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.

• (E) designation

  A lot-specific environmental requirement on the zoning map

• 421-a

  The lapsed new-construction tax exemption lineage

• 485-x

  The successor new-construction exemption

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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 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

• Gross floor area

  Construction-measured area — not the zoning figure

• Ground lease

  Long-term lease of land under a separately owned building

• 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

• ICAP

  The industrial & commercial improvement abatement

• IH

  Inclusionary Housing (the voluntary bonus program)

• Illegal conversion

  Occupancy the building's legal record does not permit

• Individual landmark

  A designated building regulated by the LPC

• Interior lot

  A lot with a single street frontage

• J-51

  The renovation tax-benefit lineage

• Judgment lien

  A docketed money judgment attached to real property

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• Party wall

  A shared wall astride a lot line between two buildings

• 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

• Quality Housing

  The contextual bulk-and-standards regime for housing

• Quitclaim deed

  A transfer of whatever the grantor has — no promises

• 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

• 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

• 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

• UAP

  Universal Affordability Preference

• UCC financing statement

  The lien filing for personal-property collateral — including co-op shares

• ULURP

  Uniform Land Use Review Procedure

• Use group

  The Resolution's categories of permitted activities

• Vacate order

  An order that a building or part be emptied

• Vapor intrusion

  Contamination arriving as indoor air

• Variance

  Case-by-case relief from strict zoning requirements

• Vested rights

  The right to finish under the rules you started under

• Wide street

  A street at or above the Resolution's width threshold

• Work without a permit

  Construction performed outside the filing system

• ZLDA

  Zoning Lot Development Agreement — the merger's contract

• Zoning floor area

  Floor area as § 12-10 defines it — the quantity FAR measures

• Zoning lot

  The land unit zoning measures against — not always the tax lot

• ZR

  The NYC Zoning Resolution