An open permit found in a title search is not a filing fee and a phone call. On a referral this month, the buyer’s attorney found a New Building job filed in 2005 with 28 open required items, no Certificate of Occupancy, and a last DOB action dated 2010. The seller thought it could be closed in a few weeks. The architect who reviewed the file could not help at all.
The mistake is treating “open permit” as one problem. It is a list, and every line on that list is a separate professional, a separate filing, or a separate inspection. Brokers, title companies and sellers price the deal wrong because nobody prints the list before the contract is drafted.
Closing an open permit in NYC means satisfying every required item on the DOB job — final sign-offs by licensed trades, technical reports, surveys, affidavits and searches — then obtaining the Certificate of Occupancy or Letter of Completion. A 20-year-old job usually needs a superseding professional, amended drawings, and a zoning check before any of that can be filed.
At a Glance
- NYC DOB’s 2026 Certificate of Occupancy checklist has ten conditions: final construction, plumbing, elevator and electrical sign-offs, a final building survey, a final Builders Pavement Plan, no open applications, no open violations, a PW3 cost affidavit, and an approved schedule of occupancy.
- September 2026 referral to All Boro Expediter: New Building job filed March 2005, 28 open required items, last DOB action a February 2010 inspection that denied a construction update because a sliding door and deck on the plans were never built.
- Each open item maps to a person: a licensed electrician for the electrical sign-off, a surveyor for the final survey, a testing lab for concrete cylinders and soil borings, an architect or engineer of record for amended drawings.
- Under Zoning Resolution Section 11-332, a permit issued before a rezoning lapses if no CO issued within two years of the amendment — a lapsed permit is a Board of Standards and Appeals case, not a closeout.
- A Temporary Certificate of Occupancy typically expires 90 days after issuance under DOB’s rules — a TCO is a bridge, not a finish line.
What does an open permit look like on a NYC title search?
A municipal search alongside title pulls every DOB job filed against the lot and reports the ones without a final sign-off, Letter of Completion, or Certificate of Occupancy. The report gives the job number, the job type — NB for a new building, ALT1, ALT2 or ALT3 for alterations — the filing date, and the status. It does not tell the buyer’s attorney what it will take to close the job. That requires pulling the job itself.
In DOB BIS, every job carries a required-items list: each item DOB needs before the job can be signed off, with a status flag and a type code — APP for an approval, PER for a permit condition, SGN for a sign-off. On the September 2026 referral that list ran to 28 open items on a job filed in March 2005. The same information lives in DOB NOW for jobs filed since 2020. Our guide to searching DOB records by address walks through pulling it.
Which open items need a licensed trade and which need a filing?
An open permit’s required-items list sorts into four kinds of work, and each kind has its own professional, timeline and failure mode. The 28 items on the September 2026 referral covered all four.
| Kind of item | Examples from the job | Who has to do it |
|---|---|---|
| Trade sign-offs | Final electrical sign-off, final plumbing sign-off, final elevator sign-off, final construction sign-off | Licensed master electrician, licensed master plumber, elevator agency, DOB inspector or the professional of record |
| Technical reports | TR2 concrete test cylinders report, TR-4 borings and test pits, fire stops, vent system, subgrade | Licensed testing laboratory or special inspection agency — on a 2005 job the tests may have to be redone or documented from records that no longer exist |
| Surveys and affidavits | Final site survey, PW3 owner’s cost affidavit, tax lot verification, final Builders Pavement Plan sign-off, address and topographic stamp | Licensed surveyor, owner, Department of Finance for the tax lot, DOB for BPP |
| Searches and certifications | Violations search, open applications search, smoke and carbon monoxide detector certificates of installation, folder review, check index for prior CO | Expediter and DOB — any open violation on the lot has to be cleared before the CO issues |
The technical reports are the trap on an old job. Concrete test cylinders and soil borings are taken during construction. If the 2005 lab reports were never filed and the lab is gone, the professional of record has to document the condition another way or DOB has to accept an alternative — and neither is quick. A job that looks like “just sign-offs” on the title report can carry a week of work per line.
Why can’t the original architect or contractor just finish it?
On a job filed twenty years ago, the professional of record is often retired, deceased, or unwilling to put a license behind work they cannot verify. The contractor may be gone entirely. On the September 2026 referral, the architect who reviewed the file declined the engagement outright — 28 open items, a building that does not match its approved drawings, and a zoning problem underneath it.
When the original professional will not or cannot sign, the job needs a superseding application: a new architect or engineer takes over the filing and accepts responsibility for what they can inspect and document. Where the building differs from the approved plans — the referral’s 2010 inspection found a sliding door and deck on the drawings that were never built — the superseding professional has to amend the drawings to show the house as it exists, and DOB has to approve the amendment before the final construction sign-off can be requested. Our open permits guide covers the superseding process and when withdrawal is an option instead.
What has to be true before DOB issues the Certificate of Occupancy?
DOB’s Certificate of Occupancy page lists ten conditions for a final CO: final construction inspection sign-off, final plumbing inspection sign-off, final elevator sign-off, final electrical inspection sign-off, final building survey, final Builders Pavement Plan, no open applications, no open violations, an owner’s cost affidavit on form PW3, and an approved schedule of occupancy in DOB NOW: Build. Every one of those conditions appeared on the September 2026 referral’s required-items list, still open.
“No open violations” is the condition that reaches outside the job. A DOB or ECB violation issued against the property in the intervening twenty years blocks the CO regardless of whether it relates to the construction. That is why the required-items list carries a violations search as its own line, and why DOB violation removal often runs in parallel with a closeout. A Temporary Certificate of Occupancy can bridge occupancy while the last items are resolved, but DOB’s rules say a TCO typically expires 90 days after issuance and must be renewed until the final CO is in hand.
One more condition sits outside DOB’s list. If the lot was rezoned after the permit was issued and no CO issued within two years of the amendment, the permit lapsed under Zoning Resolution Section 11-332. Then the job is not a closeout at all — it is a Board of Standards and Appeals matter, and no amount of sign-offs will produce a CO until the zoning question is resolved.
How should a broker or seller price an open permit before the contract?
Print the required-items list, put a professional and a number next to every open line, add the filing fees and the expediter, and check the zoning history before any of it is presented as the cost to cure. That is the only number a buyer’s attorney can negotiate against. A round figure agreed at the table is how sellers end up funding an escrow that does not cover the work — the September 2026 referral’s homeowners had put $50,000 each into an escrow that was never sized against the job, and the developer holding it disappeared.
For brokers and title companies, the practical rule is to order the required-items list the day the municipal search comes back with an open job. All Boro Expediter’s guide for brokers and title companies covers how open violations and open permits fit into a closing timeline, and our Certificate of Occupancy service starts by turning the list into a scoped price and a realistic schedule.
Get the List Before the Contract
An open permit is only a small problem if the list is short and the zoning has not moved. Nobody knows which case they have until the required items are pulled and read. On the September 2026 referral, the seller learned the answer from a buyer’s attorney, at the point where the only options left were expensive.
All Boro Expediter has closed out open DOB jobs, obtained Certificates of Occupancy, and filed superseding applications across all five boroughs since 2011. If a municipal search just came back with an open NB or ALT job — on your property or on a deal you are trying to close — send us the address and the job number. We will pull the required items, read the zoning, and give you the real number. Contact us or call 718-374-5044. Our real estate compliance services are built for this closing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does an open permit in NYC expire on its own?
A DOB work permit expires and must be renewed, but the job — the application and its required items — stays open until it is signed off, completed with a Letter of Completion or Certificate of Occupancy, or formally withdrawn. An NB job filed in 2005 with no CO is still an open job in 2026 and shows on every municipal search.
How long does it take to close a 20-year-old open permit in NYC?
There is no fixed timeline because the work is set by the required-items list. A job with a handful of open sign-offs and a cooperative professional of record moves in weeks. A job with 28 open items, missing technical reports, a building that differs from its drawings and a superseding professional to bring on runs months — and if the permit lapsed under ZR 11-332, the Board of Standards and Appeals timeline sits in front of all of it.
Can a buyer close with an open permit and fix it later?
A buyer can close on a property with an open permit, and many cash buyers do. Every open required item transfers with the deed. Whether that is a reasonable risk depends on whether the list has been scoped and priced and whether the funds to cure it are held by a neutral party with release tied to the sign-off or CO. Closing on an unscoped list is how buyers inherit a Board of Standards and Appeals case.
What is the difference between a Letter of Completion and a Certificate of Occupancy?
A Certificate of Occupancy states a building’s legal use and occupancy and is required for every new building and for existing buildings where use, egress or occupancy changed. A Letter of Completion closes an alteration job that did not change use, egress or occupancy. An NB job needs a CO; an ALT2 or ALT3 job that did not affect the CO typically needs a Letter of Completion.
Do open violations stop a Certificate of Occupancy?
Yes. “No open violations” is one of DOB’s ten listed conditions for a final CO, and the required-items list on every NB job carries a violations search as a separate line. Any open DOB or ECB violation on the property has to be resolved before the certificate issues, which is why violation removal and permit closeouts are usually run together.
What if the building was never built the way the approved plans show?
DOB will not sign off construction that does not match the approved drawings. The professional of record — or a superseding professional — has to file amended drawings showing the building as built, and DOB has to approve them before the final inspection is requested. On the September 2026 referral, a sliding door and deck shown on the 2005 plans were never installed; DOB’s 2010 inspection denied the construction update for that reason, and the item was still open sixteen years later.
