Effective March 1, 2021

The DOB has just announced the release date for the next major phase of DOB NOW. The biggest changes are for Certificate of Occupancy and New Building applications. This new rollout will completely replace the current CO and NB processes and will directly impact all on-going Temporary CO’s for New Buildings effecting egress, use, or occupancy. It is important to note that all existing Temporary CO’s, whether active or expired, must be transferred into the new DOB Now system beginning March 1st, 2021. This will mean additional work for any TCO or final CO requests going forward.  There are several unanswered questions about the processes, but if the recent history of new DOB releases for ALT 2 work is any indication, there will be multiple bugs we will have to troubleshoot on their behalf.

A summary of the changes per the DOB memo issued this afternoon as follows:

DOB NOW Build expansion will include:

Certificate of Occupancy

Effective March 1, 2021, all Occupancy (previously “TCO” and “Final CO”) requests for BIS and DOB NOW jobs, must be submitted in DOB NOW. Form PW7 will no longer be accepted. (PW7s received by February 26, 2021 will be processed.)

Note: Form PW7 will only be utilized for BIS LOC requests effective March 1, 2021; however, the CO Checklist (formerly PW7 pages 2-3) will be separated out and will be a required document in DOB NOW for CO requests.

Job Types

Effective March 1, 2021, the following job types must be submitted in DOB NOW:

  • New Buildings (NB)

  • Alteration-CO (formerly Alt-1) – alterations that impact Certificate of Occupancy

Continue in the Buildings Information System (BIS):

  • Filings in “D” status or later in BIS by February 26, 2021 will continue to be processed in BIS

  • Post Approval Amendments (PAAs) on existing BIS filings will continue to be filed in BIS

  • NB Affordable Housing – submit to Development Hub

  • Alt-1 No Work – drop off at borough office

  • Fee Deferred – drop off at borough office

  • Builders Pavement Plan (BPP), Solar, Green Roof – submit in e-Filing

  • Full Demolition, Letter of No Objection (LNO), Letter of Verification (LOV), Subdivision – drop off at borough office

Temporary BIN (TBIN) Requests

Effective March 1, 2021, requests for a Temporary Building Identification Number (TBIN) must be submitted through DOB NOW. (The BIS Unit will no longer accept these requests by email, fax, nor mail.)

Use the new DOB NOW request process when requesting a TBIN for either a new address or lots that do not currently have a BIN.

Access to DOB NOW: Build
To log into DOB NOW, all users need an active e-Filing account specific to their license/registration type, if applicable. To create an e-Filing account, visit the DOB NOW Registration Page at www.nyc.gov/dobnowtips for assistance.