344 East 51st Street, Manhattan, NY 10022

344 East 51st Street is a 4-story, 9-unit residential building located in Midtown Manhattan, owned by Esther Yip and constructed in 1920. The property has experienced several significant regulatory issues over the past five years, particularly between 2020 and 2022, when it faced multiple violations related to unauthorized transient use, with three specific units (1A, 2B, and 3A) reportedly being used for short-term rentals. These violations led to substantial penalties from the Environmental Control Board (ECB), including fines totaling $40,375 for failures to provide required fire safety systems, means of egress, and for using the building for non-permitted purposes.

The most recent violation period, from March 2022, remains active concerning immediately hazardous conditions that have not been certified as corrected. The building's maintenance record shows regular attention to pest control and rodent inspections. While there were bedbug reporting violations in 2021 and 2022 requiring the submission of annual reports, the most recent four bedbug reports (2022-2024) indicate no infestation issues, with zero units reported as infested, eradicated, or re-infested.

The property has demonstrated consistent compliance with recent rodent inspections, passing all inspections in 2023-2025, though there were some concerns noted in 2022 regarding rat activity and regulatory compliance in April 2022. The building's regulatory history also includes bedbug reporting requirements, which have been consistently met in recent years with no reported infestations, and multiple rodent inspections indicating improved pest management practices. Notably, the property underwent a major compliance phase in early 2022 regarding unauthorized transient use, resulting in multiple violations related to fire safety systems and conversion to non-permitted use, though there have been no recent complaints or violations of this nature in the past year. The bedbug reporting requirements that triggered violations in 2021 have been resolved, with the property maintaining a clean record in this regard since late 2022.