How to Complete and Deliver the NYC Bedbug Disclosure Form (DBB-N)

The NYC bedbug disclosure form, officially Form DBB-N, is a one-page notice that every New York City landlord must give a new tenant at or before signing a vacancy lease. It reports whether the apartment or the building had any bedbug infestation in the previous twelve months, and whether that infestation was treated. The form itself is simple. The rules about who gets it, when, and what happens if you skip it are worth getting right.

Who Has to Provide It and When

NYC Administrative Code §27-2018.1 requires the disclosure for every housing accommodation subject to the Housing Maintenance Code, which covers essentially all residential rentals in the city.¹ The obligation attaches to each vacancy lease: every new tenant gets a completed form at signing.

Rent-stabilized apartments carry an extra requirement. The standard HCR lease rider requires that the bedbug notice be attached to both vacancy and renewal leases.² Market-rate landlords are only required by statute to provide the form on a vacancy lease, though many attach it at renewal too.

Where to Get the Form

The fillable PDF is published by New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) at hcr.ny.gov.³ HCR’s leases page links to it along with the other required lease documents for rent-stabilized tenants.⁴ Older references sometimes call the document “Form DB-1.” The current version is DBB-N.

How to Complete the Form

Everything fits on a single page. Fill in four identifying fields at the top:³

Name of tenant(s) — the full legal name of every person signing the vacancy lease.
Subject premises — the building’s street address.
Apt. # — the specific unit being leased.
Date of vacancy lease — the date the new lease begins or is signed.

Below the header is a set of checkboxes covering the previous year’s bedbug history. Check every box that applies.

No history of any bedbug infestation within the past year in the building or in any apartment.
Building infestation that was the subject of eradication measures — write in the affected floor(s).
Building infestation that has not been treated — write in the affected floor(s).
Apartment infestation where eradication measures were used.
Apartment infestation where no eradication measures were used.
Other — a blank write-in field for anything that doesn’t fit the standard boxes.

If the building had no bedbug issues at all during the look-back year, checking the first box is the whole job. If there was activity, the form separates building-wide history from unit-specific history so the tenant can see whether the problem was in their apartment or elsewhere. Be specific about floors. Vague answers defeat the point of the disclosure.

Both the tenant and the owner or agent sign and date the bottom. The tenant’s signature acknowledges receipt, not agreement with the contents. Before you fill anything in, cross-reference your pest control invoices, maintenance logs, and any 311 complaint records for the past year so what you report matches what you can document.

Delivering the Form and Keeping Proof

The completed DBB-N must be furnished to the tenant at the time of signing a vacancy lease.¹ For rent-stabilized units, the HCR lease rider specifies that the notice be attached to the rider itself and served with it on both vacancy and renewal leases.² Keep a signed copy in your files. If a tenant later says they never got the notice, that signed acknowledgment is your only proof of compliance.

What Happens If You Skip It

The statute does not impose a monetary fine for failing to provide the form. If a tenant files a written complaint with HCR stating they never received the disclosure, HCR will order the owner to furnish it.¹ That is the direct remedy. The indirect cost is larger: a pattern of non-disclosure can give tenants leverage in habitability disputes or lease-breaking arguments later.

The Annual Report Is a Different Filing

Do not confuse the DBB-N with the Annual Bed Bug Report. Owners of multiple dwellings have a separate obligation under §27-2018.2, added by Local Law 69 of 2017. Between December 1 and December 31 each year, every registered owner or managing agent of a multiple dwelling must file an Annual Bed Bug Report through HPD’s online Bedbug Portal.⁵ The report covers the twelve-month period from the previous November 1 through October 31.⁶

The Annual Report collects aggregate building data, not unit-by-unit detail:⁶

Total number of dwelling units in the building.
Number of units that had a bedbug infestation during the reporting year.
Number of units where eradication measures were used.
Number of units that still had bedbugs after eradication measures were used.

The building’s HPD property registration must be current before the portal will accept a filing.⁷ When submitting, the owner certifies that a copy of the filed report will either be distributed to each tenant at lease commencement or renewal, or posted in a prominent location within the building within 60 days.⁶ Missing the December 31 deadline can result in HPD issuing a violation against the property.

Short version: DBB-N is one page to one tenant at lease signing. The Annual Report is one filing per building per year to the city.

How Tenants Can Check a Building’s History

A prospective tenant who wants to verify what a landlord reports on the DBB-N can search HPD Online, the city’s public database of building records. Enter the building’s address to view complaints, violations, property registration status, and filed Annual Bed Bug Reports.⁷ Individual DBB-N forms are not posted publicly, but the Annual Reports and any bedbug-related violations show the pattern. If an owner never filed an Annual Report for a multiple dwelling that should have one, that gap tells you something too.

1
American Legal Publishing Code Library. NYC Administrative Code 27-2018.1 – Notice of Bedbug Infestation History
2
New York State Homes and Community Renewal. New York City Lease Rider for Rent Stabilized Tenants
3
New York State Homes and Community Renewal. Notice to Tenant Disclosure of Bedbug Infestation History – Form DBB-N
4
Homes and Community Renewal. Leases (Security Deposits, Roommates, Sublets, and More)
5
NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Bedbugs
6
New York City Housing Preservation and Development. Bedbugs – HPD
7
NYC311. Bed Bug Annual Report