A DOB violation is a notice that a property is not in compliance with some provision of the NYC Buildings Code. The violation is entered against the property in the Department's Buildings Information System (BIS), and must be corrected before a new or amended Certificate of Occupancy (CO) can be obtained. However, it can be used as the basis for a Criminal Court summons and prosecution.

A DOB violation will ordinarily impair the sale or refinancing of a property since it will appear against the property on a title search. In order to remove the violation from the property's record, the condition must be corrected and proof of that correction must be provided to the issuing office before the violation is removed from the property's record.