Not all buildings with HPD violations are neglected. A building can have dozens of open violations and still receive a Grade A — if those violations are all Class A (non-hazardous), like a missing door hinge or a minor maintenance item, rather than Class C conditions like no heat, mold, or rodent infestation.
Using NYC Open Data covering 808,517 currently open violations across 89,291 buildings, we graded every building A through F based on the severity of open violations. 76,715 buildings (85.9%) received a Grade A — meaning their open violations are primarily non-hazardous.
This post looks at the Grade A buildings with the most open violations — buildings where landlords are dealing with a large volume of issues, but none of the immediately hazardous Class C kind.
How We Score Buildings
The accountability score (0–100) measures open violation severity:
Score = 100
− MIN(60, Class C open × 3)
− MIN(25, Class B open × 0.5)
− MIN(10, Class A open × 0.1)- Grade A (score ≥ 85): Few or no Class C violations
- Grade F (score < 40): High volume of immediately hazardous violations
A perfect score of 100 means zero open violations of any class. Buildings on this list score 90+ despite having 50–200 open violations — because every one of those violations is Class A (non-hazardous) or at most 1–2 Class B.
All data is from NYC HPD via NYC Open Data, as of June 2025. Only buildings with 10 or more open violations are included, to filter out buildings where the grade is trivially easy to maintain.
Grade A Buildings With the Most Open Violations
1. 1561 Royce Street, Brooklyn (Canarsie)
Open violations: 203 | Class A: 112 | Class B: 0 | Class C: 0 | Score: 90/100 First violation on record: April 17, 2024
The top Grade A building in our dataset has 203 open violations — and zero Class B or Class C violations. Every violation at this Canarsie address is Class A, the mildest category. For a building with this many open violations to have none in the hazardous categories is a meaningful signal about how the property is managed.
2. 556 Louisiana Avenue, Brooklyn (Canarsie)
Open violations: 154 | Class A: 76 | Class B: 2 | Class C: 0 | Score: 91.4/100 First violation on record: March 27, 2024
154 open violations with zero Class C and only 2 Class B — both of which would need to be addressed, but neither is immediately hazardous. This Canarsie address scores 91.4/100. Like many large residential buildings, it accumulates Class A violations over time while keeping the serious stuff in check.
3. 8103 Avenue M, Brooklyn (Canarsie)
Open violations: 149 | Class A: 74 | Class B: 0 | Class C: 0 | Score: 92.6/100 First violation on record: April 8, 2024
Another Canarsie address with 149 open violations, all Class A. Zero Class B, zero Class C. Score: 92.6/100. Three of the top four Grade A buildings on this list are in Canarsie — the neighborhood appears in our data with a notably high proportion of Grade A buildings relative to its violation volume.
4. 819 East 161 Street, Bronx (Morrisania)
Open violations: 89 | Class A: 41 | Class B: 0 | Class C: 0 | Score: 95.9/100 First violation on record: November 22, 2024
Morrisania is one of the Bronx neighborhoods with the highest concentration of Grade F buildings (the area also appears in our worst-buildings list for 530 East 169 Street). But not every Morrisania building is failing. 819 East 161 Street has 89 open violations — all Class A — and a score of 95.9.
5. 4 Racal Court, Staten Island (New Springville)
Open violations: 79 | Class A: 57 | Class B: 1 | Class C: 0 | Score: 93.8/100 First violation on record: March 6, 2024
With 79 open violations — 57 Class A and 1 Class B — this New Springville address maintains a Grade A. Staten Island tends to have far fewer Grade F buildings than the Bronx or Brooklyn (only 44 Grade F vs. 1,247 in the Bronx), and addresses like this illustrate the borough’s cleaner overall profile.
6. 469 Windham Loop, Staten Island (New Springville)
Open violations: 74 | Class A: 0 | Class B: 0 | Class C: 0 | Score: 100/100 First violation on record: December 5, 2024
A perfect score of 100. 74 open violations — all of which fall outside the A/B/C classification (likely administrative or paperwork-related violations with no associated hazard). Zero Class A, zero Class B, zero Class C. A perfect grade.
7. 71-12 162 Street, Queens (Fresh Meadows)
Open violations: 74 | Class A: 73 | Class B: 1 | Class C: 0 | Score: 92.2/100 First violation on record: April 15, 2024
In Fresh Meadows, Queens, 74 open violations — 73 of them Class A — earns a score of 92.2. Queens has a strong Grade A presence in our data; Fresh Meadows in particular shows up multiple times in the top tier.
8. 196-01 Pompeii Avenue, Queens (Fresh Meadows)
Open violations: 72 | Class A: 0 | Class B: 0 | Class C: 0 | Score: 100/100 First violation on record: November 25, 2025
Another perfect 100. 72 open violations with zero in any severity class. This address in Fresh Meadows began accumulating violations only in late 2025 — all of which appear to be non-classified administrative records. Score: 100.
9. 87-02 57 Avenue, Queens (Elmhurst)
Open violations: 62 | Class A: 21 | Class B: 1 | Class C: 0 | Score: 97.4/100 First violation on record: April 15, 2024
In Elmhurst — a dense, multi-family neighborhood in central Queens — 62 open violations with only 1 Class B and zero Class C earns a score of 97.4. Elmhurst is one of the more diverse neighborhoods in Queens and shows up consistently in the Grade A tier.
10. 9967 Shore Road, Brooklyn (Bay Ridge)
Open violations: 48 | Class A: 24 | Class B: 0 | Class C: 0 | Score: 97.6/100 First violation on record: April 11, 2024
Rounding out the list is a Bay Ridge building with 48 violations — all Class A, none hazardous. Bay Ridge, a primarily residential neighborhood in southwestern Brooklyn, tends to have stronger HPD records than much of the borough.
What Makes a Grade A Building
Grade A doesn’t mean no violations. It means the violations that do exist are non-hazardous — maintenance items, paperwork issues, minor code items. A building earns a Grade A when its accountability score is 85 or higher, which means it can have up to 50 Class A violations and still maintain the top grade.
The distinction matters because Class C violations — the ones that drive Grade F ratings — represent real, immediate risks to tenants: no heat in winter, lead paint exposure, active mold, pest infestations. A building with 200 Class A violations is irritating to manage; a building with 50 Class C violations is potentially dangerous to live in.
Grade Distribution Across NYC (Buildings With Open Violations)
| Grade | Buildings | % of Total | Avg Open Violations |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 76,715 | 85.9% | 3.6 |
| B | 5,747 | 6.4% | 18.1 |
| C | 2,511 | 2.8% | 30.0 |
| D | 1,361 | 1.5% | 42.0 |
| F | 2,957 | 3.3% | 98.8 |
The vast majority of NYC buildings with open violations are Grade A — they have issues on record, but none that HPD classifies as immediately hazardous. The 2,957 Grade F buildings, by contrast, average nearly 100 open violations each, with an average of 33 Class C conditions still unresolved.
Check Your Building
311 Tracker tracks complaints and violations for every building in NYC — over 834,000 addresses. Search yours to see its violation grade, open violation breakdown, and 311 complaint history.