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A pre-listing inspection in Staten Island has to be read beside a document you will sign anyway: the State’s property condition disclosure statement. If you sell a one- to four-family house, the form asks you at least seven questions about water. Is any of the property in a FEMA-designated floodplain or the 100-year flood hazard area? Does federal law require you to carry flood insurance? Did you, or a previous owner you know of, receive federal disaster flood assistance? Is there a FEMA elevation certificate? Has the structure had water penetration or flood damage? Has standing water been a problem? On an island whose ZIP codes hold 19,370 flood-insurance claims in FEMA’s file, a buyer’s attorney will read those answers closely.
We are Inspecwise, a New York State-licensed, InterNACHI-certified home inspection business based in South Ozone Park, Queens, and findings can be explained in English, Urdu, Punjabi or Hindi. This page speaks to the seller of a house on the Island. It sets out what an inspection before listing is and is not, what the form asks, how the Island’s flood, fuel-tank and zoning rules show up in those answers, and what to gather before a buyer’s side asks. We make no claim that an inspection raises your price or shortens your sale, and nothing here is legal advice: we say what the law says and whom it covers, and your attorney applies it to your house. If you are buying, start with our Staten Island buyer’s guide.
What a pre-listing inspection in Staten Island is, and where it stops
It is an ordinary home inspection that you order. The state’s Standards of Practice define “inspect” as a visual examination using normal operating controls and opening readily operable access panels, and have the inspector report on readily accessible, visually observable systems and list any that could not be seen, with the reason (19 NYCRR 197-5.1 and 5.3). The report is yours. State law makes it confidential, so it is not disclosed without your express consent, and the written report is due within five business days after the inspection (Real Property Law §444-g). The buyer’s inspector works for the buyer and reaches independent conclusions, so your report does not replace theirs. It shows you what their visit will look at.
Four limits matter to a Staten Island seller. The inspector does not decide whether the house meets any code or whether a second unit is lawful, and need not report past or present violations (197-4.4 and 5.16). The visit does not observe underground storage tanks or underground drainage, and it excludes septic systems and cesspools (197-5.8 and 5.16). It does not test for mold, lead paint, asbestos or termites, and the licensing statute excludes radon and pests from a home inspection. And it is not engineering or architecture. The same law bars the inspector from taking a fee that depends on the sale or the result, and from doing, for an extra fee, any repair on a house he or she has reported on before the sale closes, so the contractor who fixes your list will be someone else (Real Property Law §444-g(4)).
The water questions on the disclosure form, and what stands behind each
The statute sets out the form, and it says it is not a substitute for any inspections or tests. You have no duty to investigate, and an “as is” sale remains open to the parties (Real Property Law §462). What you do have is a duty to answer from what you know. The table lists the Island-relevant questions in our words and sets what an inspection can show against what only paper or another professional can.
| Form question (our paraphrase) | What a pre-listing report can tell you | What only a record or another professional can tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Is any or all of the property in a FEMA-designated floodplain, or in the 100-year Special Flood Hazard Area? | Nothing about the map. It records the grade, drainage and visible water signs on the lot. | The City’s flood-map result for the address and the lender’s flood determination, if you have a mortgage |
| Is the property subject to a federal requirement to obtain and maintain flood insurance? | Nothing. | Your mortgage papers and the declarations page of your flood policy |
| Have you, or a previous owner you know of, received FEMA, SBA or other federal disaster flood assistance? | Nothing. | Your own files, and what you learned at purchase; your attorney can advise on previous owners |
| Is there a FEMA elevation certificate for the property? | Nothing. The form says a licensed surveyor or engineer completes one. | A surveyor or engineer; attach a copy if you have it |
| Has the structure had water penetration or damage from seepage or a natural flood event? | Visible signs of water penetration, which the Standards require the inspector to report | Repair invoices, insurance claims and photographs from past events |
| Have flooding, drainage or grading problems left standing water on any part of the property? | Land grade and water drainage at the foundation, downspouts and drains that discharge badly | Your own history of the yard and the street |
| What kind of sewage system serves the house: public sewer, private sewer, septic or cesspool? | Whether supply and waste are public, private or unknown (197-5.8). Septic systems and cesspools are not evaluated. | A plumber or septic specialist; a camera inspection for the line to the street |
| Is any or all of the property in a designated wetland? Was it ever a landfill? | Nothing. Geological and soil conditions are outside the Standards. | The Department of Environmental Conservation and the title and survey records |
| Are there, or have there ever been, fuel storage tanks above or below the ground? Has fuel or other petroleum spilled or leaked? | Visible tank components and connections. A buried tank need not be observed. | Removal papers and a specialist search (see the section on tanks below) |
| Is there asbestos in the structure? Is lead plumbing present? | The materials of visible supply piping. Hazardous substances are not tested. | A DEP-certified asbestos investigator; a water-line check and your plumber |
Every row in the middle column is a limit, not a failing. The form puts the burden on what you know, and no inspection can know the history of the house or of the lot. If a question has an answer that you cannot give, say so on the form and ask your attorney how to phrase it.
When federal disaster aid stays with the house
One sentence on the form deserves more attention than it gets. Where a property received federal disaster flood assistance, the form says the requirement to obtain flood insurance passes down to all future owners. It matters because the obligation travels with the property, so a buyer wants to know before signing. The form asks whether you, or any previous owner you are aware of, received assistance from FEMA, the Small Business Administration or another federal source for flood damage.
Answer from your own records. If you bought the house after Sandy, your purchase file may name earlier owners’ claims; if you do not know, the form asks only what you are aware of. The statute makes a seller liable for the buyer’s actual damages only for a willful failure to meet its requirements, and it says a statement later found materially inaccurate must be replaced by a revised one as soon as practicable, until title transfers or the buyer takes occupancy, whichever comes first (Real Property Law §465 and §464). A few transfers need no statement, among them court-ordered sales, foreclosures, transfers by fiduciaries, to a spouse or lineal relative, and new houses never lived in (§463). Whether yours is one is for your attorney.
Fuel tanks on the form: the 1,100-gallon line and the two-hour rule
About 4% of Staten Island’s occupied homes burn fuel oil today, against 85% on utility gas (Census Bureau, 2020 to 2024 survey), but the form does not ask what you burn. It asks whether there are or ever were fuel storage tanks above or below the ground, and whether motor fuel, heating fuel or other petroleum has spilled or leaked. A house that converted to gas can still answer yes.
Two rules frame the answer. The State’s petroleum storage rules do not treat as a regulated “facility” a heating-oil tank of under 1,100 gallons that serves only the premises and is not connected to other tanks (6 NYCRR 613-1.3). And anyone responsible for a petroleum discharge must notify the Department of Environmental Conservation immediately and in no case later than two hours after it (Navigation Law §175). We could not read the City’s rules on closing an unused tank, so we state none. Before listing, find the install date, service records and any removal invoice, and tell your attorney if you suspect a leak. Our inspection reports what it can see of an above-ground tank and its connections; a buried one needs a separate search (our oil tank guide).
Selling in or beside a buyout area, a coastal-risk district or a natural-area district
Zoning can change what a buyer thinks the lot is worth, and the buyer’s attorney will ask. After Sandy, New York State’s Enhanced Buyout Program led to the demolition of 473 Staten Island homes, according to the City Comptroller (Ten Years After Sandy). The Zoning Resolution created Special Coastal Risk District 3 for the buyout areas in Graham Beach, Ocean Breeze and Oakwood Beach. There, no development or horizontal enlargement may occur unless the City Planning Commission authorizes it, and in every Special Coastal Risk District no ancillary dwelling units are allowed (ZR Article XIII, Chapter 7).
Elsewhere the constraint is the land. In the Special Natural Area Districts, around Emerson Hill, Dongan Hills, Todt Hill and Lighthouse Hill, an application goes to the City Planning Commission before the Department of Buildings issues a permit for development, enlargement or site alteration, unless an exception applies (ZR Article X, Chapter 5). The Special Hillsides Preservation District bars development, enlargement or site alteration in an area of no disturbance (ZR Article XI, Chapter 9). We do not know which of these, if any, covers your lot, and a home inspection does not decide it. Pull the zoning district from City Planning’s maps before you list, and be ready to say what a buyer may build. Whether and how the listing mentions it is a question for your attorney.
Certificate of occupancy, permits and second units on the Island
A buyer’s attorney can read your certificate of occupancy, your permits and your violations on the Department of Buildings’ website before the buyer’s inspector arrives. Staten Island has 31,349 two-family tax lots, and 2,863 of them (9.1%) carry the class “two family converted from one family,” against 35.5% in Queens. The class marks a conversion in the tax file and not whether anyone obtained a permit. In 2025, 311 took 803 Staten Island complaints about illegal conversion (4.5 per 1,000 homes) and 794 about work with no building permit (4.4). They are reports from neighbors and not findings, and we checked that no single month holds more than a fifth of the year’s count.
Start with the certificate. It states the legal use and the type of permitted occupancy, has no expiry date, and cannot be issued while applications or violations are open. A building from before 1938 is not required to have one unless later alterations changed its use, egress or occupancy; the Department can then issue a Letter of No Objection to confirm legal use (DOB certificate of occupancy page). Look the address up in DOB NOW for requests from 1 March 2021 and in the Buildings Information System for earlier ones. The Department also warns that open violations can prevent a sale or a refinancing and that it issues no new or amended certificate while they stay active (DOB violations page). Your deed and mortgage records are held by the Richmond County Clerk, not on ACRIS (Department of Finance).
If a basement, garage or yard unit was added, the rules differ by place. An ancillary dwelling unit may not exceed 800 square feet, must sit on the lot of a one- or two-family residence that is an owner’s primary residence, may not be below the flood-resistant construction elevation in the high-risk flood zone, and may not be in a basement or cellar in areas DEP maps as 10-year rainfall flood risk or 1-percent coastal flood risk (ZR 12-10). HPD says 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). We report what is in the house, such as a second kitchen or a second set of meters. We do not say whether it is lawful. Speak to your attorney before the house is listed, because how a unit is described in the listing is a legal question.
What a buyer’s side reads before the inspector arrives
We keep no tally of what inspections find in Staten Island houses, so this section starts from the public records a buyer’s side can read. The figures describe the Island or its ZIPs. A ZIP code is a mail-delivery area, not a neighborhood, and a Health Department neighborhood name is a health-survey label for a group of ZIPs (Health Department table). They tell you what questions are in the air, not what is wrong with your house.
| Record | What it shows for the Island | The question it prompts | Papers to find |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flood-insurance claims (FEMA) | 19,370 claims since 1978; five ZIPs hold 84% | Has this house made a claim, and what does the map say for the address? | Your claims history, the map result, an elevation certificate |
| Year built (PLUTO) | 20.1% of one- to three-family lots built before 1940; by ZIP, from 4% to 61.7% | Which systems are original, and when was the rest replaced? | Dates, receipts and permits for roof, boiler, water heater and electrical service |
| Basements (PLUTO) | A full basement under a median 80.6% of lots in a ZIP | Has it been wet, and is any of it lived in? | Pump service records, permits for finished space |
| Sewer backups (311, 2025) | 777 complaints, 4.3 per 1,000 homes; ZIP rates from 1.5 to 7.6 | Has this house backed up, and is there a backwater valve? | Plumber’s records, valve permit and service, a camera inspection if there is a history |
| Conversions (Finance) | 9.1% of two-family lots classed as converted | Does the house match its certificate of occupancy? | The certificate, permits for a second kitchen, bath or meter |
| Heating fuel (Census) | About 4% of occupied homes burn oil | Is there a tank, in use or abandoned? | Tank age, service and removal records |
| Landmarks (LPC) | Three historic districts and 198 individual-landmark records | Is the house designated, and was exterior work permitted? | LPC permits for windows, doors, porches and roofing |
Two cautions. The 311 figure counts complaints and not confirmed backups, and the claims figure counts losses reported on policies and not floods, so a quiet number is not proof of a dry house and a loud one is not proof of a wet one. And if your house is in a landmark district, the Landmarks Preservation Commission wants a permit for work that changes the exterior, even where the Department of Buildings would not, and treats unpermitted work by a prior owner as the current owner’s responsibility (LPC violations page).
Water on the lot: what to fix, document or disclose before the buyer’s inspector walks it
Because the form asks about water seven ways, we would look at water first. The Standards have us report grade and drainage at the foundation, roof drainage, active leaks, the sump and ejector pumps we can reach, and visible signs of water penetration inside (197-5.4, 5.7, 5.8 and 5.12). Four checks are within a seller’s reach. Make sure downspouts discharge away from the house. Have a sump or ejector pump serviced, and keep the invoice. Clear the window wells and the route to the basement drains. And if a downspout runs into the sewer line, ask your plumber to quote disconnecting it, because DEP’s guidance on sewer backups says to include that work (DEP sewer-backup report).
The pipe from the house to the sewer main belongs to the owner, and DEP issues a Notice to Repair when a backup traces to the private line (DEP sewer-backup page). If the house has a backwater valve, DEP tells sellers to disclose it to buyers, because its maintenance passes to the new owner, and warns that a poorly maintained valve causes backups instead of preventing them. A camera inspection of the line is a separate service from ours; see our sewer scope guide.
Fix, credit or disclose: three cases from the Island’s records
After the inspection you hold a list, and each item calls for one of three choices: repair it before listing, leave it for a negotiation, or say so on the form and in your conversations. The choice is yours and your attorney’s, and the contract sets what you owe a buyer after the buyer’s inspection. Our guides to the inspection contingency and to mandatory fixes cover the buyer’s side. Three cases show the logic.
- A wet basement. Find the source before you repaint, since fresh paint over a stain is what a buyer’s inspector notices first. Repair an active leak and keep the invoice. If the basement has flooded, the form’s water questions ask about it, and the answer must match your own knowledge.
- An old oil tank. If it is above ground and in use, service records help. If you cannot say whether a tank was removed, a specialist search turns an open question into a documented answer, and the form asks the question either way.
- A second kitchen with no certificate behind it. Do not describe it as legal, and do not remove evidence of it to avoid the question. See your attorney first. HPD and DOB can issue violations and vacate orders for illegal basement or cellar occupancy.
Whatever you decide, the statement you sign must match what you know. Fixing a problem does not change the fact that you knew of it, so ask your attorney how to describe a defect you have repaired. Use licensed trades for the work: the Department of Buildings issues plumbing permits only to a Licensed Master Plumber, and electrical work needs a permit and a Licensed Master Electrician (DOB on plumbing; DOB on electrical work).
Lead, asbestos and alarms: the closing paperwork
A house built before 1978 brings a federal step. The seller must give the buyer known lead-based paint information and a 10-day period to test, which the buyer may waive (EPA real estate disclosure). The City’s Local Law 1 of 2004 covers tenant-occupied units in one- and two-unit houses built before 1960 and does not list owner-occupied ones (HPD). The form asks about asbestos in the structure and about lead plumbing. DEP says asbestos can be found in almost all buildings constructed before 1989 (DEP), and a pre-listing inspection does not test for it.
At closing, the seller of a one- or two-family house must deliver an affidavit that the smoke alarms comply, and the buyer has ten days to report an alarm that is not operable, after which the seller bears the cost (Executive Law §378). Carbon monoxide alarms are required in one- and two-family dwellings, and in houses built before 2008 an alarm goes within each dwelling unit on the lowest story with a sleeping area (State rule). Our report notes whether detectors are present and not whether they work, so test them yourself before you list.
The weeks before listing: a sequence that keeps the paper consistent
- Pull the certificate of occupancy, the violation list and the permits for the address, and read your deed record at the Richmond County Clerk if you have not.
- Look up the zoning district and the flood-map result, and find any elevation certificate.
- Clear access to the panel, water heater, boiler, attic hatch and basement. A concealed item goes in the report as not observed.
- Book the inspection and note the delivery date; the report is due within five business days of the visit.
- Read the report with your attorney and decide, item by item, whether to repair, credit or disclose.
- Complete the disclosure statement from what you know and deliver it before the buyer signs a binding contract. If you later learn it was materially inaccurate, deliver a revised one.
- Test the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, then keep the permits and invoices together for the closing table.
If the house is a three- or four-family building, read our guide to two- and three-family houses for the tenant side, and give each occupant notice, since the inspection needs access to every unit.
After a flood or a sewer backup
If the house has taken water, gather the plumber’s and contractor’s invoices, any camera inspection of the line and any claim you filed. The City advises owners who want to reoccupy a flooded home to hire a New York State-licensed Registered Architect or Professional Engineer to assess its safety first (NYC Emergency Management). That is a different professional from us, and we do not offer that service. A home inspector reports what is visible once the house is safe to enter. Dry the structure, repair what failed, and keep the record, because the form asks.
Frequently asked questions
Does a pre-listing inspection in Staten Island replace the buyer’s inspection?
No. The buyer’s inspector works for the buyer and applies the Standards independently. Your report shows you what that visit will look at, and it stays confidential to you unless you consent to its release.
Do I have to answer the flood questions if my house has never flooded?
Yes, if you sell a one- to four-family house and no exemption applies. The form asks about the floodplain, flood insurance, federal assistance and water damage, and “no” is an answer you can give from what you know.
What if a previous owner got FEMA money for the house?
The form asks whether you are aware of any previous owner receiving federal flood assistance, and states that the flood-insurance requirement then passes to all future owners. Answer from what you know and ask your attorney how to handle what you do not.
Should I have a buried oil tank checked before I list?
If the house ever burned oil and you cannot say a tank was removed, yes, because the form asks about tanks above and below ground. A standard inspection need not observe underground tanks, so it needs a separate search.
Will the report say whether my lot is in a coastal-risk or natural-area district?
No. Zoning districts are decided by City Planning’s maps and the Zoning Resolution, not by an inspection. Ask your attorney for the district, because it limits what a buyer can build.
Can I sell a Staten Island house that has no certificate of occupancy?
It depends on the house. A building from before 1938 may not need one unless later alterations changed its use, egress or occupancy, and the Department of Buildings can issue a Letter of No Objection. Otherwise open violations can hold up a sale, so see your attorney.
Can the inspector also make the repairs on the report?
Not for an additional fee before the sale closes. State law bars a home inspector from repairing a building he or she has reported on, so repairs go to licensed trades you choose.
About the figures on this page
- NYC Department of City Planning, PLUTO, version 26v2: one- to three-family tax lots by building class and the share with a recorded year built before 1940, a field that is often a rounded estimate for older buildings; a full basement is basement code 1 or 2. Department of Finance building classes: B3 is “two family converted from one family,” a tax class and not proof of permits.
- NYC 311, calendar year 2025. A 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. Claims cover losses reported on flood-insurance policies only.
- American Community Survey, 2020 to 2024 five-year estimates for Richmond County, rounded because of margins of error.
- Statutes, rules and agency pages were read in October 2026. They change, so check the current text and ask your attorney.
Arranging a pre-listing inspection in Staten Island
When you call, give us the address, the number of units, whether anyone rents a floor, and what you know about water and fuel tanks. Send the certificate of occupancy if you have it. We will tell you what we would look at first and how to arrange access. Our New York State license number is in the footer of every page, and here is how to check any inspector’s license.
Questions first? Call 718-925-7071.