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A co-op and condo inspection in Manhattan covers the apartment and not the building, and Manhattan is mostly buildings. The Census Bureau’s survey puts about 95% of the borough’s homes in buildings of five or more units, and the city’s tax-lot file averages 29.6 homes on every residential lot. When you buy a share or a unit you buy an apartment you can walk through and a stake in a roof, a facade, a boiler and an elevator you cannot. This page explains what the visit reaches, what the State’s rules leave out, and which papers fill the gap.
We are Inspecwise, a home inspection business in South Ozone Park, Queens, licensed by New York State and certified by InterNACHI, and findings can be explained in English, Urdu, Punjabi or Hindi. The page is for buyers. If you are buying a townhouse or brownstone, start with our guide to home inspection in Manhattan; if you are selling an apartment, read the last section of our pre-listing inspection page. Our condo versus home inspection guide compares the two services in general terms.
Shares and a lease, or a unit and a deed: what you own
The two forms of ownership give you different things, and the difference shapes everything an inspector can tell you. The table sets them side by side, with the tax label the Department of Finance gives each.
| Co-op apartment | Condominium apartment | |
|---|---|---|
| What you buy | Shares in a corporation, allocated to a specific apartment (Attorney General) | Separate, individual ownership of a unit and an undivided interest in the common elements of the building (Attorney General) |
| The right that goes with it | Ownership of the shares entitles you to a long-term proprietary lease for the apartment | The Condominium Act describes the unit owner as owning the unit in fee simple absolute (Real Property Law §339-e) |
| Who runs the building | Co-op owners are both shareholders in and tenants of the same corporation, run by a board of directors the shareholders elect (Attorney General) | The declaration says what is common, and the statute supplies a default list (below) |
| How the city’s tax record labels it | C6 walk-up cooperative, D4 elevator cooperative; C8 and D0 for co-ops converted from a loft or warehouse (Department of Finance) | R4 condo residential unit in an elevator building; R9 a co-op within a condominium |
| What the State Standards say about common parts | The exclusion below names condominiums. Either way, a visit to one apartment reaches little of the building around it | An inspector is not required to inspect any condominium common component or system, or to evaluate reserve accounts (19 NYCRR 197-5.16(f)) |
The City’s Housing and Vacancy Survey adds a fact about who lives in these buildings. Its report puts the homeownership rate at 62 percent in co-ops and 35 percent in condos, and says condos and co-ops are an important part of the rental stock (HPD, selected initial findings). In practice, a good number of the apartments around the one you are buying are rented, which matters for the lead-paint and mold rules below. The same report puts 77 percent of Manhattan’s units in buildings with an elevator.
Where your apartment ends and the building begins
The Condominium Act lists what counts as a common element unless the condo’s own declaration provides otherwise (Real Property Law §339-e). The default list is long and mostly structural: the foundations, columns, girders, beams, supports, main walls, roofs, halls, corridors, lobbies, stairs, stairways, fire escapes, entrances and exits, together with central and appurtenant installations for services such as power, light, gas, hot and cold water, heating, refrigeration, air conditioning and incineration. Because the declaration can change the list, it decides what is common in a given building. Since the November 2025 revision the Act also defines a “capital replacement” as a building-wide replacement of a major component of the elevator, HVAC, plumbing, wiring, window or major structural systems.
| Part of the building | On the Act’s default list of common elements | What a visit to your unit can see |
|---|---|---|
| Foundations, columns, girders, beams and supports | Yes | Nothing directly. The report describes only the unit’s own walls, floors and ceilings |
| Main walls (the facade) | Yes, as main walls | The inside face of exterior walls, the windows and any visible water staining |
| Roofs | Yes | Nothing, unless the building gives access to the roof; otherwise the report lists it as not observed, with the reason |
| Halls, corridors, lobbies, stairs and fire escapes | Yes | The door and the entry area of the unit |
| Central power, gas, water, heating and air conditioning installations | Yes, as central and appurtenant installations | The radiators, valves, fixtures and thermostat in the unit, but not the central plant |
The table follows the Condominium Act. A co-op is a corporation and not a condominium, so the Act’s list does not govern it. What is yours to maintain in a co-op, and what belongs to the corporation, comes from the proprietary lease and the corporation’s documents, which you and your attorney should read before the inspection and not after it.
What a co-op and condo inspection in Manhattan covers inside the unit
The State’s Standards of Practice define an inspection as a visual examination using normal operating controls and opening readily operable access panels (19 NYCRR 197-5.1). Inside an apartment, that is a list of concrete tasks, each tied to a section of the Standards:
- Plumbing. We operate the readily accessible fixtures and faucets, check the supply and drain-waste-vent piping we can see for leaks, and describe the water heater if there is one in the unit (197-5.8).
- Electrical. We report the service amperage and voltage, look inside the panel where the cover is readily removable, check a representative number of receptacles and ground-fault circuit interrupters, note aluminum branch wiring, and report whether smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are present. The Standards ask for presence, not proof that they work (197-5.9).
- Heating and cooling. We describe the fuel, equipment and distribution, operate the system with the thermostat, and report on controls and visible components. Wall and window air-conditioning units are outside what the Standards require us to observe (197-5.10, 5.11).
- Interior. We look at walls, ceilings, floors, a representative number of windows and doors, steps and railings, and visible signs of water penetration. The Standards do not require an inspector to observe lifts or elevators (197-5.12).
- Everything else in the report. A system or major component that was not observed goes into the report with the reason (197-5.3). In a co-op or condominium, the roof, the facade, the boiler room and the risers behind the walls will usually be on that list.
What the visit does not do
The Standards limit the visit in ways that matter more in an apartment than in a house. The inspector need not observe anything concealed or not readily accessible, need not move furniture or personal property, and is not required to report on past or present code violations. An inspection under the Standards is not technically exhaustive and need not find concealed conditions or latent defects. It does not give the remaining life of a system, the cause of a condition, or the cost of correcting it (197-5.16). So a stain under a window is reported as a stain. Whether it comes from the facade, the roof or a neighbor’s pipe is a question for the building’s engineer and its managing agent.
Does the state licensing definition reach an apartment?
The honest answer is that it is unclear. The licensing statute defines a residential building as a structure of one to four dwelling units (Real Property Law §444-b). A unit in a forty-unit building is not obviously a “structure consisting of one to four dwelling units,” and the statute does not say how the Department of State treats a co-op or condominium unit. We have not found a Department statement on the point, so we do not claim an answer in either direction. If you are buying an apartment, give us the building’s address when you call and ask us about the building before you book; we will tell you how we would scope the visit.
Documents worth asking for before you rely on any inspection
A co-op and condo inspection in Manhattan works best when the paper arrives first. The Attorney General’s guide to buying a co-op or condo says that sales of units are made under the terms of an offering plan, and it highly recommends that a buyer read the entire plan and consult an attorney before signing a purchase agreement (Attorney General, “You buy a co-op or condo”). The guide also lists the physical aspects a buyer should understand: the facade, roof, flooring, appliances, sub-soil conditions, elevators, air conditioning and heating systems, windows, wiring and plumbing. The table lists the documents that the official sources say will tell you about them.
| Document | What the source says it can show | Source |
|---|---|---|
| The offering plan | The terms and conditions of a sale of cooperative and condominium units. In a conversion of an existing building, the sponsor must have the building evaluated by an engineer, and the plan must disclose all the defects visible to that engineer | Attorney General |
| Board minutes from the past year | The Attorney General says whatever defects exist in the building are likely to be described in them | Attorney General |
| The most recent financial report | The accountant’s footnotes may show the actual or potential cost of certain repairs | Attorney General |
| The certificate of occupancy and floor-use records | DOB says a certificate states a building’s legal use and permitted occupancy, and DOB NOW shows the certificate details and floor-use records for requests made on or after 1 March 2021 | DOB |
| DOB violations, complaints and applications | The Buildings Information System lets anyone search a property’s recorded complaints, violations, actions, applications and inspections | DOB |
| The facade filing status | DOB publishes a map showing the filing status of each eligible facade for the current and previous cycles | DOB |
| HPD records | HPD Online shows complaints and violations, property registration, charges and litigation, and vacate orders for a building | HPD |
Be careful with the first row on a resale. The Attorney General warns that on a resale the offering plan may not have current or accurate disclosure about the building’s condition, or there may be no plan available. A resale by an owner who is not the sponsor is not regulated by the Attorney General, and no offering plan is required. The minutes, the financial report and the public records are what remain. We do not advise on what a particular board will release, or on the other terms of a purchase; your attorney does.
The expensive items in an older building, and where they show from the unit
The Attorney General says the most expensive problems in existing buildings involve facade defects, with pointing (repairing the mortar between the bricks), roof and elevator repairs also expensive. It adds that plumbing upgrades, because pipes eventually become clogged by deposits from the water, electrical upgrades and boiler replacements are other significant problems (Attorney General). Those are costs of the building, and the shareholders or unit owners share them. The Condominium Act’s definition of capital replacement names a similar list: elevator, HVAC, plumbing, wiring, windows and major structural systems.
What a unit visit can add is evidence from inside. Visible signs of water penetration on exterior walls and ceilings, window frames and sills that show water damage, an electrical panel that is full or poorly labeled, radiators and valves that are corroded or leaking: each goes into the report as observed, and each is a reason to ask the managing agent what capital work the building has done or planned. The facade is the one cost with a public paper trail. Under the city’s facade program the examiner rates a wall Safe, SWARMP (safe but needing repairs within five years, though not less than one) or Unsafe, and a SWARMP condition that is still uncorrected at the next inspection must be reported as unsafe (DOB facade page).
Building-wide filings: what the corporation or board owns, and what you inherit
Several city duties fall on the owner of the building, which in a co-op is the corporation and in a condominium is the association of unit owners. A buyer inherits them through assessments and through the building’s record. The table lists the ones with a clear cut-off, so you can tell whether your building is likely to be in or out. It summarizes the agencies’ pages and does not replace them.
| Duty | What the city says it reaches | What to ask for | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facade inspection (Local Law 11) | Buildings with any exterior wall higher than six stories, whatever the certificate says. Only a Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector may examine; unsafe conditions must be repaired within 90 days of filing | The latest technical report, the rating and the repair schedule | DOB · 1 RCNY 103-04 |
| Gas piping inspection (Local Law 152) | All properties except one- and two-family homes and other Occupancy Group R-3 buildings, so a co-op or condo building of three or more units is inside. Gas piping, equipment, appliances and connections within dwelling units are exempt | The record of the last inspection; note that your kitchen’s own gas line is outside the city inspection | DOB · LL152 FAQ |
| Boiler inspection | Low-pressure boilers in residential buildings of six or more families, every year; buildings of five families or fewer are exempt | The latest boiler filing and any open violation | DOB |
| Elevator inspection and tests | Elevators must be inspected and tested twice annually | The test records | DOB |
| Parapet observation | All buildings with parapets fronting the public right-of-way, regardless of height, from 1 January 2024 | Whether an observation was done and what it found | DOB |
| Local Law 97 emissions limits | Any building that exceeds 25,000 gross square feet. DOB’s text also names two or more condominium buildings governed by the same board that together exceed 50,000 | Whether the building is covered and what the board has planned; DOB’s text names condominiums here and not co-ops | DOB |
| HPD registration | All residential properties of three or more units, condominiums and cooperatives included. An individual co-op shareholder does not register a unit; the board registers for the cooperative | The registration record on HPD Online | HPD |
| Window guards | Owners, managers or agents of multiple dwellings of three or more apartments, in apartment and public hallway windows where children ten or younger live | Ask the managing agent how the duty is handled; the Health Department’s pages do not speak to apartments occupied by their shareholders | Health Department · window guard page |
The facade program has a calendar. Cycle 10 began on 21 February 2025, and buildings file within a window set by the last digit of the tax block, the earliest closing on 21 February 2027 and the last on 21 February 2029 (DOB Cycle 10 table). The five-year interval on DOB’s page is also under revision: Local Law 49 of 2025 lets DOB set it between 6 and 12 years from 1 October 2026, and we found no DOB rule setting it when we looked on 25 October 2026. Ask which window your building is in.
Lead paint, mold and asbestos when a unit is rented or renovated
HPD’s page on Local Law 1 of 2004 covers multiple dwellings of three or more units built before 1960, and it lists co-op and condo units that are not occupied by the owner or a family member. An owner-occupied unit is not on that list. If a unit is occupied by a tenant and not by the owner, HPD says the Annual Notice requirements of Local Law 1 apply (HPD). That matters if you plan to rent the apartment, or if you buy one with a tenant in place.
For a sale, a federal rule applies on top. EPA’s page addresses sellers of homes, apartments and condominiums alike. It says the requirement applies to most pre-1978 private housing, that sellers must provide specific information about known lead-based paint and hazards, and that buyers must be given a 10-day period to conduct a paint inspection or risk assessment (EPA). The Standards do not have an inspector determine whether lead paint is present (197-5.16(c)); see our lead paint page.
On mold, the Health Department says owners of buildings with three or more apartments must keep tenants’ homes free of mold, including by safely repairing underlying problems such as water leaks, and that licensed assessors and remediators are required for areas over 10 square feet in buildings with 10 or more apartments (Health Department). The page speaks of owners and tenants, and we cannot tell you from it how the duty works for an apartment occupied by its own shareholder. On asbestos, DEP says it can be found in almost all buildings constructed before 1989 and that building owners must have a DEP-certified asbestos investigator survey before work that may disturb it (DEP). If you plan to renovate a kitchen or bath in an older building, the survey is a step before the contractor starts. Our pages on asbestos and mold cover testing, which a home inspection under the Standards does not include.
Why the State’s disclosure form does not apply to a co-op or condo seller
A seller of a house must deliver a property condition disclosure statement before the buyer signs a binding contract. A seller of a co-op or condominium apartment does not. The Property Condition Disclosure Act defines “residential real property” as real property improved by a one to four family dwelling used as a home, and says the term does not refer to condominium units or cooperative apartments (Real Property Law §461).
The form house sellers use asks whether a radon test has been done, whether the property has been tested for indoor mold, and about known defects in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors (Real Property Law §462). An apartment seller has no such form, so the questions have to be asked another way: through your attorney, in writing, and from the documents in the table above. One state paper does apply. On the conveyance of a condominium unit or co-op apartment, the seller delivers an affidavit of smoke-alarm compliance at closing, and the buyer has ten days to say an alarm is not operable (Executive Law §378). We report only whether detectors are present, so test them yourself on the day you move in.
Reading the tax record: class codes for co-ops, condos and lofts
The Department of Finance gives every tax lot a building class, and the class is the quickest public clue to how the city files a building. It is a tax label and not proof of what a building is lawfully used for; the certificate of occupancy answers that.
| Class | The Department of Finance’s label | What it tells a buyer |
|---|---|---|
| C6 | Walk-up cooperative | The city files the building as a co-op without an elevator |
| D4 | Elevator cooperative | The city files the building as a co-op with an elevator |
| C8 and D0 | Walk-up co-op and elevator co-op; conversion from loft or warehouse | A former loft or warehouse, so ask how it was converted and read its certificate |
| R4 | Condo; residential unit in an elevator building | The city files the unit as a condominium residential unit in an elevator building |
| R9 | Co-op within a condominium | The city files a co-op that sits within a condominium |
| L1 | Loft; over 8 stories (“mid Manhattan type”) | A loft building over eight stories, so within the height range of the facade program |
The sources: Department of Finance building classes. An “L1” row tells you nothing on its own about whether the building has been converted to apartments; the certificate does.
Where Manhattan’s big apartment buildings are
The tax-lot file counts residential units by ZIP, and dividing homes by lots shows where buildings are large. Lower Manhattan, as the Health Department groups its ZIPs, averages 97.7 homes on each lot, because a few very large buildings hold most of its homes. The twelve ZIPs with the most homes are in the table. A ZIP code is a mail-delivery area and not a neighborhood; the names are the Health Department’s labels for groups of ZIPs (Health Department ZIP table), not official boundaries.
| ZIP | Health Department neighborhood | Homes | Residential lots | Homes per lot | Lots recorded as built before 1940 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10025 | Upper West Side | 49,334 | 1,364 | 36.2 | 91.0% |
| 10023 | Upper West Side | 44,258 | 1,134 | 39.0 | 91.1% |
| 10016 | Gramercy Park – Murray Hill | 41,131 | 961 | 42.8 | 78.7% |
| 10002 | Union Square – Lower East Side | 36,841 | 1,180 | 31.2 | 84.6% |
| 10019 | Chelsea – Clinton | 36,634 | 671 | 54.6 | 77.6% |
| 10029 | East Harlem | 36,349 | 1,140 | 31.9 | 83.2% |
| 10128 | Upper East Side | 36,089 | 1,178 | 30.6 | 86.9% |
| 10024 | Upper West Side | 35,751 | 1,611 | 22.2 | 95.7% |
| 10009 | Union Square – Lower East Side | 34,330 | 1,102 | 31.2 | 83.9% |
| 10011 | Chelsea – Clinton | 34,309 | 1,672 | 20.5 | 88.3% |
| 10003 | Union Square – Lower East Side | 33,685 | 1,489 | 22.6 | 89.9% |
| 10028 | Upper East Side | 30,881 | 1,068 | 28.9 | 83.3% |
The twelve range from 20.5 to 54.6 homes per lot, and every one has more than 75% of its lots recorded before 1940, a year that for old buildings is often a rounded estimate. Older does not mean worse, but it does mean more years of capital work to ask about.
Frequently asked questions
What is a proprietary lease?
It is the long-term lease for your apartment that goes with owning the shares in a co-op corporation. The Attorney General describes co-op owners as both shareholders in and tenants of the same corporation.
Do I own the walls and pipes in a Manhattan condo?
You own your unit outright and an undivided interest in the common elements. The Condominium Act’s default list puts main walls, structural supports and central installations in the common elements, but the condo’s declaration can provide otherwise, so read it.
Does the inspector have to look at the roof and boiler of a condominium?
No. The State’s Standards say an inspector is not required to inspect any condominium common component or system, or to evaluate reserve accounts. The report lists what was not observed, with the reason.
Does a Manhattan co-op seller give me a property condition disclosure statement?
No. The Property Condition Disclosure Act does not refer to condominium units or cooperative apartments, so the form is not required. Ask your attorney for the building documents instead.
Is an offering plan required when I buy a resale apartment?
Not when the seller is an owner and not the sponsor, because the Attorney General does not regulate that sale. The Attorney General also warns that a plan may not be current or may not exist, so read the minutes and the financial report.
Is my apartment’s gas line part of the city’s gas piping inspection?
No. DOB exempts gas piping, equipment, appliances and points of connection inside dwelling units. The building’s piping up to the apartment is inside the inspection if the building has three or more units.
Who registers a co-op with HPD?
The co-op board registers on behalf of the cooperative, and an individual shareholder is not required to register a unit. HPD requires annual registration of residential properties of three or more units, condominiums and cooperatives included.
Does the state home inspector license cover an apartment in a large building?
The statute defines a residential building as one to four dwelling units and does not say how it treats a unit in a larger building. We have found no Department of State statement, so ask us about your building before you book.
About the figures on this page
- NYC Department of City Planning, PLUTO, version 26v2. Counts are residential tax lots; homes are residential units. For older buildings the year built is often a rounded estimate, so we quote shares built before 1940 and never a median year.
- American Community Survey five-year estimates for 2020 to 2024, New York County; estimates carry margins of error, so we round.
- NYC Housing and Vacancy Survey, selected initial findings: the homeownership rates for condos and co-ops are the report’s figures, and we name the report and not a year for them.
- United Hospital Fund codes: the Health Department’s neighborhood names for groups of ZIP codes.
- The Attorney General, DOB, HPD, DEP, EPA and Health Department pages and the statutes cited were read in October 2026. Laws change, so check the current text before you rely on a date.
Before you book an apartment inspection
When you call to arrange a co-op and condo inspection in Manhattan, tell us whether the apartment is a co-op or a condominium, give us the building’s address, and say whether you have the offering plan, the board minutes or the latest financial report. We will say what we would look at in the unit and which questions belong with your attorney and the managing agent.
Our New York State license number is printed at the foot of every page, and here is how to check it with the Department of State. We cover the five boroughs, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester; see home inspections in New York City for the rest of the city, and commercial inspection in Manhattan if the building is not residential.
Questions first? Call 718-925-7071.