In New York City certain entities are exempt from paying Department Of Buildings, DOB Fees under the right criteria.
DOB Fee Exemption for Not For Profit Corporations
Department Of Buildings (DOB) filing fee exemptions exist for properties owned by Not For profit Corporations if the property is used only for educational, charitable, or religious use. Requirements are outlined below.
- Exemptions exist for work permits, renewal permits, equipment use permits, and Place Of Assembly Permits.
- No Exemption Exists for Civil Penalties, copies of DOB Records, electrical inspection fees and after hours variances.
Proof of ownership must be supplied to determine fee exemption. The following documents can be used to verify ownership.
- Department Of Finance (DOF) Final Assessment Roll or Tentative Assessment Roll listing the Not For Profit as owner and showing a taxable / billable assessed value as zero. Documents must be from the current year and most recent billing period.
- The Not For Profit must provide documentation to verify the property is used only for educational, religious, or charitable use.
- Alternatively a Not-For-Profit Tax Exemption Approved Application Letter, or Approved Renewal Letter.
- Private for profit entities that lease a government owned property are not exempt from paying fees.
- Government agencies leasing space in privately owned buildings are not exempt from DOB fees.
DOB Fee Exemption for Government Owned Property
Department Of Buildings (DOB) filing fee exemptions exist for properties owned by government agencies as outlined below.
- Federal Government
- State Government
- City Government
- City Agencies are not exempt from electrical fees
- Foreign Government`
Proof of ownership must be supplied to determine fee exemption, the following documents can be used to verify ownership.
- Department Of Finance (DOF) Final Assessment Roll or Tentative Assessment Roll listing the government agency as owner and showing a taxable / billable assessed value as zero. Documents must be from the current year and most recent billing period.
- Private for profit entities that lease a government owned property are not exempt from paying fees.
- Government agencies leasing space in privately owned buildings are not exempt from DOB fees.
For more information on DOB Fee Exemption you can read the Department Of Buildings (DOB) Buildings Bulletin 2014-027
NYC Codes
As an architect I study codes closely. NYC Codes are complicated and quite involved. In this article, we reviewed some of the basic requirements with regards to DOB Fee Exemptions. This analysis does not assume to cover every possible issue or condition, but provide a general overview.
Thank you for reading our blog post on NYC DOB Fee Exemptions.
I hope this was helpful. Please leave questions and comments below. If you would like to speak with an architect you can contact us directly.
This post was written by Jorge Fontan AIA a Registered Architect and owner of New York City architecture firm Fontan Architecture. Jorge Fontan has earned 3 degrees in the study of architecture including two degrees from the City University of New York and a Masters Degree in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University. Jorge has a background in construction and has been practicing architecture for 20 years where he has designed renovations and new developments of various building types.
