20 units, run by volunteer boards. It lists what most small buildings actually need to do each year, when it's due, and where to go next. Some of the items below won't apply to your building at all. If you're not sure, start with Which NYC Local Laws Apply to My Small Building?.

Every year, month by month

January

• Annual window guard and lead paint notices (Jan 1–16). Buildings with 3 or more apartments must send residents the annual window guard inquiry (is a child 10 or under living here?). Buildings built before 1960, or 1960–1978 where you know there is lead paint, also send the lead paint inquiry (is a child under 6 living here?). Responses are due back by February 15. How this applies to owner-occupied co-op and condo units is covered in Annual Notices & Safety Devices.
• Boiler inspection cycle opens. If your building needs an annual boiler inspection, the cycle runs January 1 to December 31. Schedule it early in the year rather than in December. See Boiler Inspections for Small Buildings.

February

• Collect notice responses by February 15 and keep copies (from January above).
• Co-op and condo property tax abatement. The board (or whoever handles filings) updates the list of units that qualify for the abatement with the Department of Finance. See Co-op & Condo Property Tax Abatement.

May

• May 1: energy benchmarking (LL84/LL133) and LL97 reports. These only apply to buildings over 25,000 square feet, so most small buildings can skip them. Worth confirming once.
• May 31: heat season ends.
• HPD registration season opens in late spring, usually May.

July

• July 1: property tax bill. The $13 HPD registration fee is billed on your Department of Finance property tax statement.

September

• September 1: HPD annual property registration due. Every building with 3 or more residential units, including condos and co-ops, must register every year. The board registers, not the individual owners. See HPD Annual Property Registration.

October

• October 1: heat season starts. From October 1 to May 31, inside temperatures must be at least 68°F during the day (6am–10pm) when it's below 55°F outside, and at least 62°F overnight regardless of the outside temperature. Hot water must be at least 120°F all year. See Heat & Hot Water Rules.

December

• December 1–31: bed bug annual filing (Local Law 69). Covers November 1 through October 31. Condos and co-ops file if any units are rented out, and you file even if there were no bed bugs. See Local Law 69 Bed Bug Filing. [verify]
• December 31: parapet observation (Local Law 126). If your building has a parapet (the low wall at the roof edge) facing a street or sidewalk, a qualified person must look at it every year and the report must be on file by December 31. This applies regardless of building height. Detached one- and two-family homes are exempt. [verify]
• December 31: boiler inspection cycle closes.
• December 31: Local Law 152 gas piping deadline, but only in your building's cycle year (see below).

Every few years

Gas piping inspection (Local Law 152): every 4 years

If your building has gas service and isn't a one- or two-family home, a Licensed Master Plumber must inspect the exposed gas piping every four years. Your year depends on your community district:

The full process is in Local Law 152 Gas Piping Inspections.

Facade inspections (FISP / Local Law 11): every 5 years, but only over 6 stories

Most small buildings are 6 stories or fewer and are exempt. If yours is taller, see Facades & Parapets.

Elevators

If your building has an elevator, it needs periodic inspections and tests. Most walk-ups can ignore this.

Whenever something changes

Some obligations come with a change rather than a date:

• New officers, a new managing agent, or a new address: update your HPD registration within 5 days.
• A violation is issued: each one has its own correction and certification deadline, sometimes as short as 24 hours. See Understanding NYC Building Violations.
• A heat or hot water outage: fix it immediately. These are the most serious class of HPD violation.
• A unit is sold or rented: this affects your bed bug filing, abatement list and annual notices.

How to keep track of all this

The simplest approach for a volunteer board is to give each item an owner. Put the dates in a shared calendar with a reminder 60 days before each deadline, and keep proof of every filing (confirmation emails, PDFs, signed forms) in one shared folder.

Or you can let us do the tracking. OurStoop checks your building against city records and tells you when something is due or when something new appears, like a violation, a fine or a lapsed registration.

Cover photo by Road Ahead on Unsplash
Checklist photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash