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Residential illegal conversion complaints where access was obtained (%)
Ensure the safe and lawful use of buildings and properties by enforcing the Building Code and the Zoning Resolution. — Promptly address complaints.
Inspectors investigating suspected illegal apartment conversions are frequently turned away or simply can't reach anyone at the door, and DOB's own case data shows this access rate has hovered in the roughly high-20s to low-30s percent range for most of the past decade. Fiscal 2022's 41.4 percent appears to have been an unusually high year that the rate has since fallen back from; DOB has not published a specific explanation for the year-to-year swings.
Researched July 15, 2026 — CBS News New York, "Data reveals Department of Buildings' struggle to inspect illegally converted homes" (June 2023), NYC Comptroller, Audit Report on the Queens Quality of Life Unit of the Department of Buildings
* Year to date — this fiscal year isn't complete, so it's not compared against prior years in the target/trend status above.
View as table
| Fiscal year | Actual | Target |
|---|---|---|
| FY22 | 41.4% | 44% |
| FY23 | 30.9% | 44% |
| FY24 | 29.7% | 44% |
| FY25 | 26.9% | 44% |
| FY26 (YTD) | Not available | 44% |
Why this is tracked
New York's modern building-safety bureaucracy grew out of tragedy: a "Superintendent of Buildings" post was created in 1860 after the Elm Street fire on the Lower East Side killed 20 people, and the 1901 Tenement House Act created a citywide Buildings Bureau after investigators documented dangerous, overcrowded housing conditions. A unified, citywide Department of Buildings was established in 1936. Today DOB enforces the Building Code and Zoning Resolution across more than a million buildings, issuing permits, licensing trades, and responding to structural emergencies.
Source: BIS mainframe maintained by DOB — via NYC Open Data: Mayor's Management Report, Agency Performance Indicators
Coverage shown: FY22–FY26, reported monthly.
Definition: The percent of residential illegal conversion complaints where access was gained and an inspection was completed during the reporting period.