Follow-up Audit Report on the Queens Quality of Life Unit of the Department of Buildings

This audit determined whether the Department of Buildings (DOB) implemented the 14 recommendations made in the prior audit report, Audit Report on the Queens Quality of Life Unit of the Department of Buildings (Audit No. MG09-087A), issued on July 14, 2009.

DOB is responsible for the safe and lawful use of more than 975,000 buildings and properties throughout the five boroughs by enforcing laws and regulations applicable to the construction, alteration, and occupancy of buildings. DOB’s main activities include examining building plans, inspecting properties, licensing the construction trades, and issuing construction permits.

In March 1997, DOB created the Queens Quality of Life Unit (QOL Unit) to oversee the increasing problem of illegal conversions in the borough¹. Quality of life complaints refer exclusively to the illegal conversion (alteration or modification) of an existing building to create an additional housing unit without first obtaining approval from DOB. Examples of an illegal conversion include: adding an illegal basement, attic, or garage apartment; creating a rooming house (known as Single Room Occupancy or SRO) from a one- or two-family home; and dividing an apartment into individual SRO units.

The prior audit found that DOB’s response to quality of life complaints was inadequate. Specifically, that audit found that QOL Unit inspectors did not gain access to nearly 40 percent of the properties for which the Unit received complaints in Fiscal Year 2008 and nearly two-thirds of all the Unit’s field inspection attempts for the same year resulted in the inspectors being unable to gain access to the properties. Overall, the QOL Units’ rate of failed inspection attempts more than doubled from the time of the prior audit. Further, DOB had requested access warrants for less than 1 percent of the properties to which inspectors could not gain access and did not follow up to ensure that the properties for which it obtained vacate orders remained vacated until violations were removed and the orders lifted. In this report, we discuss the recommendations from the prior audit as well as the current implementation status of each of those recommendations.

Audit Findings and Conclusions

This audit concluded that since the prior audit, DOB has made little progress in improving its response to quality of life complaints. Of the 14 recommendations made in the prior audit, DOB implemented two (#13 and #14), partially implemented six (#4, #5, #6, #7, #8, and #9), and did not implement four others (#1, #2, #3, and #10). One (#12) of the prior recommendations was no longer applicable because DOB modified its procedure and one other (#11) we were unable to determine the implementation status because DOB did not have sufficient evidence for us to base a conclusion.

Of the conditions disclosed in the previous audit, this audit found that many remain unchanged. For example, DOB still has not sought the authority to impose fines on property owners who deny DOB inspectors access to their properties to investigate a complaint of an illegal conversion. In addition, DOB has not optimized the pursuit of and, therefore, has not routinely obtained access warrants for vacated properties for which new complaints are received and inspectors are unable to gain access to reinspect. Finally, DOB does not consistently adhere to the procedural requirement that vacated properties must be re-inspected within approximately 30 days of posting the official vacate order.

Audit Recommendations

To address these weaknesses, the audit made eight recommendations, including that DOB should:

• Seek the assistance of DOB’s legal department, the City’s Law Department, and/or City legislators to attain the legal authority to impose incremental fines on owners who deny DOB inspectors access to their properties and/or who do not respond to the LS-4 forms.
• Continue to work toward increasing the number of access warrants petitioned from the court for properties with numerous failed inspection attempts, particularly for properties with strong evidence of an illegal conversion to which inspectors continuously are unable to access to inspect and investigate complaints.
• Be proactive in promptly carrying out re-inspections of properties where vacate orders remain in effect to ensure that subject properties remain vacated until conditions are corrected.
• Ensure that, given its current level of resources, protocols and controls are implemented to ensure that established procedures are promptly put into practice and consistently carried out.

Agency Response

Of the eight recommendations made in this current audit, DOB generally agreed with four, partially agreed with one, disagreed with two, and did not directly address the one other.