Pre-Listing Inspection in Manhattan, NY

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More than nine in ten of Manhattan’s house-type lots, 92.4%, have a recorded year built before 1940, so the buyer’s inspector who walks through your townhouse or brownstone is reading a century of repairs. A pre-listing inspection in Manhattan lets you read them first: a licensed inspector’s written report on your building, in your hands before any buyer’s inspector arrives. What it finds is yours to act on.

Inspecwise works from South Ozone Park, Queens. The credentials we claim are a New York State home inspector license and InterNACHI certification, and we can talk you through a report in English, Urdu, Punjabi or Hindi. The reader here is the seller of a townhouse, brownstone or other building of up to four dwelling units; a short section near the end is for co-op and condominium sellers, whose position differs. We do not say a report lifts a price or speeds a sale, and nothing on this page is legal advice: we describe what statutes and agencies say and whom they cover, and your attorney applies them. Buyers should start with home inspection in Manhattan.

What the city’s records say about a Manhattan house

Manhattan has 5,599 one- to three-family tax lots: 2,336 one-family (42%), 1,867 two-family (33%) and 1,396 three-family (25%). They hold 10,258 homes, 1.1% of the borough’s 958,419. Of the two-family lots, 370, or 19.8%, are classed by the Department of Finance as “two family converted from one family,” against 20.9% in Brooklyn. That class is a tax label (Department of Finance building classes) and does not say whether the conversion was permitted, which is exactly what a buyer’s attorney will want to know.

Landmark records add a second layer. LPC’s building database lists 6,509 row-house records and 615 town-house records in Manhattan, among 14,610 building records in all (LPC database on NYC Open Data). Those are records and not addresses for sale, but they show how many Manhattan houses sit inside a regime where exterior work is reviewed by a city commission. The table shows where house-type lots make up the largest share of a ZIP code. ZIP codes are routes for mail and not neighborhoods; the names in the table are the Health Department’s labels for groups of ZIPs (Health Department ZIP table), and two of these ZIPs have no name in its table.

Read the table as a picture of the area and not of your block. In every one of these ZIPs most lots are apartment buildings and not houses, so a house here sells next to buildings with very different obligations. Our guide to two- and three-family house inspections covers the buyer’s side of the conversion question.

What a pre-listing inspection in Manhattan gives you, and where it stops

Think of it as a standard home inspection with the seller as the client. Under the State’s Standards of Practice, to inspect is to examine visually, using normal operating controls and opening readily operable access panels (19 NYCRR 197-5.1). The report names conditions the inspector judges deficient, not functioning properly or unsafe, and says what could not be observed and why (197-5.3). It is not technically exhaustive, and concealed conditions and latent defects are outside what it must find (197-5.16).

You own the report. The inspector has up to five business days from the visit to deliver it, and state law makes it confidential: it may not be disclosed without your express consent (Real Property Law §444-g). The same statute forbids a fee that turns on what the report concludes, and forbids repair work for an added fee on a building the inspector has reported on until the sale closes. Whoever fixes the items on your list will be a different person.

For testing the inspection leaves out, see our pages on radon, mold, asbestos and lead paint, and our guide to what a New York home inspection includes.

The disclosure form and the other papers a Manhattan house seller handles

The duty sits in Real Property Law §462. A house seller completes and signs the property condition disclosure statement, and it must reach the buyer or the buyer’s agent before the buyer is bound by a signed contract. Nothing obliges you to investigate or inspect, and a sale “as is” stays possible. The exposure lies in accuracy. Under §465 a seller who willfully fails to meet the requirements answers for the buyer’s actual damages, and under §464 a seller who later learns the statement is materially inaccurate must send a revised one as soon as practicable, until title passes or the buyer moves in, whichever comes first. Older guides describe a fixed credit that could stand in for the statement; the New York State Bar Association reports that a 2023 amendment removed it as of 20 March 2024. Ask your attorney which version your contract follows.

What the statutory form asks, and what an inspection can tell you

The statute prints the form, and the form itself warns that it is no substitute for inspections or tests. Several of its questions deserve early thought from a Manhattan house seller, and the table sets each beside what an inspection can contribute.

The questions come from the statute (§462), and we do not tell you how to answer them. Describe the building as you know it; how to word a defect you have already repaired is a question for your attorney.

Parapets, cornices and the facade: what shows from the sidewalk

DOB says that beginning on 1 January 2024 every building owner must have an observation of the parapet performed. The requirement applies to all buildings with parapets fronting the public right-of-way, regardless of height, and it excepts detached one- and two-family homes and buildings with a fence or barrier that blocks access to the exterior wall (DOB, parapets). An attached townhouse is not excepted. DOB’s FAQ adds that cornices attached to parapet walls are subject to annual inspections as appurtenances (DOB parapet FAQ). Before you list, find out whether an observation was done on your building and keep the record where you can hand it to a buyer’s attorney.

The inspection looks at the parapet, cornice, coping and flashing as far as they are readily accessible, and the report says how they were observed (197-5.7). It does not replace the DOB observation, and we do not perform or certify it. The larger facade program, Local Law 11, applies to buildings with an exterior wall higher than six stories and only a Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector may do the examination (DOB); a townhouse is not usually in it, but a small building that rises above six stories would be.

Landmarked house: what you can repair before listing without asking LPC

If your house is in a historic district or is an individual landmark, the order of work matters. LPC says an LPC permit is required for any restoration, in-kind replacement, alteration, reconstruction, demolition or new construction that affects the exterior, and that it is required even if the project needs no DOB permit or DOB would approve it by self-certification (LPC permit types). Fixing a defect from the inspection report is often exactly that kind of work.

DOB keeps its own list of work that needs no DOB permit, including painting, plastering, plumbing fixture replacement and non-structural roof repair (DOB permit page). In a landmarked house that list does not settle the LPC question. LPC also says it does not regulate floor area, density or the purposes for which buildings are used, and that a project meeting zoning limits can still be found inappropriate (LPC on permits and alterations). If you are unsure whether your building is designated, ask LPC before you commission repairs.

Water in the cellar: Sandy, Ida and the flood questions

Manhattan’s flood-insurance claims since 1978 total 1,427, and 661 of them (46%) carry Hurricane Sandy, with 94 for Hurricane Ida. A claim is a loss paid under a flood policy and not a count of floods, so a ZIP with few claims is not necessarily dry. The City’s Sandy resiliency report found that most Sandy damage was non-structural, caused by flooding of electrical, sanitary and life-safety equipment on ground floors or in basements (SIRR, Buildings chapter). For a house with a cellar, that is the list to walk: the boiler, the water heater, the panel and any pump.

If water has come into your house, collect the paper before you list: the plumber’s and contractor’s invoices, any insurance claim, and any assistance you or a previous owner received, because the form asks about all three. 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 profession from ours, and a different visit. On sewers, 311 took 398 sewer-backup complaints from Manhattan addresses in 2025, 0.4 per 1,000 homes; complaints are not confirmed backups.

Lead, asbestos and old pipes: the questions buyers bring

Three of the form’s questions turn on how old your house is. For lead paint, a seller of a pre-1978 home must give the buyer specific information about known lead-based paint and hazards and a 10-day period to test (EPA). If a floor is rented, HPD’s Local Law 1 of 2004 list covers tenant-occupied units in one- and two-unit private dwellings built before 1960 (HPD). For asbestos, DEP says it can be found in almost all buildings constructed before 1989 and that a DEP-certified investigator must survey before work that may disturb it (DEP). For pipes, DEP says lead service lines have been banned since 1961 and lead in household plumbing since 1987, that some older homes, particularly one- to four-family homes, may still have lead pipes and fixtures, and that homeowners own and are responsible for their service line in its entirety (DEP). If you do not know what your service line is made of, say so honestly rather than guess on the form.

Fix, credit or disclose: Manhattan examples

The report leaves you with a list, and each item can go one of three ways: repair it before you list, let the buyer raise it and negotiate a credit or a lower price, or tell the buyer about it up front. Which suits you is for you and your attorney, and the contract decides what you owe the buyer afterward. The buyer’s side of that bargaining is in our notes on the inspection contingency and on mandatory fixes.

Records to clean up before you list

Most of the avoidable trouble in a Manhattan sale is paper, and a buyer’s attorney can read most of it online:

• The certificate of occupancy. It states the legal use and permitted occupancy, has no expiration date, and cannot be issued while applications or violations are open. Search by address in DOB NOW for requests made on or after 1 March 2021 (DOB certificate page). Buildings from before 1938 need none unless later alterations changed use, egress or occupancy, and DOB can issue a Letter of No Objection to confirm the legal use (DOB).
• Violations and permits. The Buildings Information System lists a property’s recorded complaints, violations, applications and inspections (DOB guide). A cellar finished, a kitchen moved or a service replaced by an earlier owner without a permit is better found now than by the buyer’s attorney.
• HPD records. HPD Online shows complaints and violations, registration, charges and litigation, and vacate orders (HPD Online).
• Deed and mortgage history. ACRIS covers Manhattan from 1966 to the present (Department of Finance).
• LPC permit history, if the house is designated, and the record of the parapet observation.
• Equipment records: boiler service, any tank removal or closure paper, and invoices for the roof, electrical service and re-piping.
• Loft or former commercial space. If part of the building was once occupied for manufacturing, commercial or warehouse use and lacks a certificate of compliance or occupancy, the Loft Law may apply, and DOB’s Loft Board oversees legalization (DOB).

A sequence for a Manhattan listing

We found no required lead time for any of this, but the sequence matters because later steps lean on earlier ones:

1. Pull the certificate of occupancy, the violation list, the permits and, if the house may be designated, the LPC history.
2. Clear the way to the panel, boiler, water heater, roof hatch and cellar, book the visit, and ask when the written report will arrive.
3. Go through the report with your attorney and sort every item into repair, credit or disclosure.
4. Hire the right licensed trade for each repair, go to LPC first where the work touches the exterior of a designated house, and keep permits and invoices in one file.
5. If you want a radon or mold result for the form, arrange the test and keep the lab report.
6. Complete the disclosure statement from what you know and deliver it before the buyer signs a binding contract; send a revised one if you learn it was materially inaccurate.
7. For a pre-1978 house, prepare the lead disclosure and the 10-day period, and check your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, because the affidavit comes at closing.

Because the report is yours, sharing it is your call: all of it, a list of completed repairs, or none. Each choice has consequences for your attorney to weigh, and anything you do pass on should agree with what the form says. For how a report is laid out, see our guide to reading an inspection report; for whether to inspect at all, our guide for sellers.

Selling a co-op or condo apartment: what is and is not documented

If you are selling an apartment and not a house, the picture is different, and we would rather say where it is thin than fill it in. Three things are documented.

• The State’s disclosure form does not apply. The Property Condition Disclosure Act’s definition of residential real property says it does not refer to condominium units or cooperative apartments (Real Property Law §461). You do not file the statement a house seller must.
• What buyers are told to read. The Attorney General says a resale by an owner who is not the sponsor is not regulated by his office and needs no offering plan, that a plan may not carry current or accurate disclosure about the building’s condition or may not exist, and that board minutes from the past year and the latest financial report are the usual places where defects show up (Attorney General). Those are the building’s documents and not yours.
• Two rules still apply. The seller of a condominium unit or co-op apartment delivers a smoke-alarm affidavit at closing (Executive Law §378), and the federal lead disclosure covers sellers of homes, apartments and condominiums in pre-1978 housing (EPA).

What we have not documented is how a particular board handles inspection reports, application packages or interviews, so we do not describe it; ask your broker and attorney. An inspection of your unit would report on the unit only, and would list the roof, facade and central equipment as not observed. Whether the state licensing definition, which speaks of one to four dwelling units, reaches an apartment in a larger building is unclear (Real Property Law §444-b); our page on co-op and condo inspection in Manhattan explains, and you can ask us about your building before you book.

Frequently asked questions

About the figures on this page

• NYC Department of City Planning, PLUTO, version 26v2: residential tax lots and units; the borough counts cover one- to three-family lots, and the ZIP table covers all residential lots. For older buildings the year built is often a rounded estimate, so we quote shares built before 1940.
• OpenFEMA, National Flood Insurance Program claims, version 3, by reported ZIP and by the event name FEMA attaches to each claim; insured losses only. NYC 311, calendar year 2025: a complaint is a report and not a confirmed violation.
• LPC counts are records from dataset gpmc-yuvp, updated June 2026, and not buildings. United Hospital Fund codes give the Health Department’s neighborhood names for groups of ZIPs.
• Radon figures are the State Department of Health’s kit results, cumulative since 1987, for tests sold or processed through its program only.
• We read the statutes, rules and agency pages in October 2026; check the current text before you act on any of them.

Arranging the visit

To arrange a pre-listing inspection in Manhattan, tell us the address, how many units the building has, whether anyone rents a floor and whether it sits in a historic district. We will say what we would look at first and how access to the roof and cellar can be arranged.

A license number must appear on every inspection report and in all advertising, so ours is in the footer of this page; here is how to check any inspector with the Department of State. Our service area is the five boroughs plus Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester. If the building is a store, an office or a loft, see commercial inspection in Manhattan.

Prefer to talk it through? Call 718-925-7071.