Objective

To determine whether the New York City (NYC) Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) addresses heat and hot water complaints timely, issues notices of violation, and seeks the imposition and collection of penalties as appropriate. Our audit covered heat and hot water complaints received during NYC Fiscal Years (FY) 2018 and 2019 (July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2019).

About the Program

Residential building owners must ensure that apartments in their buildings are safe and well-maintained, which includes the provision of adequate heat and hot water. Insufficient heat can pose safety risks, especially for vulnerable populations, and the use of kitchen ovens and space heaters to address insufficient heat can cause fires and pollute indoor air.

HPD is the nation’s largest municipal housing preservation and development agency. Its Code Enforcement Division is responsible for ensuring that residential building owners comply with NYC’s Housing Maintenance Code (Code) and the New York State Multiple Dwelling Law. In accordance with the Code, residential building owners must supply their tenants with adequate heat from October 1 to May 31, the “heat season,” which translates to a minimum of 68°F between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. when the outside temperature is below 55°F and at least 62°F between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. regardless of the outside temperature. HPD requires all NYC tenant-occupied dwellings to provide hot water 24 hours a day, at a minimum temperature of 120°F.

Tenants who believe they are not receiving the required services can file a complaint through NYC’s 311 municipal service system, which is then forwarded to HPD for its response. HPD considers a heat and hot water complaint to have been addressed if a tenant who has been contacted by HPD states that service has been restored or if HPD conducted or attempted to conduct an inspection. When an inspection confirms that the owner is not providing the required heat and/or hot water, HPD issues a notice of violation to the building owner, and can pursue progressive civil penalties against the owner through NYC Housing Court.

From July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2019, HPD’s records indicate that it received approximately 447,000 heat and hot water complaints citywide. However, many complaints are often received for the same lack of heat and/or hot water problem at one building address. When this occurs, HPD’s Information System (HPDInfo) links and treats them all as a single complaint. As a result of this practice, HPD considered only about 236,000 of the 447,000 complaints to be unique.

Key Findings

• HPD has incorrectly identified hundreds – possibly thousands – of heat and hot water complaints as duplicates and failed to respond to those complaints. For example, a building in Brooklyn did not have any heat and hot water inspections from July 10, 2017 through April 25, 2019 despite tenants submitting 175 complaints during this period. All 175 complaints were inappropriately linked as part of the same complaint.
• HPD needs to do more to make the inspection process for heat and/or hot water complaints effective. Specifically, we found: 
  • A significant number of inspections are not being conducted timely, and HPD has not established formal time frames for inspecting complaints. HPD took three days or longer to conduct an inspection for 49 percent of the complaints in FY 2018 and 31 percent of complaints for FY 2019, resulting in some tenants having to live with inadequate services for days before HPD even confirmed the lack of service.
  • Only about 7 percent of the inspections resulted in the issuance of violation notices, potentially due to inspections not being conducted promptly. Inspections occurring two days or longer after a complaint is filed allow landlords time to correct the condition – in some cases only temporarily – in anticipation of an inspection, as indicated by some tenants.
  • HPD does not provide tenants with a window of time during which they must be available for inspections. As a result, tenants might not be home or might be unprepared to provide access at the time of HPD’s inspections, limiting inspectors’ ability to identify violations.

Key Recommendations

• Take corrective action to ensure HPDInfo processes all complaints appropriately, including accurately identifying all unique complaints.
• Establish a formal time frame for inspecting heat and hot water complaints.
• Periodically review open heat and hot water complaints to ensure they are addressed timely.
• As appropriate, provide tenants with advance notice of inspections.