Questions About Property Condition

Questions or concerns sometimes come up around the condition of an apartment or home you currently rent or a unit you are considering. This page offers some helpful resources.

Naturally, the first - and usually the most efficient/effective - path to successfully address any concerns about the condition of the apartment or home you rent is through your landlord. Sometimes landlords are not aware a problem exists until their tenant notifies them of the issue. So, it only makes sense to notify your landlord and give your landlord ample time to address the concern.

Unless you have an agreement with your landlord that allows for such things, tenants may make the repairs directly (using a private contractor or DIY). in nearly all cases tenants may not withhold rent to leverage repairs. If your landlord is not making the repair satisfactorily, you should contact your attorney before taking any other action.

Code compliance information

The City of Rochester tracks property code compliance on every property. You can now see updated code compliance information about the property you current rent as well as any property you are considering renting.

Research the City code compliance database <HERE>

Some background info on the City's code compliance database

In 2024 the City of Rochester partnered with a high tech company to track and display information about the status of code compliance for every property in the City of Rochester. As of July, 2024 the information is incomplete and, at times, either inaccurate or misleading. Nevertheless, this information can open the door to very useful information for current and prospective tenants in better understanding the code compliance status of properties.

This project was supported by grant funding from the NYS Attorney General’s Office, via the Enterprise Community Partners’ Cities RISE program. The program is intended to support innovative projects to advance equitable code enforcement. The Property Manager/Owner scoring system was envisioned to provide an objective and transparent public scoring system that could be used to drive improvements in code compliance. It could be used by City staff to target enforcement, as well as provide tenants better insight when making decisions on who to rent from. To make the scoring system a reality, City staff worked in partnership with counterparts at Tolemi. The City has provided Tolemi live feeds of code enforcement and property data for public access in their BuildingBlocks online platform since 2017. Building upon this, Tolemi developed an algorithm that ingests this data and processes the scoring system for viewing in BuildingBlocks. The scoring system was also workshopped extensively with the Landlord/Tenant Advisory Committee, which is convened by the City to provide input on proposed policies and initiatives. The group is comprised of the leaders of all the known landlord associations, other small landlords, as well as tenant and community advocates. The committee provided valuable feedback which was incorporated into the final design of the scoring system.

If you have questions about open code violations, or need to schedule an inspection, please email: [e-mail]

City Inspectors

There may be times when you need to reach out to a City of Rochester code compliance inspector directly to report a problem, follow-up on a concern or schedule an inspection.

Find your code inspector is <HERE>

Links

Leaky roofs, dangerous stairs, vermin, mold - Democrat & Chronicle - July, 2024

Is your rental safe? How to look up Rochester property violations - Democrat & Chronicle - June, 2024

If you have technical questions, please email: [e-mail]