The Mayor's Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings closed out a batch of Department of Buildings cases at an October 2 hearing session, with respondents found "in violation" across five boroughs' worth of paperwork — most of it routine, one of it not.

Start with the elevators. Per DOB records logged through OATH/ECB, five separate properties were cited for failing to maintain elevator or conveying systems under Administrative Code 28-304. At 970 Boston Road in the Bronx, Albert Goodman Housing Development was fined $1,250 after an inspector found an overcurrent protection fuse bypassed with a jumper — bypassing the required overcurrent protection on the control circuit, according to the violation record. At 357 East 195th Street, Decatur Apts LLC was fined $1,250 after an inspector found a service elevator completely out of service. At 1185 Washington Avenue, 1185 Washington Ave LLC was fined $625 after an inspector found the elevator's phone alarm bell inoperative — a code violation DOB flags as a hazardous condition since it can leave a trapped passenger unable to call for help.

At 1048 Olmstead Avenue in the Bronx, 1048 Olmstead LLC was fined a combined $1,250 across two tickets: one for plumbing work performed without a permit — DOB records describe an illegally added shower fixture in the cellar with no permit on file — and a second for illegal occupancy of that same cellar as living space, contrary to the certificate of occupancy.

The largest penalty of the batch landed in Brooklyn. At 2911 West 15th Street, RLM Realty Corp was fined $10,000 for failing to obey a vacate order from the buildings commissioner, per DOB records, which note this was not the first failure — a prior vacate order at the same address, ticket 35681917X, was also found violated. DOB records describe vehicles parked in the lot at the time of the follow-up inspection, which the department treated as continued occupancy in defiance of the order.

In Manhattan, 282 Hudson Street drew six separate tickets, all tied to a single inspection: three unpermitted "Grubhub" advertising signs on the building's Dominick Street-facing side, cited both for lacking permits and — in the Hudson Square special zoning district — for being a prohibited sign type outright. Combined penalties on the six tickets totaled $7,500.

A handful of smaller cases rounded out the session: a fire-escape obstruction and an expired sidewalk-shed permit at 1975-1977 LaFontaine Avenue in the Bronx ($1,875 combined); unsafe electrical wiring at 167 East 33rd Street in Manhattan ($800); an illegally enclosed garage converted to living space at 2246 East 70th Street in Brooklyn ($500); a missing construction-fence panel at 189-36 44th Avenue in Queens ($1,000); and open electrical conductors plus an unpermitted mini-split HVAC hookup at 37-30 73rd Street in Queens ($1,600 combined). None of the respondents had paid their penalties as of the hearing record.

None of this is dramatic by itself — these are the normal mechanics of DOB enforcement grinding through the hearing calendar. But for contractors and building owners, the pattern is the point: elevator maintenance keeps showing up as the costliest recurring violation type in this batch, vacate-order noncompliance escalates fast once a second ticket is written, and permit paperwork on basement and cellar conversions remains the easiest way to turn a $625 fine into a habit. If you manage a building with an open vacate order or an elevator service contract that's lapsed, settle it before the next inspection — the fines compound, and OATH doesn't forget the first ticket when it writes the second.