NYC Zoning & Property Glossary
The acronyms and terms of art that New York City property records assume you already know — each defined in plain language, with the related concepts linked. For the longer explanations, see the zoning guides.
210 terms, grouped A–Z
E
- (E) designation A lot-specific environmental requirement on the zoning map
- EAS Environmental Assessment Statement
- Easement A recorded right to use another's land
- ECB / OATH Environmental Control Board violations, heard at OATH
- EIS Environmental Impact Statement
- Elevation certificate The surveyed record of a building's flood-relevant heights
- Elevator inspection Periodic inspections and tests per elevator device
- Emergency Repair Program The city fixes it, the owner gets the bill
- Energy grade The letter grade posted from benchmarking data
- EPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Estoppel certificate A party's binding statement of where things stand
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5
A
- Accessory use A use incidental to and serving the principal use
- AEP HPD's Alternative Enforcement Program
- Air rights Unused development rights above an existing building
- Alteration application The DOB filing family for changes to existing buildings
- Arm's-length transaction A sale between unrelated parties at market motivation
- Article 78 The state-court challenge to agency decisions
- Article 7A Court-appointed administrators for failed buildings
- As-of date The timestamp every records claim must carry
- As-of-right Development permitted without discretionary approval
- Assemblage Combining adjacent lots into one development site
- Assessed value The taxable fraction of a property's market value
- Authorization A lighter CPC discretionary action, outside ULURP
B
- Bargain and sale deed New York's workhorse deed, with limited promises
- Base height The band within which a street wall rises before setback
- BBL Borough, Block & Lot — NYC's unique tax-lot identifier
- Beneficial ownership Who actually stands behind an owning entity
- BFE Base Flood Elevation
- Boiler inspection The recurring filing regime for heating plants
- Borough president The borough's voice in land-use review
- Brownfield Land whose reuse is complicated by contamination
- Brownfield Cleanup Program The state's incentive-backed remediation track
- BSA Board of Standards and Appeals
- Building class The two-character code classifying every NYC building
- Building envelope The three-dimensional volume a building must fit within
- Built FAR The floor area standing today, relative to lot area
- Bulk Zoning's collective term for size-and-form controls
C
- Cellar A story more than half below grade — mostly outside FAR
- CEMA Consolidation, Extension & Modification Agreement
- CEQR City Environmental Quality Review
- Certificate of appropriateness LPC's approval for substantial work on protected fabric
- Certificate of correction Proof a cited condition was fixed
- Certificate of fitness FDNY's credential for premises-based safety roles
- Certificate of no harassment The clearance some buildings need before permits
- Certificate of Occupancy The document defining a building's legal use and occupancy
- Certification The lightest discretionary step — chair-level confirmation
- Chain of title The recorded sequence of a property's ownership
- City Council The final vote on most major land-use actions
- City Map The official map of streets, parks, and grades
- City Register The recording office for four of the five boroughs
- Commercial overlay A commercial strip mapped within a residence district
- Community board The local advisory body in land-use review
- Community facility Institutional uses with their own zoning treatment
- Condominium declaration The recorded instrument that creates a condo
- Condop A co-op stacked inside a condominium structure
- Contextual district Districts whose envelopes mirror existing neighborhood form
- Corner lot A lot fronting two intersecting streets
- Court Open area bounded by building walls, other than a yard
- Covenant A recorded promise that runs with the land
- CPC City Planning Commission
- Curb cut A curb opening for vehicle access across the sidewalk
D
- DCP NYC Department of City Planning
- DCWP NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection
- DEC NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
- Deed The instrument that transfers real property
- Demolition permit The authorization to take a building down
- DEP NYC Department of Environmental Protection
- Design flood elevation The elevation new construction must actually meet
- Development site Property marketed for what can be built, not what stands
- DOB NYC Department of Buildings
- DOB violation A Buildings-department citation on the property record
- DOF NYC Department of Finance
- DOT NYC Department of Transportation
F
- FAR Floor Area Ratio — floor area relative to lot area
- FDNY New York City Fire Department
- FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency
- FIRM Flood Insurance Rate Map
- FISP Façade Inspection & Safety Program (Local Law 11)
- Flip tax A co-op's private transfer fee — not a tax
- Flood disclosure New York's flood-history disclosure duties for home sales and residential leases
- Flood zone The map's risk categories, from coastal high-hazard to minimal
- Freeboard A structure's vertical margin against the base flood
- Front yard Required open area along the street line
G
H
- HCR NYS Homes and Community Renewal — the rent-regulation agency
- HDFC Limited-equity co-ops for income-qualified owners
- Heat season The annual period with minimum heat requirements
- Height factor The index tying FAR to building height in the older regime
- Historic district A mapped area where every property is LPC-regulated
- Holdout The owner who doesn't sell — and shapes the building
- Housing cooperative Own shares in the corporation, lease your apartment
- HPD NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development
- HPD litigation Housing-court actions against building owners
- HPD registration The annual owner-and-agent filing for rental buildings
- HPD violation classes Housing-code violations graded A, B, C by hazard
- HUD U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
I
J
L
- Lead paint (Local Law 1) The presumption-and-remediation regime for older housing
- Leasehold The tenant's ownable, financeable interest under a lease
- Letter of no objection DOB's statement that a use predates certification
- Lis pendens The recorded notice that litigation touches the property
- LL126 Local Law 126 — periodic parking-structure inspections
- LL152 Local Law 152 — periodic gas-piping inspections
- LL84 Local Law 84 — annual energy & water benchmarking
- LL87 Local Law 87 — periodic energy audits & retro-commissioning
- LL97 Local Law 97 of 2019 — building emissions limits
- Loft Law The legalization regime for converted industrial lofts
- LOMA / LOMR Letters that amend or revise the flood map
- Lot coverage The share of the lot a building's footprint may occupy
- Lot depth The distance from street line to rear lot line
- Lot frontage The length of a lot along the street line
- Lot line A recorded boundary of a lot, classified by position
- LPC Landmarks Preservation Commission
M
- Mansion tax The buyer-side tax tier on high-price residences
- Mapped street A street legally established on the City Map
- Market value (DOF) The city's statutory valuation — not a sale estimate
- Maximum building height The flat cap on building height in contextual rules
- MCI Major Capital Improvement rent increases
- Mechanic's lien A contractor's recorded claim for unpaid work
- Mezzanine An intermediate level between a story's floor and ceiling
- MIH Mandatory Inclusionary Housing
- Mitchell-Lama The state's middle-income housing program
- Mortgage The recorded security instrument behind property debt
N
- Narrow street A street below the Resolution's width threshold
- New building application The DOB filing for ground-up construction
- NFIP The National Flood Insurance Program
- Non-complying building A building lawfully exceeding today's bulk rules
- Non-conforming use A use lawfully continuing where today's rules forbid it
- NTA Neighborhood Tabulation Area
O
- OER NYC Office of Environmental Remediation
- Offering plan The disclosure document behind condo and co-op sales
- Open space ratio Required open space scaled to the floor area built
- Opportunity zone A designated tract carrying federal investment incentives
- Overlay district A mapped layer modifying the underlying district's rules
P
- Party wall A shared wall astride a lot line between two buildings
- PCDS Property Condition Disclosure Statement
- Petroleum bulk storage Registered tanks — and the records they leave
- Phase I ESA The records-and-inspection environmental screen
- Professional certification Licensed self-certification of plan compliance
Q
R
- Rear yard Required open area along the rear lot line
- Recording Publication of instruments into the public land record
- Referee's deed The deed that executes a foreclosure sale
- Regulatory agreement The recorded contract behind affordability programs
- Rent control The older, shrinking regulation regime
- Rent stabilization The state regime regulating rents and renewals
- Residual FAR Maximum FAR minus built FAR — paper headroom
- Restrictive declaration A recorded commitment binding land through approvals
- Rezoning A zoning map amendment changing what is mapped where
- RPIE The annual income & expense filing for income properties
S
- Satisfaction of mortgage The recorded discharge of a paid loan
- SEQRA The State Environmental Quality Review Act
- Setback A required step-back of the building above its base
- SFHA Special Flood Hazard Area (FEMA)
- Side yard Required open area along a side lot line
- Sidewalk shed The protective scaffold over the sidewalk — and its economics
- Sky exposure plane The inclined height-control plane of ZR § 12-10
- Soft site A lot analysts consider likely to redevelop
- Special permit A discretionary grant the Resolution itself offers
- Special purpose district A named district with its own chapter of bespoke rules
- Spill record The state's file on a reported release
- SRO Single-room occupancy — regulated shared housing
- Stop-work order An order halting construction, full or partial
- Street line The lot line separating a lot from the street
- Street wall The wall of a building facing the street
- Substantial improvement The renovation threshold that triggers flood compliance
- Superfund The severe-contamination cleanup programs, federal and state
T
- Tax abatement A reduction of the tax itself
- Tax certiorari The court path for challenging assessments
- Tax class The four-class system behind NYC property taxation
- Tax Commission The independent review board for assessment appeals
- Tax exemption A reduction of taxable assessed value
- Tax lien The city's claim for unpaid property charges
- Tax lien sale The city's sale of delinquent liens to a collecting trust
- Taxpayer A minimal commercial building holding land for the future
- TCO Temporary Certificate of Occupancy
- TDR Transfer of Development Rights
- Text amendment A change to the Zoning Resolution's rules themselves
- Through lot A lot running from one street through to another
- Title insurance The policy standing behind the recorded chain
- Title search Reading the recorded chain before relying on it
- Tower regulations Coverage-based rules for the tallest districts' buildings
- Transfer tax The city and state taxes on conveying property
- Transitional assessed value The phase-in figure for larger properties' assessments
U
V
W
Z
See these terms on a real lot's dossier
PearlAudit resolves the governing zoning for any NYC tax lot — district, overlays, special districts — and cites the Zoning Resolution section behind every rule claim.