Author: sebastian

DOB NOW: Safety Boiler

NYC Boilers 

Posted on | by sebastian

In NYC, all mixed-use, commercial and residential (6 family or more) buildings must have an annual boiler inspection or risk receiving violations. 

A licensed master plumber or an authorized insurance company representative must perform an annual boiler inspection once a year.  You must file the results of that inspection by December 31st . If you do not the DOB will issue a failure to file violation to the property owner. Penalties are $1000* for each failure to file violation. 

New boiler installations and boilers that have had more than half of the boiler components replaced must undergo an inspection by the Dept. of Buildings which they call the First Test Inspection.  You are not required to file the annual inspection report for that first inspection year. 

Buildings with high pressure boilers must have two inspections: an internal inspection and an external inspection. Inspectors must contact the DOB before performing the internal inspection. You must be conduct both inspections in the same cycle. However, they have to be done six months apart and performed by an authorized insurance company. 

Buildings with low pressure boilers must be inspected annually including buildings with H-stamp domestic water heaters that have more that 350,000 BTUs.  

Annual boiler inspections are not required for residential buildings with 5 or less units, or in buildings where each residential unit has an individual boiler. This includes the residential portion of mixed-use buildings.  Buildings rated at in input of less than 100,000 BTUs is also exempt from annual boiler inspections. 

For any violations issued, penalties must be paid on DOB NOW: Safety. Reach out to S&M Expediting if you need assistance with resolving annual boiler violations. 

*penalties for failure to file issued between 1992 and 2008 are either $500 or $1500 depending on building size. 

General Contracting requirements

Registered General Contractor

Posted on | by sebastian

NYC contractors who want to work on ground-up construction of 1, 2, or 3 family homes need be a registered General contractor.

Contractors with only a tracking number for interior renovation cannot apply for permits. This requires a contractor to be a Registered General Contractor. To become a registered General Contractor in NYC, applicants must meet the following qualifications:

  • Be at least eighteen (18) years old.
  • Be able to read and write the English language.
  • Have good moral character and not adversely impact upon fitness to perform the duties and responsibilities of a GC.

The first step to take in order to be licensed as a registered contractor, you will need to fill out an LIC6:General Contractor Registration Form. This form must be typed, completed and notarized. Other required forms for NYC Registered Contractor registration are:
–LIC 50 or 51 form. This must be completed by applicants living outside of the 5 boroughs of NYC for authorization of Service of Process by Agent. Applicants may also fill out the LIC51 Voluntary Authorization for Service of Process by email even if they reside within the City of New York.

You will need to provide the Dept. Of Buildings with proof of insurance. Required insurances are:

  • General Liability
  • Workers’ Compensation
  • Disability Insurance
  • Notarized Supplemental Investigation Questionnaire
  • Notarized letter on company letterhead listing name, address, phone, SSN and percent of ownership for all corporate officers, partners and stakeholders
  • Original proof of Employer Identification Number (EIN) or Federal Tax Identification Number from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
  • The last three (3) consecutive business bank statements, showing an ending balance of $25,000. Or a notarized letter from your company’s bank confirming a balance of at least $25,000 for the past three (3) months. (Online print outs of bank statements must be stamped by the bank)

If you need assistance with your General Contractor registration, feel free to reach out to S & M Expediting.

Short Term Rentals

NYC Short-term Rentals

Posted on | by sebastian

For years, New York City issued violations and costly penalties to property owners who illegally rented out units for short-term rentals.

AirBnB unsuccessfully sued the city in order to operate without impunity. In September 2023, New York City’s Local Law 18, restricting short-term rentals went into effect. The local law requires hosts to register with the Mayor’s office of Special Enforcement (OSE), prevents listings for stays shorter than 30 days and requires hosts to be present during guest stays.

Under Local Law 18, property owners can place their units on a “do-not-register” list that would prevent tenants from illegally posting their apartments without permission. AIrBNB is required to verify that all of the information provided by its hosts in NYC is accurate otherwise they will be subject to fines.

Hosts must register their unit with OSE. The rentals are limited to primary residences. Only properties with a valid certificate of occupancy for residential use can register. For buildings built prior to 1938, when certificates of occupancy became a requirement, a Letter of No Objections or Letter of Verification will be accepted. The hosts, owners, or tenants cannot rent out an entire apartment or home for fewer than 30 days. This applies to all permanent residential buildings regardless of the number of units. Legal short-term rentals require that the host is living in the same unit or apartment as the guests.

Other requirements for compliance with Local Law 18:

  • Unit must have a legal listing
  • Host must file with OSE and be approved before listing can go live
  • the space the host is registering must be legally approved for residential use.
  • host can rent to not more than two guests.
  • the property must have a certificate of occupancy or letter of no objection.
  • The property must not have violations for the space to be registered
  • S & M Expediting can help with the registration process so that you avoid being issued violations with huge fines. Give us a call to find out if your property can register with OSE.

Gas piping and meters in a multi family building

Avoid Local Law 152 $10K civil penalty. December 31st deadline approaching

Posted on | by sebastian

Local Law 152 was introduced in 2016  for the regular inspection of gas piping systems in all buildings except  those in an R-3 occupancy group.  Buildings in all other occupancy groups  that  contain a gas piping system must have a licensed master plumber (LMP) or a non-licensed plumber under the supervision of a LMP.  It is estimated that approximately 280,000 buildings are affected by regulation. 

In affected buildings, gas piping systems must be inspected at least once every four years according to the schedule with  is set out in RCNY 103-10.  The inspection dates range from January 1st thru December 31st of each calendar year.  Buildings to be inspected in each calendar year are determined by the community districts in which the buildings are located. December 31, 2020 is the last day that required buildings in community districts 1, 3, and 10 in all boroughs must be inspected.

The first due dates for the gas piping inspections are as follows:

  • Community Districts 1, 3, and 10 in all boroughs: January 1, 2020 – December 31, 2020
  • Community Districts 2, 5, 7, 13, and 18 in all boroughs: January 1, 2021 – December 31, 2021
  • Community Districts 4, 6, 8, 9, and 16 in all boroughs: January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022
  • Community Districts 11, 12, 14, 15, and 17 in all boroughs: January 1, 2023 – December 31, 2023

For example, if you initially filed on February  1, 2020, you would have to file again by February  1, 2025. You would not be able to perform the inspection more than 60 days prior to February  1, 2025.

Local Law 152 requires that all exposed gas lines from point of entry of gas piping into a building, including building service meters, up to the individual tenant spaces are to be inspected. Buried piping does not require inspection, nor does piping concealed by suspended ceilings.   Gas piping in Individual tenant spaces is exempt from testing.

Within 30 days of the inspection, the licensed master plumber (LMP) must provide to the building owner a Gas Piping System Periodic Inspection Report (GPS1).

Within 60 days of the inspection, the building owner  must submit to the Department of Buildings (DOB),  a Gas Piping System Periodic Inspection Certification (GPS2) signed and sealed by the LMP who conducted or supervised the inspection. GPS2 submission is to be completed by the Building Owner on the NYC Department of Buildings GPS2 submission portal. No filing fee is associated with the GPS2 submission. 

Owners of buildings without a gas piping system need to file a GPS2 form completed by  a registered design professional, ie, a a registered architected (RA) or professional engineer (PE) stating that your building does not contain a gas piping system. Owners of these buildings  need to follow the same 4-year cycle detailed above for this certification.

If the inspections reveal any unsafe or hazardous conditions, the inspector is required to notify the building owner, the utility company providing gas service to the building, and the Department of Buildings.  The building owner must take immediate action to correct these conditions as required by the NYC Building Code.

Owners who miss their designated cycle deadline  will be hit with a $10,000 civil penalty. 

Building owners  and inspectors must maintain inspection records on file for a minimum of 10 years and make them available to the DOB upon request.

DOB NOW: Safety Boiler

DOB NOW: Safety Boiler Violations

Posted on | by sebastian

Starting July 22, 2020, the Dept. Of Buildings (DOB) will be launching a new DOB NOW: Safety Violation portal. Under this portal, users can search for open boiler violations on a given property. They will also be able to see amounts due on any penalties on these properties. 
From that date forward, it will be mandatory to make payments online for “Failure to File” annual boiler inspection reports. 
The procedure to make payments for boiler violation penalties on DOB NOW: Safety is below: 

• Use an eFiling account to log in at www.nyc.gov/dobnow. If you need to create an eFiling account, click on the following link. www.nyc.gov/dobnowtips.
• Select DOB NOW: Safety and then the Violations portal.
• From the dashboard select +Violations Payments.
• Search by Violation Number, Device Number, Address or BIN. When a device number, address or BIN is entered, all active violations will appear along with the amount of the civil penalty due for each violation.
• Select the violation for which you want to submit payment. Only one violation can be paid per application.
• Save the application to proceed. The respondent information on the request is populated from the information found in the eFiling account that was used to log into DOB NOW.
• Complete the Statements & Signature section and Save the application again.
• The last step is to select Proceed to Pay to enter the payment in the CityPay portal.
Violation Dismissal

Boiler violation payments made in (DOB NOW: Safety Boiler Violations) Safety by credit card for boiler violations for issued for the years prior to and including 2016 will be processed immediately and the violation(s)status will change to dismissed in the Buildings Information System (BIS). Payments made by eCheck will take up to 10 days to be processed. An email notification will be sent when the payment has processed and the violation has been dismissed.

Boiler violations issued in 2017 or later require an annual boiler inspection report to be in accepted status in DOB NOW: Safety. Once payment has been made, the violation will not be dismissed unless an accepted inspection report has been submitted. If an inspection report is submitted, an email notification will be sent and the violation will be updated to dismissed status in BIS within 24 hours.