Home Inspection in New York City

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On Staten Island, 60% of homes are in one-family buildings; in Manhattan, 2%. A home inspection NYC buyers order therefore means different things in different boroughs: a whole house with a basement, a boiler and a sewer line to the street, or one apartment in a building whose roof, facade and risers belong to a corporation or a condominium board. The rest follows from that. It decides what an inspector can see, which city records matter and which rules reach the building.

We are Inspecwise, a New York State-licensed, InterNACHI-certified home inspection business based in South Ozone Park, Queens, and we work in English, Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi. This page is the overview for someone choosing among the five boroughs, or deciding what kind of visit a purchase needs. It compares the boroughs on the records, summarizes the rules every New York City buyer meets, and then points you to the borough guide that goes deeper. It does not repeat them.

Five boroughs, five kinds of housing

The Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey counts 3,334,088 occupied homes in the five counties. About 33% are owner-occupied, 16% are in one-family buildings and 62% are in buildings of five or more units. The boroughs sit far from those averages in opposite directions (American Community Survey). The table runs from the most house-like borough to the least. All figures are survey estimates with margins of error, so read them as rough.

The City’s 2023 Housing and Vacancy Survey fills in the rest of the picture. It puts 27 percent of the city’s units in buildings of one or two units, just under one in four in condominium or co-op buildings, and 54 percent, about 2,017,000 units, in buildings built before 1947 (NYC Housing and Vacancy Survey). The city’s property file lets us look inside the small-building stock directly. It holds 637,938 tax lots in the one-, two- and three-family classes, 51% with a recorded year built before 1940. Year built is often a rounded estimate for older buildings, so we quote shares and never a median year. Of the 253,693 two-family lots, 61,967 (24%) are classed “converted from one family,” a tax label for a house that changed from one household to two and not proof that anyone obtained a permit (Department of Finance building classes).

What differs by borough: the first question in each

Manhattan: what you are buying decides what can be inspected

About 95% of Manhattan homes are in buildings of five or more units, so most purchases are an apartment. The state Standards say a home inspector is not required to inspect any condominium common component or system or to evaluate condominium reserve accounts (19 NYCRR 197-5.16), and the licensing statute defines a residential building as one to four dwelling units. The visit for an apartment is the unit, and the building’s documents are for your attorney. Two city programs weigh on the building as a whole. The Department of Buildings says most buildings above six stories are in Manhattan, and in its facade-filings dataset the borough holds 9,100 of the 16,400 buildings with a Cycle 9 filing row, about 55 percent. And the parapet rule reaches an attached townhouse with a street-facing parapet. Landmark rules matter too: the Landmarks Commission’s historic-district dataset holds 70 Manhattan records, more than any other borough. See home inspection in Manhattan and co-op and condo inspections.

Brooklyn: age, landmarks and sewers built for 1.5 inches

In Brooklyn, 71% of one- to three-family lots have a recorded year built before 1940, against 50% in Queens and 20% on Staten Island, and the Landmarks dataset holds 42 historic-district records. Buying inside a district adds a permit step for exterior work. DEP says the sewer networks in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx can generally handle about 1.5 inches of rain an hour (DEP stormwater report). Start with our Brooklyn guide.

Queens: conversions, basements and the largest small-house stock

Queens has 270,930 one- to three-family lots, 42% of the city’s, and 34,190 of its 96,302 two-family lots (35.5%) are classed as converted, which is 55% of the city’s converted lots. Its basements and sewers carry the most questions. Our Queens guide goes ZIP by ZIP, and our South Ozone Park page looks at our own neighborhood street by street.

The Bronx: few houses, many apartments, and oil

82% of the Bronx’s residential tax lots are one-, two- or three-family buildings, but those lots hold only 19% of its homes. About 21% of occupied Bronx homes burn fuel oil, double the city rate, and 72% are in buildings of five or more. The questions are whether you are buying a house or a share of something larger, and what the boiler burns. See home inspection in the Bronx.

Staten Island: water, hills and a records trail of its own

Staten Island has the most flood-insurance claims of any borough, 19,370, and 70% of its small-building lots are one-family houses. Its zoning adds coastal-risk, wetland and hillside rules, and its deeds are at the Richmond County Clerk and not on ACRIS. Our Staten Island guide sets those out.

Flood claims and sewer complaints across the five boroughs

FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program file holds 43,864 claims since 1978 from the five boroughs’ ZIP codes, and 16,470 (38%) carry Hurricane Sandy’s name. A claim is a loss reported on a flood-insurance policy. It is not a count of floods, and a building with no policy leaves none. The table adds the 311 line’s sewer-backup complaints for 2025, which are reports from residents and not confirmed backups. We do not rank the boroughs on either measure, because a claim count mostly shows where policies exist and a complaint count shifts with weather and with who calls.

Two patterns stand out. Staten Island’s ZIPs hold 44% of the claims from 5% of the homes, and Queens’ hold 34%; Manhattan, with a quarter of the homes, holds 3%. And Sandy and Ida did different things. The City’s recovery report says Sandy flooded an area holding about 88,700 buildings, 9 percent of the city’s stock (SIRR buildings chapter), and its after-action report counts about 99,000 buildings in the surge zone, housing 405,000 residential units (Sandy after-action report). The two figures use different definitions, observed flooding and a modeled zone. The claims file shows how differently the storm landed: Sandy carries 57% of Brooklyn’s claims, 51% of Queens’, 46% of Manhattan’s and 28% of the Bronx’s, but only 21% of Staten Island’s, where most claims carry other labels. Ida in 2021 arrived as rain: its peak of 3.15 inches an hour was far beyond the 1.5 to 2 inches an hour the sewers can take, and 11 of the 13 people who died were in basement or cellar units. The same report traced basement water to four routes and named overtopped rivers and streams as primarily a Bronx route and groundwater infiltration as primarily a Queens route (Mayor’s task force report).

The City’s recovery plan found that only 6.9 percent of the buildings Ida damaged were in the 100-year floodplain, and that one- and two-family homes were 75 percent of the damaged buildings against 52 percent of buildings citywide, mostly in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx (CDBG-DR action plan). So a flood-zone lookup is a partial answer anywhere in the city. For insurance, the City says rates still follow the 2007 maps until new ones are issued, and we could not confirm any change (NYC flood maps). About 60 percent of the city has combined sewers (DEP), and in every borough the owner owns and must repair the pipe from the house to the sewer main (DEP sewer-backup page). The Standards do not require an inspector to observe underground drainage, so ask for a camera inspection; see our sewer scope guide.

The certificate of occupancy and the Buildings record: read them first

The same few records apply in every borough but Staten Island’s deed records, and a buyer’s attorney will read them before the inspector arrives. You can read them yourself.

Most construction in the city needs a Department of Buildings permit, and unpermitted work can bring safety risks, violations, fines and delays (DOB). The Department also keeps a list of contractors who worked without required permits (DOB). The 311 line shows how often neighbors report these matters: in 2025 it logged 14,894 complaints about illegal conversion of residential space and 1,864 about buildings with no certificate of occupancy, most of them in Queens and Brooklyn. Those are reports, not findings, and one ZIP in Queens alone had 490 illegal-conversion complaints in October, so we give the totals and no ranking. Our inspection reports what is in the building, such as a second kitchen or an extra set of meters, and does not decide whether it is lawful.

Lead, asbestos, gas and boilers: rules that follow a building’s age and size

Several city and federal rules turn on when a building went up or how many families it holds. A house is often outside rules written for apartment buildings, and an apartment building is outside rules written for houses. The table gives who each rule reaches and who it does not.

Water carries its own rule: DEP says lead service lines have been banned since 1961 and lead in household plumbing since 1987, that some older one- to four-family homes may still have lead pipes and fixtures, and that the homeowner owns the service line in its entirety (DEP on lead). On mold, State law governs who may do the work: a licensed mold project is mold work on an area greater than ten square feet, and a residential owner working on his or her own property is exempt (NYS Department of Labor). A home inspection does not determine whether lead, asbestos or mold is present, so those are separate tests; see our pages on lead, asbestos and mold. Radon is a statewide question: EPA places all five counties in Zone 3, the lowest predicted level, but says all homes should be tested, and the State’s kit program found 4 picocuries per liter or higher in 3.7% of 598 Queens basements, 6.3% of 253 on Staten Island, 7.9% of 101 in the Bronx, 10.2% of 528 in Brooklyn and 12.2% of 131 in Manhattan (State radon results by town). Those samples are small and not representative, so we do not rank the boroughs; the State notes that 30,000 to 40,000 tests a year are done outside its program. See our radon testing page.

Basements and cellars: when anyone may live in one

Water reaches basements in every borough, and so do tenants. The City estimates that at least 100,000 New Yorkers live in 50,000 or more illegal basement apartments, mostly in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx (Mayor’s task force report). HPD says a basement or cellar can be lawfully occupied only if it meets minimum light, air, sanitation and egress standards and has Department of Buildings approval, and that renting a basement in a two-family house is not lawful if it would make the building a three-family house needing a new certificate (HPD). HPD and DOB can each issue violations and vacate orders for illegal occupancy.

The rules moved in December 2024, when the City adopted accessory dwelling units. DOB allows one per one- or two-family residence, up to 800 square feet, with an owner living on the lot, and bars basement, cellar and backyard units in FEMA’s Special Flood Hazard Area, the Coastal Flood Risk Area and DEP’s 10-Year Rainfall Flood Risk Area. A separate pilot to legalize existing units covers community districts in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens and none on Staten Island, and DOB’s page, revised in April 2026, said applications were not yet open (DOB accessory dwelling units). HPD’s page still says cellars in one- and two-family homes can never be lawfully rented, which sits uneasily with the newer rules. Read DOB’s page on the day you decide, and see our basement inspection page.

Heat and fuel: what burns, who supplies the gas and which rules apply

Heating fuel is the clearest split in the survey. Fuel oil heats 21% of occupied homes in the Bronx, 15% in Manhattan, 10% in Queens, 7% in Brooklyn and 4% on Staten Island. A house that burns oil has a tank, and the tank draws most of the questions: where it is, how old it is, whether anything has leaked, and whether a house that has since changed to gas still has one in the ground. The Standards have an inspector describe the fuel, the equipment and the distribution, and operate the system with the thermostat. They do not require testing for gas leaks or carbon monoxide, and they do not require observing underground tanks (19 NYCRR 197-5.10 and 5.16), so a buried tank needs its own search; see our oil tank guide.

Two city facts help buyers of larger buildings. The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection says the City is phasing out Number 4 and 6 heating oils and that by 2030 all boilers must use low-sulfur Number 2 oil or natural gas (DCWP). And the utility depends on the borough: 311 says Con Edison handles gas service in the Bronx, Manhattan and parts of Queens (Astoria and northeast Queens), and National Grid in Brooklyn, Staten Island and most of Queens (NYC311). Know which one serves the address before you ask about a shut-off or a new meter.

What a home inspection NYC buyers order covers under the Standards, and what it leaves out

Under the state’s Standards of Practice, a home inspection is a visual examination of readily accessible, visually observable systems, using normal operating controls (19 NYCRR 197-5.1 and 5.3). Our guide to what a New York home inspection includes lists the systems. Most of the surprises come from what buyers assume. The table sets the common assumptions against the rules.

The inspector must give you a written pre-inspection agreement describing the scope, and the written report within five business days after the inspection. Ask when you book how soon to expect yours. Our license number is in the footer of every page, and here is how to check it with the Department of State, or anyone else’s.

Which visit for which building

A building that combines a store with up to four apartments raises a scoping question, because the license covers the apartments and the store is not residential. Ask us how a visit would be divided.

Where the inspection fits in a New York City purchase

How long you have to inspect is a term of your contract and not of the Standards, so read our guide to the inspection contingency with your attorney before you sign. Then, in order:

1. Pull the certificate of occupancy and the Buildings record for the address, and send us what you find.
2. If the building has one to four units, the seller must deliver the property condition disclosure statement before you sign a binding contract. The statement is not a substitute for any inspection or test.
3. Book the visit and decide who joins you. Findings can be explained in English, Urdu, Punjabi or Hindi.
4. Expect the written report within five business days after the inspection, and read it with your attorney before you negotiate.

Selling in the five boroughs

Sellers of a one- to four-family house must complete the State’s property condition disclosure statement and deliver it before the buyer signs a binding contract. Sellers of co-op apartments and condominium units do not file it (Real Property Law §461), and several kinds of transfer are exempt (§463). The form asks about the floodplain, flood insurance, federal disaster aid, an elevation certificate and past water damage, questions that matter in every borough (§462). At closing, the seller of a one- or two-family house also delivers an affidavit that the smoke alarms comply (Executive Law §378). Every borough has its own page for sellers: Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island. We make no claim that an inspection before listing raises a price or shortens a sale.

Beyond the five boroughs: Long Island and Westchester

We also inspect in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester, where the records and the rules change. New York City keeps its own building and fire codes, and outside it towns, villages and cities enforce the State code. The Census figures below show how different the housing is. The State’s radon kit results, which cover the five boroughs together, are the other contrast (NYS Department of Health).

Kit results are not an estimate for all homes, so read the last column as a reason to test and not as a ranking. For the region east of the city, see home inspection on Long Island, with pages for Nassau and Suffolk. For the county north of the Bronx, see our Westchester guide. Everything we serve is listed under areas we serve.

Frequently asked questions

About the figures on this page

• American Community Survey five-year estimates for 2020 to 2024, by county. Five-borough shares add the five counties’ counts. Estimates carry margins of error, so we round and avoid comparing close numbers.
• NYC Department of City Planning, PLUTO, version 26v2. Lots are tax lots; homes are residential units on residential lots. The one- to three-family counts use building classes; year built is often a rounded estimate for older buildings.
• NYC 311 service requests, calendar year 2025. A 311 complaint is a report from the public and not a confirmed violation.
• OpenFEMA, National Flood Insurance Program claims, version 3, counted by reported ZIP code and by the event FEMA attaches to each claim. Claims reflect losses on flood-insurance policies only.
• Radon figures are cumulative since 1987 for tests sold or processed through the State Health Department’s program only. Landmark counts come from the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s historic-districts dataset (LPC), which holds 70 Manhattan, 42 Brooklyn, 13 Queens, 13 Bronx and 3 Staten Island records. Rules and agency pages were read in October 2026; they change, so check the current text.

How to book a home inspection NYC-wide

When you call, give us the address, the kind of building, the number of units and whether anyone rents a floor. If you have the certificate of occupancy, send it. We will tell you what we would look at first and which add-on tests suit the building. We inspect throughout the five boroughs, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester, and travel elsewhere on request.

To ask something first, call 718-925-7071.

More guides for New York City

These pages go deeper on specific places and services under New York City.

• Queens: What we inspect in Queens homes, why Queens needs a specialized inspection and the problems we find most often.
• Brooklyn: Brooklyn property types from brownstones to multi-family buildings, common problems and the neighborhoods we serve.
• The Bronx: Bronx homes from pre-war buildings to multi-family houses: what we inspect and the issues we find.
• Manhattan: Manhattan apartments and townhouses: property types, what an inspection leaves out, cost and building records.
• Staten Island: Staten Island’s coastal and flood risks, Hurricane Sandy legacy issues, oil tanks and older housing.
• Two- and three-family houses: Why a two- or three-family house is closer to a small apartment building, with borough data from city records.
• Commercial inspection in New York City: For buyers, tenants and lenders: what a commercial inspection covers, the city rules that apply and what it is not.