Learn NYC property · Violations and enforcement

Vacate orders: HPD, DOB and FDNY, and who pays for relocation

HPD, DOB and FDNY vacate orders: partial or full, how they are lifted, tenants' rights, and the relocation charges an owner can be billed.

A vacate order is a City order that nobody may live in, or use, all or part of a building, because staying there is dangerous. Three agencies issue them: the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the Department of Buildings (DOB) and the Fire Department (FDNY). A vacate order is posted at the building, the people living there must leave, and nobody may move back in until the agency that issued it lifts it.

For an owner a vacate order is one of the most serious things that can happen to a building: the vacated homes earn nothing, the repairs are urgent, and the City may bill the owner for sheltering the tenants. For a buyer or a lender, an order that was never lifted is a building that may not legally be lived in. Vacate orders are not evictions: tenants keep their tenancy and have the right to return.

Who issues them, and why

An HPD vacate order is issued under the Housing Maintenance Code when a home is uninhabitable — after a fire, for a lack of essential services such as heat, water or electricity, for missing exits, or because the rooms themselves are illegal to live in. HPD mails the order to the registered owner and files it with the County Clerk, and records it on the building as a Class I violation.
A DOB vacate order is issued when a building or apartment is unsafe: a structure or facade in danger of failing, inadequate fire protection or exits, hazardous materials, unlawful gas work, or illegal apartments and rooms.
An FDNY vacate order comes from the Fire Department's fire operations or its Bureau of Fire Prevention, when a building is a fire danger to the people in it. The Fire Department publishes a list of them; owners send their proof of correction to the unit that issued the order.

By BlockLot Intelligence's count of HPD's records, HPD issued 874 vacate orders in the last 12 months, covering 2,915 homes. 66.4% followed a fire.

HPD vacate orders in the last 12 months, by reason

Every HPD vacate order, partial or for the entire building, that took effect in the last 365 days, by the primary reason HPD recorded. BlockLot Intelligence, computed October 9, 2026.

Partial or full

A partial vacate covers part of a building — one apartment, a cellar, an upper floor after a fire. A full vacate — HPD's records say entire building — empties all of it.

Most orders are partial: 18.4% of HPD's orders in the last 12 months covered the entire building.

While the order stands

The order is posted on the entrance door and must stay there until it is lifted. An owner who lets anyone move back in before then faces a civil penalty of at least $5,000 for each re-occupied apartment, and DOB can fine an owner up to $25,000 for disobeying its order.

The tenants are not left to fend for themselves. The Red Cross may shelter eligible households for up to two nights after a fire; after that, HPD's Emergency Housing Services division offers emergency shelter and help finding a new home to households displaced by any City agency's vacate order, whether the apartment was legal or not. In fiscal year 2026 families with children stayed in HPD's shelters an average of 268 days, and single adults 486.

The tenants keep their rights. The owner must tell every displaced tenant when the order is lifted, and tenants have the right to return. A rent-stabilized or rent-controlled tenant can ask the State's housing agency to set the rent at $1 a month while the home cannot be lived in; HPD's rules make that step a condition of keeping the right to return when HPD is housing the household.

Lifting the order

From a vacate order to rescission.

An order is lifted — rescinded — only by the agency that issued it, and only after the condition is fixed. For an HPD order the owner applies for a paid dismissal inspection; for a DOB order the owner corrects the conditions, often with an engineer or architect, files the paperwork and asks DOB to inspect. Where several agencies issued orders, each must lift its own before anyone may move back in. A building whose every apartment was vacated as unfit may not be lived in again until the work is done, any new Certificate of Occupancy DOB requires is issued, and HPD has inspected it.

How long it takes, by BlockLot Intelligence's count: of the HPD vacate orders that took effect between October 10, 2021 and October 9, 2024, 55.7% have since been rescinded, a median about 8 months after the order. Fire damage is lifted fastest — 78.9% of those orders were rescinded, a median 237 days after the fire. Orders for illegal occupancy rarely are: only 25.7% of them have been.

From an HPD vacate order to its rescission

HPD vacate orders that took effect 2 to 5 years ago and have since been rescinded: days from the order to the rescission. Orders never rescinded are not in the bars. The bar ends at the median; the pale band covers the middle half. BlockLot Intelligence, computed October 9, 2026.

On HPD's records today 4,521 vacate orders, covering 10,619 homes, have never been rescinded — some of them years old.

Relocation charges

Sheltering displaced tenants costs money, and Local Law 159 of 2019 lets HPD recover it from the owner as relocation charges — the line BlockLot shows as LL159 relocation charges. The owner is liable when the conditions behind the vacate arose from the owner's negligence or failure to maintain or repair the building. HPD can charge its costs of temporary housing, moving, bonuses and allowances, and records each charge within 30 days of paying a provider; the charges keep accruing until HPD stops housing the household.

For vacate orders issued on or after September 14, 2021, the Department of Finance bills the charges on the property's statement of account. An unpaid charge earns interest at the property-tax rate and becomes a tax lien that ranks ahead of everything except taxes and can be sold or foreclosed — it stays with the building. The owner can challenge the charges only in a court proceeding, and not on the grounds that the vacate order itself was wrong. Charges for older orders are owed to HPD directly.

By BlockLot Intelligence's count of HPD's published payments, HPD spent $7,200,287 in the last twelve whole months relocating households from 362 buildings; 44.8% of it was for households displaced by DOB's vacate orders.

What HPD spent relocating vacated households, last 12 months, by whose vacate order

HPD's payments for sheltering the households a vacate order displaced, by building and month, for the last twelve whole months. The law lets HPD charge these costs to the owner; what is billed and collected is not published. BlockLot Intelligence, computed October 11, 2026.

A worked example

A 28-unit apartment building on Beach 114th Street in Rockaway Park, Queens, owned by a company, shows what a full vacate can cost. On September 13, 2022 HPD vacated the entire building — 29 homes on HPD's record — as unfit to live in. Over the following months tenants brought cases in Housing Court, two of them claiming harassment, and HPD brought a case of its own over every outstanding condition. HPD rescinded the order on May 2, 2024, about 20 months later. Relocation payments for the building's households ran from September 2022 to January 2025 — 29 months, $263,701 in all — costs Local Law 159 lets the City charge to the owner wherever the owner's neglect caused the vacate.

Where you see this in BlockLot

On a building's page, Vacate orders lists HPD's orders with the type, the reason, the homes vacated and the rescission date; FDNY vacate orders lists the Fire Department's. The Compliance & distress signals card shows LL159 relocation charges: the total charged, over how many months, and the latest month. An active vacate order is one of the strongest signals in the distress score, and an area's page counts its lots under an active vacate.

An HPD vacate order, with its type, its reason and the date it was rescinded.
Partial or entire building
Why HPD issued it
When it was lifted

Questions people ask

What is a vacate order? A City order that nobody may occupy all or part of a building because it is dangerous. HPD, DOB and the Fire Department issue them; the agency that issued it must lift it.

How long does a vacate order last? Until the agency rescinds it, after the condition is fixed. By BlockLot Intelligence's count, HPD's orders that are lifted take a median about 8 months, and most orders for illegal apartments have not been.

Do tenants have to pay rent during a vacate order? A rent-stabilized or rent-controlled tenant can have the rent set at $1 a month by the State's housing agency while the home cannot be lived in. Tenants keep the right to return once the order is lifted.

Who pays for the tenants' hotel or shelter? HPD shelters displaced households and, under Local Law 159 of 2019, can bill the owner when the owner's negligence or failure to maintain caused the vacate. Unpaid, the charge becomes a tax lien on the building.

Can a building with a vacate order be sold? Yes, but the order, any relocation charges and the liens they become stay with the building, so a buyer inherits the repairs, the inspections and the bills.

HPD violations: Class A, B, C and I — What HPD housing violations are, what Class A, B, C and I mean, how long an owner has to fix and certify each, how a violation is closed or dismissed, and what happens when a Class C is ignored.
DOB violations and ECB summonses: classes, cures and penalties — DOB violations and ECB summonses explained: Class 1, 2 and 3, cures, penalties and defaults, and why paying a fine does not close a violation.
Housing Court, HP actions and HPD litigation — Housing Court for owners and buyers: HP actions, the cases HPD brings, harassment findings, marshal evictions and HPD's Speculation Watch List.
HPD emergency repairs, repair charges and 7A administrators — How HPD's Emergency Repair Program fixes hazards an owner ignores and bills the owner, how repair charges become liens, and what a 7A administrator does.

Sources

By BlockLot. Reviewed October 9, 2026. Figures by BlockLot Intelligence, computed from public data on October 11, 2026. This page explains the rules in general; it is not legal or tax advice. For a decision about a specific property, check the official source or ask a professional. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.