How often is building data updated?
Category: Reports & Data
Read time: 3 minutes
City data doesn't arrive in real time — each agency publishes on its own schedule. Here's how often each data source refreshes, so you know exactly how current your building report is.
Update schedule by data source
HPD violations — Daily
Housing Maintenance Code violations from the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development sync every day. New violations filed this morning will appear in the report by tomorrow at the latest.
DOB permits & complaints — Weekly
Department of Buildings records — permits, violations, complaints, and ECB violations — refresh weekly. The full DOB dataset is large and complex, so updates batch once per week rather than daily.
311 service requests — Daily
NYC 311 complaints linked to the building's BBL are refreshed daily. This includes the most recent heat complaints, noise reports, sanitation issues, and every other 311 request filed at the address.
HPD complaints — Daily
Complaints filed directly with HPD about building conditions sync on the same daily schedule as HPD violations.
ACRIS deed & sales records — On filing
Property deeds, sales history, and ownership transfer records from the NYC Department of Finance's Automated City Register Information System (ACRIS) are updated as new filings are recorded. These don't follow a fixed schedule — they're added as the city processes them.
Bedbug reports — Annual cycle
NYC law requires building owners to file annual bedbug infestation reports. These are published once per year per building, typically around the end of each calendar year. The most recent filing available in the report is the last one submitted.
Rodent inspections — Daily
NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene rodent inspection records are synced daily.
SF DBI permits — Weekly
San Francisco Department of Building Inspection records — building permits, plumbing permits, electrical permits, violations, and complaints — refresh on a weekly schedule, similar to NYC DOB data.
SF fire records — Weekly
Fire complaints, incidents, and violations from the San Francisco Fire Department update weekly.
SF 311 — Daily
San Francisco 311 service requests geo-joined to the parcel are refreshed daily.
SF Rent Board records — On filing
Tenant buyout agreements and other Rent Board records are updated as new filings are recorded.
Real-time vs. refreshed data
For premium users, some datasets query the city's live API (Socrata endpoints) rather than the local mirrored database. This means premium reports can show data that's only minutes old for those datasets — violations filed this morning that haven't yet reached the daily sync cycle.
Free reports use the local mirrored database exclusively, so they always show the most recent completed sync.
| Access level | Data source | Freshness |
|---|---|---|
| Free (guest) | Mirrored database | Up to latest daily sync |
| Free (account) | Mirrored database | Up to latest daily sync |
| Premium (credit or subscription) | Mirrored database + live API | Up to date as of sync + live queries for some sources |
What this means for your building search
New violations can be filed on any building on any day, even if you ran a clean report last week. That's why the Renter plan includes building watch alerts — you get notified the moment a new violation, complaint, or permit is filed on a building you're watching, instead of relying on a report that could be days old.
A report is a snapshot, not a permanent record. The building that was clean last month could have a new Class C violation filed today. Watch alerts close that gap.
Data sources that are no longer updated
Some city datasets are historical snapshots that stopped receiving new records:
- FDNY fire violations (NYC) — No longer updated by the city
- FDNY fire inspections (NYC) — No longer updated
- FDNY fire certificates (NYC) — No longer updated
These records remain in the report as historical data but do not reflect current conditions.
Get notified when a building's data changes — start a free account to set up building watch alerts.