Under local law, if a residential building meets any of the following criteria the property owner must apply for and receive a Certification of No Harassment (CONH) before applying to the Department of Buildings (DOB) for a permit to change the use or occupancy of a building or to demolish a building or any part thereof. See “Covered Categories of Work” section below.
These requirements apply if the building is:
The CONH process is intended to ensure that the owner or its predecessors did not further proposed alteration or demolition projects by harassing lawful occupants into leaving or otherwise depriving lawful occupants of their rights during the statutory review period. Once a building owner subject to one of the CONH programs applies for a CONH, building tenants, community groups, the relevant community board and elected officials will be notified of the application. HPD will collect comments from current and former tenants and conduct an investigation to determine whether harassment of tenants occurred during the applicable inquiry period.
If HPD determines that reasonable cause exists that harassment occurred, a case is brought at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) for a finding of fact and recommendation as to whether harassment occurred. Based on OATH’s recommendations, the Commissioner of HPD or the Commissioner's designee determines whether to issue the CONH. A denial of the CONH prevents the owner from obtaining any permits to materially alter or demolish the building for a period of years under the applicable law or, depending on the applicable CONH program, the owner may be required to, or have the option of, constructing a certain percentage of low income housing units to address the harassment finding.
To apply for a CONH, a property owner must complete the application and pay the required fee as noted on the application (Note: this fee will increase to $160 per existing unit for applications submitted after July 1, 2018).
Applications may be submitted to HPD online or by submitting a paper application.
Online: You may submit a CONH Application or CONH Exemption Application for SROs, Special Zoning Districts or for the Pilot Program via the HPD Enforcement Desk. You must establish a new user account for this application (you cannot use your existing PROS or eCertification accounts). You must confirm your user account registration by responding to the HPD Enforcement Desk confirmation email. Note: If you are using Google Chrome and the application does not open, please try a different browser.
Paper Application Process: You may submit a paper application as well by downloading the appropriate form below:
Please read the complete instructions about how to apply and information regarding the submission of additional documents for each application.