Areas we serve › Westchester County
A home inspector in Westchester County works where the same question has different answers a few miles apart. Of the basements in Lewisboro tested with the State’s radon kits, 33.7% read 4 picocuries per liter or more, which is the point where the State and the EPA advise fixing a home. In Greenburgh the figure is 9.7% and in New Rochelle 8.8%. Wells, septic systems, oil tanks, sewer-lateral certificates and certificate-of-occupancy practice follow the same pattern: what applies to your purchase depends on the town, the village and the water and sewer system serving the address.
Inspecwise holds a New York State home inspector license and InterNACHI certification, and we work out of South Ozone Park, Queens. Westchester is within the area we serve, and walk-throughs can be given in English, Urdu, Punjabi or Hindi. This page is our county overview for buyers. It compares the housing in the Census areas we pulled, counts flood-insurance claims by named storm, sets out radon results by town, and explains the rules for wells, septic systems, oil tanks and sewer laterals, along with the records you can pull yourself. Two places have pages of their own that we do not repeat here: Yonkers and New Rochelle and White Plains. Where we could not read a rule, we say so.
Westchester housing by era and ZIP: what the Census shows
Across Westchester County the 2020–2024 American Community Survey finds about 373,000 occupied homes. About 62% are owner-occupied and 43% are detached houses. Another 15% sit in buildings of two to four units and 35% in buildings of five or more. By age, 28% were built before 1940, 25% between 1940 and 1959, and 48% in 1960 or later. The table sets that profile beside the ZIP codes in our Census files, which are the ones for Yonkers, New Rochelle and White Plains. ZIP codes follow postal routes and can straddle a municipal line, and every figure is an estimate with a margin of error, so treat each row as a kind of place and ignore gaps of a point or two.
| Area | Built before 1940 | Built 1940 to 1959 | Built 1960 or later | Detached houses | Buildings of 2 to 4 units | Buildings of 5 or more units | Owner-occupied | Occupied homes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westchester County | 28% | 25% | 48% | 43% | 15% | 35% | 62% | 372,883 |
| 10701 (Yonkers) | 24% | 16% | 60% | 13% | 20% | 63% | 27% | 27,547 |
| 10703 (Yonkers) | 28% | 27% | 45% | 23% | 35% | 33% | 51% | 7,752 |
| 10704 (Yonkers) | 32% | 33% | 34% | 35% | 30% | 32% | 61% | 12,166 |
| 10705 (Yonkers) | 31% | 28% | 41% | 22% | 14% | 61% | 37% | 15,044 |
| 10710 (Yonkers) | 12% | 39% | 49% | 44% | 18% | 34% | 71% | 10,134 |
| 10801 (New Rochelle) | 35% | 17% | 47% | 28% | 15% | 51% | 41% | 16,497 |
| 10804 (New Rochelle) | 35% | 42% | 23% | 87% | 0% | 12% | 96% | 5,506 |
| 10805 (New Rochelle) | 28% | 31% | 41% | 20% | 11% | 63% | 46% | 8,636 |
| White Plains (city) | 30% | 19% | 51% | 28% | 8% | 61% | 51% | 25,578 |
| 10601 (White Plains) | 22% | 19% | 59% | 4% | 4% | 91% | 36% | 5,933 |
| 10603 (White Plains) | 15% | 28% | 57% | 34% | 18% | 44% | 65% | 7,128 |
| 10604 (mail place West Harrison) | 13% | 31% | 55% | 36% | 32% | 28% | 49% | 4,517 |
| 10605 (White Plains) | 31% | 28% | 41% | 49% | 5% | 41% | 77% | 8,132 |
| 10606 (White Plains) | 40% | 7% | 53% | 29% | 15% | 55% | 35% | 6,759 |
| 10607 (White Plains) | 15% | 46% | 39% | 88% | 3% | 4% | 82% | 2,320 |
Three things stand out. First, one ZIP can be almost all houses and the next almost all apartments. ZIP 10607 is about 88% detached houses and 82% owner-occupied, while ZIP 10601 is about 4% detached houses and 91% in buildings of five or more units; both have White Plains mail. Second, the small multi-family house, two to four units under one roof, makes up roughly a third of homes in ZIPs 10703, 10704 and 10604. Third, the postwar belt: 46% of homes in ZIP 10607, 42% of homes in ZIP 10804 and 39% of homes in ZIP 10710 were built from 1940 to 1959, against 25% for the county.
Prewar Tudor and Colonial Revival houses
The National Park Service gives the clearest description we found of the county’s prewar suburbs. Its nomination for Glenwolde Park in Tarrytown calls the houses, built in 1926, representative of the two prevailing styles of 1920s suburban housing, Tudor Revival and Colonial Revival, and describes them as frame construction finished in wood clapboard, brick and stucco. The register record for Lawrence Park in Bronxville lists Colonial Revival, Classical Revival and Tudor Revival. Yonkers and New Rochelle have districts of their own, which our Yonkers and New Rochelle page describes.
A frame house with three exterior finishes has many places where one material meets another. The Standards of Practice have us observe exterior walls and coverings, flashing and trim, roofing and roof drainage, and a representative number of windows (19 NYCRR 197-5.6 and 5.7). They do not oblige us to find concealed conditions or latent defects (197-5.16), so we say in the report where a mason, roofer or carpenter should look closer. Paint is a second issue. The County Health Department says the most frequent source of lead in Westchester is flaking or peeling lead-based paint in homes built before 1978, with old painted wooden windows second (County Health Department release, October 2024). The Standards do not require an inspector to determine whether lead paint is present, so peeling paint in a pre-1978 house calls for a separate lead test; see our lead paint page.
A buyer counting on a teardown should ask the municipality first. The County’s hazard plan says many municipalities have passed ordinances banning the teardown of old homes for larger replacements (Westchester County Hazard Mitigation Plan).
Postwar subdivisions and the 1940-to-1959 belt
The same plan says the growth of the county’s suburbs came after World War II, in single-family subdivisions. Houses of that vintage are now between 67 and 86 years old, so the first question for any of them is which systems are original and which were replaced. We found no official source that describes ranch, cape or split-level houses by town, so we do not assign house styles to places beyond the historic districts the Park Service describes.
Apartment buildings, town houses and co-ops
Buildings of five or more units hold about 35% of county homes, and the share passes 60% in ZIPs 10701, 10705, 10805 and 10601. A community website says Bronxville offers single-family homes, town houses, cooperatives and condominiums (a Bronxville community site, a secondary source). We pulled no Census table for Bronxville and found no official count of co-ops or condominiums anywhere in the county, and the Census cannot separate rentals, co-ops and condominiums inside a large building. Our White Plains page sets out how an inspection treats one apartment, and for the difference between co-op and condominium ownership, see the Manhattan guide to co-ops and condos.
Heating oil: roughly one home in four, and a different tank rule in each city
Fuel oil heats about 28% of Westchester homes, utility gas about 52% and electricity about 14%; the rest use bottled gas, wood or other fuels. Across our ZIPs the oil share runs from about 13% in ZIP 10804 to about 32% in ZIP 10603. Those are survey estimates, so only the wide gaps mean anything.
| Area | Heated with fuel oil | Heated with utility gas | Heated with electricity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westchester County | 28% | 52% | 14% |
| 10603 (White Plains) | 32% | 53% | 9% |
| 10607 (White Plains) | 29% | 60% | 8% |
| 10805 (New Rochelle) | 28% | 56% | 11% |
| 10705 (Yonkers) | 26% | 54% | 11% |
| 10710 (Yonkers) | 22% | 58% | 12% |
| White Plains (city) | 22% | 57% | 17% |
| 10605 (White Plains) | 21% | 64% | 10% |
| 10606 (White Plains) | 21% | 56% | 19% |
| 10604 (mail place West Harrison) | 21% | 60% | 12% |
| 10801 (New Rochelle) | 19% | 55% | 20% |
| 10704 (Yonkers) | 19% | 68% | 6% |
| 10701 (Yonkers) | 17% | 50% | 24% |
| 10703 (Yonkers) | 17% | 62% | 17% |
| 10601 (White Plains) | 15% | 55% | 27% |
| 10804 (New Rochelle) | 13% | 77% | 7% |
Oil heat means a tank, and a tank means paperwork. A house converted to gas may still have the old tank in the ground. The Standards do not require us to observe underground storage tanks or to test for gas leaks or carbon monoxide (19 NYCRR 197-5.16 and 197-5.10), so a buried tank is a records question and, where it matters, a separate search; our oil tank page explains the options. The rules for taking a tank out of service differ from one city to the next.
| Where | What the city’s own documents say | Source |
|---|---|---|
| White Plains | Discontinued tanks must be removed, and the compliance paperwork covers the tank test, soil samples, a scrap-metal manifest and the closing of any spill number or County Health permit. (A City form dated 05/14, read from an image.) | White Plains mechanical permit form |
| Yonkers | Tank removals, abandonments and new installations go through the Fire Prevention Bureau. Closing a tank in place calls for concrete slurry and a closure report sent to DEC, the County and the City; a tank that has leaked must come out, with DEC notified. The forms are undated or from about 2011. | Yonkers tank abandonment form |
| New Rochelle | No above-ground tanks. Leaving a tank in the ground requires soil samples and a slurry fill, the only fill the City approves, with the Fire Department present. | New Rochelle Fire Department page |
| Mount Vernon | A tank can be abandoned in place if the Department of Buildings and the Fire Department issue permits and a New York State environmental contractor does the work. | Mount Vernon Buildings FAQ |
Ask the seller for the closure papers on any tank that was removed or filled; they are the best evidence the work was done properly. The County Health Department administers the State’s petroleum bulk storage program through a delegation. Its definition of a regulated facility starts at 1,100 gallons of petroleum in all tanks together, and it also reaches a single tank above 110 gallons that sits at least 10% underground. The Department adds that the tanks it regulates are mostly at commercial sites, gas stations and large apartment buildings (County petroleum bulk storage page). The State’s own definition leaves out an on-premises heating oil tank of under 1,100 gallons that is not connected to another tank (6 NYCRR 613-1.3). We could not read the County Sanitary Code, so we do not say whether a typical residential tank must be registered with the County. Put that question to the County Health Department.
Water supply and private wells: the County’s test at contract signing
Public water in Westchester comes from several systems. The County’s hazard plan says Westchester County Water District No. 1 serves White Plains, Yonkers, Mount Vernon and the Village of Scarsdale (hazard plan, section 4). White Plains runs its own water department and draws from the New York City reservoir system through the Kensico Reservoir. Yonkers has a Water Bureau of its own, also supplied from the New York City system, and Veolia’s Westchester Rate District 1 supplies New Rochelle. The lead-line counts for those three are in a later section.
Houses on private wells fall under a County law that matters at the signing of the contract. The Westchester Private Well Water Testing Law was adopted on 23 May 2007 and took effect on 19 November 2007. It requires a water test when the contract of sale is signed for any property served by a private well; the rules table in the section on selling and closing shows whom it covers and whom it leaves out.
The test is broader than a bacteria check. It covers coliform bacteria, nitrate, arsenic, lead, the primary organic contaminants in Part 5 of the State Sanitary Code, vinyl chloride and MTBE, plus pH, iron, manganese, sodium and chloride (County well-test rules and regulations). Only certified laboratories may test, and the rules say only the laboratory’s employees or its authorized representatives may collect the sample for this law’s test. We therefore do not treat any other sample as the County’s test; ask the County Health Department how a sample must be taken. If a primary parameter fails, the water must be re-sampled within seven days of the lab result before remediation is required, and the law sets out the rights and duties of seller and buyer. It also sets civil penalties; we did not read the amounts. Your attorney applies the law to your contract.
A home inspection does not include the well. The Standards of Practice list private water supply, wells, septic systems and water potability among the things an inspector need not observe (19 NYCRR 197-5.8), and the report states whether the water supply and waste disposal are public, private or unknown. For the general testing, see our pages on well water testing and water quality testing, and remember that the County’s sale-time test follows its own sampling rule.
Sewers, septic systems and the sewer-lateral certificate
Westchester’s sewage goes two ways. Municipal sewers feed County trunk sewers in 13 sewer districts, and not every address inside a district is on public sewer. Most areas in northern Westchester depend on subsurface sewage disposal, and about one-third of the county’s land depends on septic systems, mostly in the Croton watershed that feeds the New York City water supply (Westchester County Hazard Mitigation Plan). If the house is on septic, the inspection does not cover the system, and a septic inspection is a separate service; see our septic system inspection guide. We could not retrieve the County’s septic rules and make no claim that any inspection is required at sale.
If the house is on public sewer, the lateral, the pipe from the house to the municipal main, belongs to the owner, says the Westchester Department of Environment and Facilities. The Standards do not require us to observe underground drainage, so a camera inspection of the lateral is its own service; our sewer scope guide explains it. Two villages go further and require a sewer certificate when a property is sold, and Mamaroneck’s process includes a camera record of the lateral; the table in the section on selling and closing gives the terms. Yonkers’ code has a chapter on private sewers and laterals that we could read only by its headings, and our Yonkers page says what that does and does not tell you.
Flood-insurance claims by named storm, and the flooding the maps leave out
FEMA’s flood-insurance file attributes 12,259 claims since 1978 to Westchester County. FEMA names an event on each claim where it can, and 3,912 (32%) carry no event name at all. Among the named storms, Hurricane Ida leads with 1,729 claims (14% of the county total), ahead of Hurricane Irene with 1,094 (9%) and the April 2007 nor’easter with 1,023 (8%). Late-September 2023 flooding accounts for 483 claims and Hurricane Sandy for 438 (3.6%). In Queens, by comparison, 51% of claims carry Sandy. The labels “Not a named storm” and “Flooding” cover another 2,517.
The claims are concentrated. The nine ZIPs below hold 69% of the county’s claims and the first four hold 48%. We show them by ZIP only: the ZIP-to-place file we use covers just a few Westchester ZIPs, and we do not attach a town to a ZIP unless a source does. The Postal Service’s lookup gives the mailing place for any ZIP.
| ZIP | Claims since 1978 | Share of county claims | Hurricane Sandy | Hurricane Irene | Hurricane Ida | Late-September 2023 flooding | All other events and claims with no event name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10543 | 2,217 | 18% | 114 | 241 | 311 | 123 | 1,428 |
| 10580 | 1,996 | 16% | 139 | 222 | 247 | 41 | 1,347 |
| 10538 | 865 | 7% | 80 | 36 | 170 | 53 | 526 |
| 10528 | 853 | 7% | 1 | 51 | 148 | 16 | 637 |
| 10583 | 714 | 6% | 3 | 55 | 145 | 26 | 485 |
| 10804 | 500 | 4% | 0 | 42 | 89 | 42 | 327 |
| 10523 | 499 | 4% | 0 | 37 | 28 | 21 | 413 |
| 10708 | 444 | 4% | 1 | 87 | 72 | 30 | 254 |
| 10573 | 396 | 3% | 11 | 35 | 105 | 13 | 232 |
| 14 ZIPs on our Yonkers, New Rochelle and White Plains pages | 1,890 | 15% | |||||
| All Westchester claims in the file | 12,259 | 100% | 438 | 1,094 | 1,729 | 483 | 8,515 |
A claim is an insured loss, so it exists only if the owner carried a flood policy and filed. A quiet ZIP is not proof of a dry one, and a busy ZIP does not say which houses flooded. Read the table as a sign of where water has been, then check the address.
The map misses a kind of flooding. The County’s hazard plan says FEMA maps and studies river and coastal flooding but not urban flooding from overwhelmed storm drains, and that basements are susceptible to high groundwater, which can flood a basement with no flooding on the surface (hazard plan, section 5.4.3). The plan’s model puts 7,040 Westchester buildings, about 2.6% of the county’s building stock, inside the 1-percent-annual-chance flood boundary and 9,575 (3.5%) in the 0.2-percent area, and it counts Westchester in 20 of New York State’s 53 flood-related major-disaster or emergency declarations between 1954 and 2021. Those are modeled exposures, not claims.
In practice that means asking the seller what the basement has seen, including any flood claim, and looking at grading and window wells. Under the Standards we observe land grade and drainage at the foundation, run sump and ejector pumps, and report visible signs of water penetration (19 NYCRR 197-5.4, 5.8 and 5.12). Moisture meters are not required (197-5.16), and mold testing is a separate service. Our basement inspection page has more.
Radon town by town: from about 9% to about 34% of basements
Radon is where Westchester most clearly departs from its map. The EPA zone map for New York puts Westchester County in Zone 3, the category with the lowest predicted radon, and still tells every household to test. The State’s kit results say more. Of 2,875 Westchester basements tested through the State Department of Health program since 1987, 17.5% came in at 4 picocuries per liter or higher, against 5.7% in Nassau, 7.6% in Suffolk and 3.7% in Queens. On first floors the county figure is 5.3% of 799 tests.
| Town | Basements tested | At or above 4 pCi/L | Share | Highest reading (pCi/L) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lewisboro | 86 | 29 | 33.7% | 19.2 |
| North Salem | 63 | 20 | 31.7% | 25.7 |
| Somers | 79 | 25 | 31.6% | 21.3 |
| Mamaroneck | 132 | 41 | 31.1% | 35.9 |
| North Castle | 79 | 24 | 30.4% | 36.1 |
| Cortlandt | 240 | 50 | 20.8% | 95.4 |
| Yonkers | 172 | 24 | 14% | 16 |
| White Plains | 169 | 17 | 10.1% | 65.2 |
| Greenburgh | 258 | 25 | 9.7% | 21.8 |
| New Rochelle | 148 | 13 | 8.8% | 13.8 |
| Westchester County | 2,875 | 502 | 17.5% | 95.4 |
The split is plain. Lewisboro, North Salem, Somers and North Castle, four towns in northern Westchester, and Mamaroneck all sit near three in ten. Greenburgh, New Rochelle and White Plains sit near one in ten, with Yonkers a little higher and Cortlandt between. Do not over-read it. The results come from kits that went through the State’s program; the State adds that roughly 30,000 to 40,000 further tests a year are done without it, and four of these towns have fewer than 100 tests each. The table shows that the answer varies, not what a particular basement will read.
The practical rule is the same everywhere in the county. The licensing statute excludes radon from a home inspection. The County’s Healthy Homes page urges buyers and sellers alike to test, passing on the federal advice that every home below the third floor be tested. The test belongs in the lowest lived-in level, and the EPA accepts two short-term tests side by side in a real estate sale. New York does not license or certify radon testers, so the State advises hiring a certified tester, and the laboratory that reads the result must hold State certification. The seller’s disclosure statement carries a question on radon testing, so ask to see any report. See our radon testing page and our guide to a safe radon level.
Lead paint, lead service lines and who owns the pipe
Two separate lead questions come up in a Westchester purchase. The first is paint, covered above: the County’s release names pre-1978 paint and old painted windows as the leading sources. The EPA’s renovation rule requires a certified firm for paid work that disturbs paint in homes built before 1978; it generally does not apply to owners working on their own pre-1978 home, but it does apply if you rent all or part of your home (EPA renovation, repair and painting program). The same County release describes Lead Safe Westchester, a HUD-funded program that makes free repairs in pre-1978 housing where low- to moderate-income residents live, with priority for households with a child under six or a pregnant resident; check current availability with the County.
The second is water. Each public system had to inventory its service lines, and the State publishes the results. In every system below, some lines are still classed as “unknown”, which means the material has not been established. The percentages are our arithmetic.
| Water system | Service lines | Known lead | Galvanized needing replacement | Non-lead | Unknown | Unknown share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White Plains (City Department of Public Works) | 10,152 | 2 | 13 | 7,167 | 2,970 | 29% |
| Yonkers (City Water Bureau) | 29,626 | 65 | 6 | 2,329 | 27,226 | 92% |
| Veolia Westchester Rate District 1 (whole district, including New Rochelle) | 32,470 | 8,008 | 74 | 18,098 | 6,290 | 19% |
The sources are the State Department of Health pages for White Plains, Yonkers and Rate District 1. The Rate District 1 counts cover the whole district, which includes Bronxville, Eastchester, Pelham and other places besides New Rochelle, so they do not describe New Rochelle alone. Do not read the table as a statement that a given house has or lacks a lead line. An inspection does not evaluate drinking water or underground piping; we describe the water supply piping we can see (19 NYCRR 197-5.8). Ask the seller and the water department what the service line is made of. Yonkers reports that lead and galvanized lines concentrate in houses from before the mid-1940s, so in an older house a laboratory test of the tap is worth considering.
Retaining walls and roof layers: two rules that change at the municipal line
Retaining walls are part of the site items the Standards have us observe and report, along with walkways, steps, driveways and patios (19 NYCRR 197-5.4). Geological and soil conditions and erosion control are not (197-5.6). The only municipal retaining-wall instruction we could read is White Plains’, which is set out on our White Plains page; for other towns, ask the building department what a wall on the property required. A wall that leans, bulges or has stopped draining is a question for a licensed engineer, because the State licensing law does not authorize a home inspector to practice engineering.
Roofs show the same patchwork. Mount Vernon’s Buildings FAQ says a structure may carry only two layers of roofing before all layers must be removed (Mount Vernon Buildings FAQ), and the Standards say an inspector need not determine how many roof layers are present. If you are buying in Mount Vernon, ask the seller and the roofer how many there are.
Selling and closing in Westchester: the rules, document by document
Two State documents come with the sale of a Westchester house: the seller’s disclosure statement, which covers one- to four-family dwellings, and the smoke-alarm affidavit, which covers one- and two-family houses, condominium units and co-op apartments. The County adds a water test where there is a well. Beyond those, the rules belong to the village or city. The table puts what we could read side by side, with who each rule covers and who it does not. Several County pages were read from archived copies dated 2023 to 2026, so confirm any rule on the live page before relying on it.
| Rule | Where it applies | Who it covers, and its limits | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property condition disclosure statement before the buyer signs a binding contract | All of New York | Sellers of one- to four-family dwellings. Some transfers are exempt, such as court-ordered, foreclosure and fiduciary transfers and new construction never occupied. Nothing in the law obliges a seller to inspect, and an “as is” sale is still allowed. The $500 credit option ended on 20 March 2024. | Real Property Law §462 and a State Bar Association article on the 2024 change |
| Smoke-alarm affidavit at closing | All of New York | The seller of a one- or two-family house, condominium unit or co-op apartment. The buyer has ten days after conveyance to notify the seller of an inoperable alarm, and the seller pays to fix it. We found no matching carbon monoxide affidavit. | Executive Law §378 |
| Water test at contract signing | Westchester County | Any property served by a private well. Not a supply with five or more service connections or regular use by 25 or more people a day. | County well-test rules |
| Sewer discharge compliance certificate | Village of Mamaroneck, since 20 July 2007 | Every transfer of title. A licensed plumber inspects for illegal connections and inflow and supplies a closed-circuit camera record of the sanitary lateral. The certificate lasts up to ten years or until a renewal event, and is not needed for co-ops or for new construction when title transfers. | Village of Mamaroneck form |
| Sewer discharge compliance certificate | Village of Scarsdale, from 1 October 2023 | Any sale, transfer or conveyance of property in the Village, and also before a building permit for residential work valued over $100,000. Valid five years, or ten for common-interest developments. | Scarsdale sewer lateral program and handout |
| Certificate of occupancy | White Plains | A certificate is needed before a building is used or occupied or when its occupancy class changes, and the City issues updated or substitute ones for existing buildings. We found nothing that makes a sale trigger one. | Our White Plains page |
| Certificate of occupancy | Mount Vernon | The Department of Buildings says, in answer to a question about a house built in 1932, that it does not require you to file for a certificate unless you have done major work. It adds that banks and title companies check its files before closings. | Mount Vernon Buildings FAQ |
| Substitute certificate of occupancy | Town of Greenburgh | For buildings constructed before 1 January 1945, the owner or another interested party may apply for a substitute certificate. | Greenburgh application |
| Certificate of occupancy | Yonkers and New Rochelle | Needed to occupy a new building or change a use; for an existing building, issued on the owner’s written request after inspection. We found no requirement triggered by a sale. | Our Yonkers and New Rochelle page |
Villages we did not find in the table are not necessarily free of such rules. We found no sale-time sewer or certificate rule for Pelham, Larchmont, Bronxville, Tuckahoe, Eastchester, Port Chester or Rye Brook, but several village codes could not be read. Ask your attorney early, and ask the seller’s attorney which certificates the seller will deliver. For the choices a seller faces, see our guide for sellers.
Records a buyer can pull, and who may do the work
Your attorney will order the municipal search, but several records can be read before the inspection, and they tell us what to look at. Where to start depends on the municipality:
- White Plains. Two City forms matter, the Building Short Form for an updated or substitute certificate and the Open Permit Status Request for permits left open; our White Plains page describes both. The CitySquared portal handles permits and a property search.
- Yonkers. Records start with an appointment at the file room of the Department of Housing and Buildings, where you need the block and lot number. Staff can show whether a certificate of occupancy and floor plans are on file, and the city’s “M5” database covers records that never reached the paper files.
- New Rochelle. Permits are applied for through CitySquared, and a certificate of occupancy application follows a permit. Registered users see their historical applications in the new portal.
- Mount Vernon and Greenburgh. In Mount Vernon, the Department of Buildings files are the ones banks and title companies check before a closing. In Greenburgh, the Town’s substitute certificate of occupancy is the route to legalize a building constructed before 1945.
Before you hire anyone for repairs, check the County license. By the Department of Consumer Protection’s account, a home improvement contractor must hold one, and operating without it is a Class A misdemeanor. The Department lists waterproofing, siding, gutters, decks, roofs, additions and window replacement among the covered work, tells owners to be suspicious if a contractor asks them to get the permit, and says plumbers and electricians need a trade license to work in the county (County Department of Consumer Protection). Yonkers also requires its own contractor license before it issues a renovation permit for a one- to three-family house.
What a home inspector in Westchester County looks at, and what stays outside
New York’s Standards of Practice cover systems that are readily accessible and visible, and the licensing statute leaves out radon and pests. A written agreement fixes the scope before the visit. Afterward the report is due in writing within five business days and stays confidential unless the client agrees to share it (Real Property Law Article 12-B). For the system-by-system list, see our guide to what a New York home inspection includes. The table sets Westchester’s local patterns against what we check and what the Standards exclude. In none of these rows do we determine compliance with codes or laws, and we need not report violations.
| Local pattern | What we check | What stays outside the inspection | Where to read more |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prewar frame houses finished in clapboard, brick and stucco | Exterior walls and coverings, flashing and trim, roof and drainage, representative windows | Concealed conditions, and the remaining life of a roof or finish | Foundation and structure |
| 28% of homes heated with fuel oil | Fuel and equipment, thermostat operation, the flues and tank parts we can see | Buried tanks are outside the Standards, as are gas-leak and carbon monoxide testing | Oil tank inspection |
| Septic systems across northern Westchester, and private wells where there is no public water | Whether the report can say the water supply and waste disposal are public, private or unknown | Wells, septic systems and water potability are outside the Standards, and the County’s well test has its own sampler | Well water · Septic |
| Basement water, high groundwater and claims in a few ZIPs | Grading and drainage at the foundation, sump and ejector pumps, visible signs of water penetration | The Standards do not require moisture meters; mold testing and a camera in the sewer lateral are separate services | Basement · Sewer scope |
| Radon at or above 4 pCi/L in about one tested basement in six | The licensing statute excludes radon, so it is a separate test of the lowest lived-in level | It does not measure radon or any other gas | Radon testing |
| Pre-1978 paint and windows | Whether smoke and CO detectors are present, and visible deterioration of surfaces | The Standards do not require us to identify lead paint, asbestos or mold | Lead · Asbestos |
| Buildings of five or more units hold 35% of homes | The apartment itself and whatever shared space is visible from it | Roofs, boiler rooms and other spaces we cannot reach appear in the report as not observed, with a reason; ownership documents are for your attorney | Co-op and condo inspection · Condo and house compared |
Yonkers, New Rochelle, White Plains and the rest of the region
If you are looking for a home inspector in Westchester County for a house in one of the two big cities, start with Yonkers and New Rochelle, which covers flood history, laterals and records in those cities, or White Plains, which covers the City’s own water department, its forms and its radon results. For sellers anywhere in the county, our general guide for sellers covers the disclosure statement and the choice to inspect first. The inspection contingency in your contract sets how many days you have, which matters when a municipality’s records are slow. Next door, New York City and Long Island have pages of their own, and every guide is listed under areas we serve.
What we could not confirm about Westchester
Our sources stop in places, and a reader should know where. These are the gaps, so that you can ask the right office:
- The County’s own websites were not reachable when we did our research, so County rules were read from archived copies and may have changed. Re-check the live page.
- The County Sanitary Code was not read: we cannot say whether a residential heating-oil tank must be registered with the County, or whether any septic inspection is required at sale.
- We read the well-test law’s terms but not its penalty amounts or later amendments.
- Housing by era and type for each town, and any count of co-ops, were not available; the ZIPs in our Census files are the ones for Yonkers, New Rochelle and White Plains.
- Sale-time sewer or certificate-of-occupancy rules in villages other than Mamaroneck and Scarsdale were not found, which is not proof that none exist.
- We found no County radon program, and no County-specific source on termites or carpenter ants.
Frequently asked questions
Does Westchester County require a water test when a house with a well is sold?
Yes. The County’s Private Well Water Testing Law, in effect since 19 November 2007, requires a water test when the contract of sale is signed for any property served by a private well. It does not apply to a supply with five or more service connections or 25 or more regular users.
How does radon in Westchester compare with New York City and Long Island?
Higher. Through the State’s kit program, 17.5% of 2,875 Westchester basements read 4 pCi/L or higher, against 7.6% in Suffolk, 5.7% in Nassau and 3.7% in Queens. These are kit results, not a count of all homes, and the only way to know a house is to test it.
Which Westchester villages require a sewer certificate when a house is sold?
We found two: Mamaroneck, since 20 July 2007, and Scarsdale, since 1 October 2023. Mamaroneck’s process uses a licensed plumber’s inspection and a camera record of the lateral, and Scarsdale calls its rule a sewer lateral inspection program. We could not read every village code, so ask your attorney about the village you are buying in.
Can I look up a Westchester house’s certificate of occupancy myself?
It depends on the municipality. In Yonkers you book a file-room appointment; White Plains and New Rochelle take permits through CitySquared; Mount Vernon’s files sit with its Department of Buildings. Your attorney can order the records, and we can describe what we see, but permits and certificates are a records question.
Can a Westchester basement flood outside a mapped flood zone?
Yes. The County’s hazard plan says FEMA maps river and coastal flooding but not urban flooding from overwhelmed storm drains, and that high groundwater can flood a basement with no surface flooding. Ask the seller about past water and any flood claim.
Does a home inspector in Westchester County check a private well or a septic tank?
No. The State’s Standards of Practice put private water supply, wells, septic systems and water potability outside what an inspector must observe, so they are separate services. The report does say whether the water and waste disposal are public, private or unknown.
How many Westchester homes heat with oil?
About 28% of occupied homes in the 2020–2024 Census survey, or roughly one in four. By ZIP the share runs from about 13% to about 32% in the areas we pulled. An oil-heated house has a tank to ask about, and a gas-heated one may still have an old tank buried.
Does a contractor working on a Westchester house need a County license?
Yes, for home improvement work. The County’s Department of Consumer Protection requires its license, and operating without one is a Class A misdemeanor. Plumbers and electricians need a trade license to work in the county.
About the figures on this page
- Housing, tenure and heating: the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, 2020–2024 five-year release, for Westchester County, White Plains city and the ZIP areas for Yonkers, New Rochelle and White Plains. “Homes” means occupied housing units. These are estimates, and we round them.
- Flood claims: FEMA’s OpenFEMA file of National Flood Insurance Program claims, version 3, grouped by the ZIP on the claim and by FEMA’s event label. Only insured losses appear, and about a third of the county’s claims have no event label.
- Radon: the State Health Department’s results by town and by county, cumulative since 1987, for kits sold or processed through the State’s program.
- Other sources: the Westchester County Hazard Mitigation Plan (2021, archived copy of 14 June 2024); National Park Service records; pages from the County Health, Consumer Protection and Environment and Facilities departments, read from archived copies; village, town and city forms; State Health Department service-line inventories; the statutes and rules linked above.
- We pulled the data and read the pages in October 2026. Both change, so check the date.
Before you book a Westchester inspection
Before you call a home inspector in Westchester County, find out three things: whether the house is on public water and sewer or on a well and septic system, how it is heated, and which building department holds its file. With those answers and the address, we can tell you where we would start and which separate tests deserve a place on the list.
Our license number sits in the footer of every page, and the Department of State’s lookup will confirm it, or any other inspector’s; this guide walks through the steps. Beyond Westchester we work in the five boroughs, Nassau and Suffolk, and in other areas by arrangement.
Prefer to talk first? Call 718-925-7071.
More guides for Westchester County
These pages go deeper on specific places and services under Westchester County.
- White Plains: White Plains foundations and drainage, electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems, environmental hazards and permits.
- Yonkers and New Rochelle: Older houses, oil heat, flood and Ida history, and the records to check before you buy in Yonkers and New Rochelle.