How to read a NYC property before you set foot in it

The city publishes more than most people use

Before a deal team schedules a walkthrough, they have already read the building. Not from a broker package — from the city's own records. Four datasets do the heavy lifting: PLUTO, ACRIS, DOB permits, and HPD violations. Each one answers a different question, and together they form a baseline picture of what a property is and what it has been through.

PLUTO: the lot's physical and zoning identity

PLUTO stands for Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output. It is maintained by the Department of City Planning and published as open data. Every tax lot in the five boroughs has a PLUTO record.

What it contains:

• Lot dimensions, square footage, and year built
• Current zoning designation (R6, C4-2A, M1-1, and so on)
• Building class and land use category
• Floor area ratio (FAR) — the ratio of built square footage to lot size
• Assessed values as recorded by the Department of Finance

How a deal team uses it: PLUTO tells them whether the building exhausts its zoning envelope or whether unused FAR exists. A six-story building on a lot zoned for twelve stories is a different opportunity than one that is already built to the max. It also flags mismatches — a building class that does not match observed use, for example — that warrant deeper diligence.

ACRIS: the recorded sale and financing history

ACRIS stands for Automated City Register Information System. It is the Department of Finance's database of every recorded document in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. (Staten Island uses a separate county clerk system.)

What it contains:

• Deeds and sale prices going back decades
• Mortgage and satisfaction-of-mortgage filings
• UCC fixture filings and other encumbrances
• Transfer documents, including LLC-to-LLC conveyances

How a deal team uses it: ACRIS shows the full chain of title and what the current owner paid, when, and how they financed it. A building bought at the peak of the last cycle with a large mortgage still outstanding sits in a different position than one purchased years earlier with equity. ACRIS also surfaces who the actual parties are — the names behind LLCs — which is useful when evaluating seller motivation or ownership complexity.

DOB: permit history and outstanding issues

The Department of Buildings maintains records of every permit filed and issued on a property, along with violations and stop-work orders.

What it contains:

• Active and closed building permits, sorted by job type (new building, alteration type 1, 2, or 3)
• Certificate of occupancy history
• Elevator and boiler filings
• Active violations and their severity
• Stop-work orders, active or resolved

How a deal team uses it: Permits tell a story about how the building has been maintained and whether prior owners did work legally. An alteration permit that was filed but never closed means a certificate of occupancy was never updated — a title and financing problem. Active DOB violations have cure costs attached to them. Stop-work orders on open jobs can complicate a sale timeline.

HPD: the tenant and habitability record

HPD is the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Its violation database tracks conditions in residential buildings.

What it contains:

• Open and closed violations by class: A (non-hazardous), B (hazardous), C (immediately hazardous)
• Heat and hot water complaint history
• Lead paint and mold findings
• Underlying litigation in Housing Court, accessible through a linked system

How a deal team uses it: A building with a long tail of Class C violations and active Housing Court proceedings is not the same as one with a clean HPD record, even if they look identical on the street. HPD data also signals tenant organization and the likelihood of repair-and-deduct claims or rent reduction orders — both of which affect operating assumptions.

Reading the datasets together

No single dataset tells the full story. PLUTO gives you the bones. ACRIS gives you the financial history. DOB gives you the permit and legal-use picture. HPD gives you the habitability and tenant picture. A deal team that pulls all four before a site visit walks in with a checklist of specific questions — not general ones.

That discipline is the difference between a tour and a diligence session.

The takeaway

NYC's public records are detailed, free, and available to anyone — learning to read them fluently is one of the most transferable skills in this market.