NYC elevator inspection records: how to look up any building

NYC elevator inspections

New York City requires every elevator to pass a series of periodic safety tests overseen by the Department of Buildings (DOB). The results are public record — any tenant, building buyer, or reporter can look up a specific building's inspection history. This guide explains how the inspection system works, what the test categories mean, and how to pull the records.

How NYC elevator inspections work

Who performs the inspections

NYC elevator inspections are performed by third-party approved elevator inspection agencies — licensed private firms that are independent of the company doing maintenance on the same elevator. The separation matters: the maintenance contractor has an incentive to understate problems; the independent inspector does not. The building owner hires both, but they cannot be affiliated.

After the inspection, the agency files results with DOB electronically. DOB reviews the filings and issues a certificate of compliance or a Notice of Violation depending on what the inspection found.

The three inspection categories

Category 1 (CAT1) — Annual safety test

CAT1 is performed once per calendar year (January 1 through December 31). It tests safety devices — overspeed governors, safeties, buffers, and related components — without running the elevator at full rated load or speed. Think of it as a no-load functional check of the most critical safety systems.

Filing deadline: results must be submitted to DOB within 21 days of the inspection date. Filings not submitted by January 21 of the following year are rejected and a failure-to-file violation is issued.

Category 5 (CAT5) — Full-load, full-speed test

CAT5 is the most rigorous inspection, run at rated load and speed every five years from the month of the most recent prior CAT5 test (or from the Certificate of Compliance date for a new elevator). It verifies that the elevator performs correctly under actual operating conditions, not just in a no-load scenario.

CAT5 results are also filed electronically. The five-year cycle is tracked per device — each elevator cab in a building has its own CAT5 timeline.

Category 3 (CAT3) — Hydraulic elevators only

CAT3 applies only to water-hydraulic elevators and is performed every three years from installation. This category is less common in modern buildings.

Periodic inspection

Separate from the category tests, building owners must also arrange periodic inspections on a schedule set by DOB. These are operational compliance checks — the inspector confirms the elevator is operating correctly and that required equipment (emergency phone, lighting, certificates posted in the cab) is present. Periodic inspection results must be filed within 14 days of the inspection date; late filings generate violations.

What happens when a building fails

A failed inspection, a missed filing, or a condition that doesn't meet ASME A17.1 (the national elevator safety code, adopted by NYC) results in a Notice of Violation from DOB. Violations appear in the public record immediately. The building owner must correct the condition and file a certificate of correction with DOB; uncorrected violations can result in DOB ordering the elevator taken out of service.

DOB announced in 2024–2025 that it would issue violations in fall 2025 for buildings that failed to file 2024 CAT1 and periodic inspection reports — enforcement has been an active focus.

How to look up a building's elevator inspection records

DOB Building Information System (BIS)

The NYC DOB Building Information System (BIS) is the primary public database. It's free, requires no account, and is updated daily. Search by:

• Address — the most common path; enter the street number and street name
• BIN (Building Identification Number) — a 7-digit number; useful if you know it
• Block and lot (BBL) — the tax map identifier; useful if you're cross-referencing with property records

Once you're on the building's profile page, look for the Elevator tab or the Inspections section. You'll see a list of elevator devices registered at the address, with their inspection history, certificate status, and any outstanding violations.

The limitation: BIS requires you to know the address. It does not let you search by building name ("The Jefferson" or "123 Park Tower") — only by street address, BIN, or BBL.

How Elevator Uptime is different

Elevator Uptime's NYC building pages let you search by building name or address and see reported outage history, uptime percentages, and filed reports from the public — without needing to know an exact street address or device number. If you want to know whether a building's elevators break down frequently before you sign a lease, or if you want to understand a pattern of outages at a building you already live in, the Elevator Uptime search is faster than BIS for that purpose.

The two sources are complementary: DOB BIS has the official inspection and violation records; Elevator Uptime has reported outage data and uptime history. Neither source alone gives the full picture.

DOB NOW

DOB NOW is DOB's newer portal, replacing BIS for some workflows. It has a public portal with inspection and violation data. For elevator records specifically, BIS currently remains the more complete legacy source while DOB NOW's elevator data matures.

How to file a 311 elevator complaint

If a building's elevator is out and the owner isn't responding, the fastest enforcement path is a 311 complaint:

1. Call 311 or use the online portal
2. Select "Elevator" as the complaint type
3. Provide the full building address and which elevator is affected (cab number, position, or bank)
4. An inspector will be assigned; if the outage is confirmed, a Notice of Violation is issued
5. For residential buildings, the complaint routes to HPD; for commercial buildings, to DOB

For residential buildings, elevator violations are classified by severity — see our guide on broken elevator tenant rights for how those classifications translate to repair deadlines and tenant remedies.

What inspection records can tell you

If you're a tenant evaluating a building or trying to document a pattern, here's what to look for in the BIS record:

• Open violations — any current DOB Notice of Violation that hasn't been corrected. Multiple open violations for the same elevator suggest the owner is not managing maintenance proactively.
• Failed inspections — a CAT1 or periodic inspection where the device was found non-compliant. One failure with a prompt correction is normal. Repeated failures over multiple years are a flag.
• Missed filings — a failure-to-file violation means the owner didn't arrange the required inspection at all. This is the lowest-effort compliance failure and one of the most telling.
• Certificate expiration — if the elevator's certificate of compliance has lapsed, the elevator may be operating out of compliance. The certificate should be posted inside the cab; you can verify the device's certificate status in BIS.

A clean BIS record doesn't mean the elevator never breaks — outages aren't reported to DOB unless they produce a formal complaint or inspection finding. That's the gap that reported outage data fills.