beforeyoutour Add to Chrome
Free Chrome extension · New York City

You're about to commit thousands of dollars.

First month, last month, a security deposit. You deserve to know what the city already knows about the building before you sign, and before you spend an evening touring it.

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01 / Translated
We tell you what it means, and what to ask.

Anyone can find a raw violation record. It reads Class C, §27-2017.4, self-closing device. We put every finding in plain English, say why it matters to you specifically, and hand you the exact question for the broker, ready to copy.

02 / Everywhere you look
It follows you across listing sites.

The panel reads whatever listing you already have open. No address to retype, no second tab.

StreetEasy Zillow Trulia Apartments.com Realtor.com
03 / One pass
Everything you'd look up, at the moment you'd look it up.

None of this is secret. It's thirteen public datasets across six agencies, and an afternoon of tab-juggling, done in one pass beside the listing.

The translation

The record is public. Reading it shouldn't take a lawyer.

Here is one finding twice: exactly as the city files it, then exactly as the panel hands it to you.

What the city publishes
CLASS C VIOLATION
STATUS: OPEN
APT 5B
§27-2017.4 ADM

Findable in about four clicks, if you know which of six agency portals to open and what a class letter means.

What you read instead
This is the city's most serious category, meaning an immediate hazard, and it's recorded for the apartment you're looking at. Open means no correction has been filed.
The question to ask

"City records show an open Class C violation for this apartment. Has it been corrected, and was a certificate of correction filed?"

A finding, then a question. Never a verdict about the building. That call isn't ours to make.

Class A
90 days to correct
Non-hazardous. A missing sign, minor plaster, a chipped tile.
Class B
30 days to correct
Hazardous. No heat records, peeling paint, broken door locks.
Class C
24 hours to 14 days
Immediately hazardous. No heat or hot water, lead, mold, vermin.
How it works

Three steps. A few seconds.

01
Open a listing

StreetEasy, Zillow, Trulia, Apartments.com or Realtor.com. The extension reads the address and apartment number off the page you already have open.

02
Click the icon

A panel opens beside the listing, matches the address to the city's tax lot, and reads thirteen datasets against it.

03
Take the questions with you

Findings are ordered by what changes your decision, and each one carries a question you can copy and put to the broker at the door.

The panel

Sorted so the first thing you read is the thing that matters.

The listing
Bright.
Modern.
Prime.
$3,850 / month
1 Bed · 1 Bath · Unit 5B
318 East 5th Street, East Village

Sun-drenched pre-war charmer in a well-maintained, responsive-management building. No fee. Steps from Tompkins Square.

Sample listing. Address, figures and records are illustrative. This is the shape of the panel, not a live lookup.
beforeyoutour
318 East 5th Street, Unit 5B
Reading this tab…
Public records from NYC Open Data. Reported, not verified, and not a statement about the condition of any apartment.
What we check

Thirteen city datasets, one tax lot.

Every check is keyed to the building's BBL, the city's own identifier, not a fuzzy address match. When a dataset doesn't answer, we say so. Silence is reported as silence, never as a clean building.

This apartment
The part a building-level lookup won't answer.
HPD
Violations naming your unit
Open violations where the record names the apartment, not the building total.
HPD
Same-floor violations
The neighboring apartments, because leaks and pests travel.
DOB
Legal use & unit count
Whether the Certificate of Occupancy agrees the apartment exists.
This building
Conditions, enforcement, and what's on site now.
HPD
Open violations by class
A, B and C, with what each class obliges and how fast.
HPD
Emergency repair charges
Repairs the city made because the owner didn't.
311
Complaints
Heat, pests, noise and habitability. What neighbors reported.
DOHMH
Rat inspections
Inspector findings, not resident reports.
HPD
Bedbug filings
The owner's own Local Law 69 annual report.
HPD
Vacate orders
Issued, and whether they were ever rescinded.
DOB
Permits & complaints
Live facade work means a shed and months of drilling.
DOF
Energy grade
The letter posted by the door, and what it costs you.
This owner
Who to write to when a repair stalls.
HPD
Registration & contacts
The owner and managing agent the city holds responsible.
DOF
Marshal evictions
Filed evictions at the address, by year.
What this can't tell you

The limits are part of the product.

A public record is a record of what was reported, not a description of how it is to live somewhere. Knowing where the record stops is the difference between using it well and being misled by it.

Whether a problem was actually fixed

A violation stays open until someone files a correction. Plenty get fixed and never certified. Some get certified without being fixed.

What your specific apartment is like

Most records attach to the building. When one names a unit we say so; when it doesn't, we won't imply it does.

Anything nobody reported

311 and HPD records exist because a tenant called. A quiet building may be well run, or may have tenants who don't complain.

Your rent history or stabilization status

We can tell you a building's age and size make stabilization likely. Only DHCR can confirm it for your apartment.

The landlord's intentions

We show the registration and the record. What a person will do next isn't in any dataset.

Anything outside New York City

This is built on NYC Open Data. The panel is honest about having nothing to say elsewhere.

We don't score buildings, grade them, or tell you one is good or bad. We show you what the city has on file, explain what it means, and give you the question to ask. The judgment stays yours.

Know the apartment before you know the commute.

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