We arrange the Local Law 126 observation for New York City buildings with a street-facing parapet, any height, and hold the written report you keep on file for six years.
NYC Parapet Compliance is a service brand of Synergetic Ventures, LLC. We coordinate one obligation: the annual parapet observation required by Local Law 126 of 2021, and the six-year record the law makes the owner keep.
Owners do not usually fall behind because the roof visit is complicated. They fall behind because the report is never filed with the Department of Buildings. There is no city portal and no reminder from DOB. You retain the report, produce it on request, and if a year slips, nothing flags the gap until someone asks.
That is the work. We confirm whether the building is covered, match it with a qualified person to perform the close-up observation, deliver the written report, and keep the annual record current so a DOB request does not catch you short.
Local Law 126 of 2021 added an annual observation of parapets, codified in Section 28-301.1.1 of the Administrative Code. The yearly requirement took effect on January 1, 2024. Unlike the Facade Inspection Safety Program, which only covers buildings over six stories, the parapet rule applies to buildings of nearly any height. If a parapet faces a street, sidewalk, or other public right-of-way, the building is almost certainly in scope.
Only two exemptions apply: detached one- and two-family homes, and buildings with a barrier, at least half the height of the wall, that prevents public access to the exterior wall. If neither exemption clearly fits, assume you must comply. The observation is due every calendar year by December 31. There is no staggered window by borough or tax-block number.
The law allows a broader qualified person than older facade rules. A competent observer can be a mason, bricklayer, building superintendent, or someone in a comparable construction trade, as well as an architect or engineer. It does not have to be a licensed engineer or architect, though it can be. What the rule requires is someone capable of identifying parapet hazards.
We are not a professional-engineering firm. We connect building owners and managers with an appropriately qualified observer and coordinate the process around them, roof access, scheduling, the written report, and the file, so the observation is done correctly and the record is something you can hand over.
This is not a sidewalk glance. The observer accesses the roof or, where present, a fire escape, and examines the entire parapet: coping, mortar joints, flashing, lean or displacement, water damage, and the connection to the roof and wall.
You receive a written report documenting the observation date, the person who performed it, the conditions found, and any action required. That report stays with you. It is not filed with the city. The yearly visit is the Annual Parapet Observation.
If an unsafe condition is found, the owner must install public protection immediately and keep it in place until the condition is corrected. We document what was found. The owner arranges the repair with their contractor. We can re-inspect and document the corrected condition so the record shows the parapet was made safe.
The observation is usually quick. The failure mode is the file. Owners must keep each report on-site for at least six years and produce it when DOB asks. At any moment you should be able to show not only this year’s observation but a continuous history. A gap is itself a compliance problem.
A request can arrive during a complaint, an inspection, or any other contact with the building. There is no grace period to go arrange a report after the fact. We run the yearly cycle so a year never slips, and we maintain the paperwork so the history is intact and retrievable.
For a portfolio, the same December 31 deadline applies to every covered property. We track which buildings have been observed this year, which are due, and where each sits in its six-year history. That is the Annual Compliance & Records work: the observation on the calendar, and the record in one place.
A thorough FISP facade report can satisfy the parapet observation for that year when it includes the details Local Law 126 requires. For buildings under six stories, the parapet observation is often the only facade-related obligation they have. Related FISP / Local Law 11 work for buildings over six stories is handled at Facade Compliance NYC.
Coverage, deadlines, and retention rules on this site follow current NYC Department of Buildings guidance. It is general information, not legal or engineering advice. Confirm your building’s specific obligations with the DOB and a qualified professional before you act.
Scope and pricing scale with parapet length, roof access, and the number of buildings, and are confirmed with you before any observation begins. What drives cost, and what a proper observation includes, is on What a NYC Parapet Inspection Costs.
We handle Local Law 126 observations and recordkeeping across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island.
Use the three-question checker on the homepage, or send the building address through Request an inspection. Call (646) 907-6230 or email info@nycparapetcompliance.com. We will confirm whether Local Law 126 applies and get the annual observation scheduled well before December 31.
Send us your address and we will confirm whether Local Law 126 applies and get your annual observation on the calendar - well before the December 31 deadline.
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