Local Law 126: Parking Structure Inspections, Deadlines, and Penalties

Under New York City’s Local Law 126, parking structure inspection is mandatory: if you own a covered parking structure, you must hire a Qualified Parking Structure Inspector to perform a hands-on condition assessment at least once every six years and file the report with the Department of Buildings by your borough’s sub-cycle deadline. The law took effect January 1, 2022, added Article 323 to Title 28 of the NYC Administrative Code, and set penalties of $1,000 per month plus $5,000 per year for owners who miss their filing window.

When You Have to File

The first six-year round (Cycle 1) runs from 2022 through 2027, split into three sub-cycles based on the community district where the structure sits.¹

Sub-Cycle 1A (January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2023): Manhattan Community Districts 1 through 7. This window has closed, and the DOB has already begun issuing penalties to owners who missed it.²
Sub-Cycle 1B (January 1, 2024 – December 31, 2025): Manhattan Community Districts 8 through 12 and all Brooklyn Community Districts.
Sub-Cycle 1C (January 1, 2026 – December 31, 2027): All Community Districts in the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island.

Because scheduling an engineer, completing physical testing, and filing within the required window take longer than most owners expect, work backward from your sub-cycle end date and start early. The DOB has not yet published specific deadlines for Cycle 2, but the six-year cadence written into the law means the next round follows after 2027.

Which Structures Are Covered

The law reaches any building or space used for parking or storing motor vehicles: standalone parking garages, enclosed garages, open parking garages as defined in the NYC Building Code, and vehicle storage areas inside or beneath a larger building.¹ A residential or commercial tower with a dedicated parking level underneath is covered as to that parking portion, even though the rest of the building serves a different use.

Several categories fall outside the law:¹

Private garages serving one- and two-family homes.
Garages with capacity for fewer than three cars.
Unenclosed, unattached surface lots without structural elements.
Automotive repair shops, showrooms, and service stations, because the law targets structures built to store vehicles rather than service them.

If your property’s status is not obvious, confirm the classification with the DOB before your sub-cycle deadline. Assuming an exemption you don’t actually have doesn’t stop the penalty clock.

Who Can Perform the Inspection

Only a Qualified Parking Structure Inspector, or QPSI, can conduct the assessment and file the report. A QPSI must be a New York State licensed and registered Professional Engineer in good standing with both the NYS Education Department and the NYC Department of Buildings.³ Registered Architects don’t qualify. The DOB maintains an active list of certified QPSIs that owners can use to find an eligible inspector.⁴

What the Inspection Involves

The condition assessment is a hands-on engineering evaluation of every structural element in the facility: slabs, beams, columns, walls, ramps, drainage, and any waterproofing or protective coatings. This is not a visual walk-through. The rules require physical testing methods including sounding, load tests, optical surveying, non-invasive scanning such as ground-penetrating radar, and core sampling of at least 10 percent of each structural element type.⁵ The QPSI concentrates the physical examinations at the most deteriorated locations.

Before the inspection, pull together any previous structural reports, original building plans, and records of past repairs. That history helps the QPSI identify recurring problems and evaluate how the structure has changed over time. Without it, the inspector works with incomplete information, which can delay the assessment or push findings in a more conservative direction.

The Three Condition Classifications

The QPSI assigns one of three classifications, and each carries different obligations.

Safe: The structure needs no repairs or maintenance to sustain its structural integrity and is expected to remain safe for the next six years. Minor wear may be noted, but nothing that compromises load-carrying capacity.⁵
Safe with Repairs and/or Engineering Monitoring (SREM): The structure is safe now but needs repairs or ongoing monitoring within the next one to six years to prevent deterioration into an unsafe condition. Owners must complete the work within the timeframe the QPSI specifies.⁵
Unsafe: The structure is hazardous and requires repair within one year. The owner must immediately secure public safety by removing the dangerous condition or safeguarding the affected area. Any SREM finding from a previous cycle that was never corrected automatically becomes Unsafe at the next assessment.⁶⁵

That last point catches owners off guard. Ignoring an SREM finding because the building “seems fine” guarantees an Unsafe classification next cycle, along with steeper penalties and mandatory protective measures.

Repair Deadlines After an Unsafe Finding

Owners of structures classified as Unsafe must correct all hazardous conditions within 90 days of filing the report. If the work can’t be finished in that window, the DOB commissioner may grant one extension of up to 90 additional days, and further extensions are possible with more documentation and approval.⁷ Owners who miss the 90-day deadline without an approved extension face an added $1,000 per month until the work is done.⁸ Once repairs are complete, the owner files an amended compliance report reflecting the corrected conditions.¹

Filing Through DOB NOW: Safety

All parking structure compliance filings go through the DOB NOW: Safety online portal.¹ The QPSI must submit the report within 60 days of completing the condition assessment. Missing that 60-day window invalidates the assessment and forces a new inspection.⁸ Owners have to grant their QPSI authorization within the portal, and all data fields on the building’s condition and the inspector’s credentials must be populated before the system accepts the submission.

Filing fees on the DOB’s schedule are $485 for an initial report and $940 for an amended report. An extension-of-time application costs $95.⁹ The DOB reviews each submission against its technical standards before formally acknowledging compliance.

Penalties If You Miss the Deadline

The penalty structure escalates the longer an owner delays, and the charges stack.⁸

Late filing: $1,000 per month starting the day after your sub-cycle deadline, continuing until you submit an acceptable report.
Failure to file: An additional $5,000 per year, beginning one year after your filing window closes. This stacks on top of the monthly late fee.
Failure to correct unsafe conditions: $1,000 per month until the hazard is repaired, absent a DOB extension.
Failure to correct SREM conditions: A one-time $2,000 penalty when a previously reported SREM condition is reclassified as Unsafe at the next inspection.

An owner who never files can accumulate $17,000 in penalties every year, counting $12,000 in monthly late fees plus the $5,000 annual non-compliance charge.² These are civil penalties, so the DOB can pursue them without a criminal proceeding. For owners with more than one parking structure, the penalties apply per building.

1
NYC Department of Buildings. Parking Structures
2
NYC Department of Buildings. DOB Announces First Round of Penalties for Late Parking Structure Inspection Reports
3
NYC.gov. QPSI Certification
4
NYC Department of Buildings. DOB Active List of Qualified Parking Inspectors (QPSI)
5
NYC.gov. 1 RCNY 103-13 Periodic Inspection of Parking Structures
6
NYC.gov. Parking Structure Classifications and Reporting
7
New York City Administrative Code. New York City Administrative Code 28-323.8 – Repair of Parking Structure, Unsafe Condition
8
New York City Rules. New York City Rules 103-13 – Periodic Inspection of Parking Structures
9
NYC Buildings. Parking Structure Fees and Penalties