DOB Announces Amnesty Program for Owners Who Did Not File 8th Cycle FISP Report

The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) has announced an Amnesty Program for owners of buildings who failed to file a Facade Inspection Safety Program (FISP) report in the 8^th Cycle, which ended on February 21, 2020.

Under the program, non-compliant owners can administratively close their 8^th Cycle filing requirement by filing a 9^th Cycle report between July 1, 2020 and September 30, 2020.

Key Points

• The amnesty program is only available to building owners who failed to file their 8^th Cycle FISP report.
• Non-compliant owners may file their reports during the July 1 to September 30, 2020 amnesty period regardless of their official 9^th cycle filing period (which is based on the last digit of the building’s block number).
• The filing fee of $425 is required for submission of the 9^th Cycle report.
• There is no filing fee required for the administrative closure of 8^th Cycle.
• The amnesty program does not waive late fees, civil penalties or ECB fines accrued for failure to file a report. All late fees, civil penalties or ECB fines accrued for a failure to file during any previous cycles must be paid prior to or at the time of the amnesty program filing.

New 9^th Cycle Rules
It’s important to note that to take advantage of this amnesty program, reports filed must adhere to the new 9^th Cycle rules, which were implemented on February 21, 2020. The most significant new requirements include additional hands-on inspections for every 60-foot interval of street- and public right-of-way-facing facades; probe investigations along every 60-foot interval of cavity wall facades; new and increased civil penalties; and the display of facade condition certificates in building lobbies.

We highly encourage Owners to immediately take advantage of this program to ensure the filing takes place by the amnesty deadline, and to avoid any additional $5,000 per year and $1,000 per month penalties for failure to file a FISP report. 

Contact RAND
If you did not file an 8^th Cycle FISP report for your building, please contact RAND at 212-675-8844 or FISP@nullrandpc.com for a quote to conduct an inspection and file a report during the amnesty period.

For more information on the Facade Inspection Safety Program, please see RAND’s FISP Fact Sheet.