Is your rental safe? How to look up Rochester property violations

A recently launched tool lets Rochester landlords and tenants see how their properties and owner profiles compare to others in the city.

Since August 2023, the City of Rochester has assigned landlords and rental properties publicly available scores out of 100. The grades can provide a look into the number of code violations properties, owners and property managers have accumulated.

The scoring system is available on the city-run BuildingBlocks website, operated in partnership with the data platform Tolemi and based on code compliance.

How is a Rochester rental property score decided?

Factors that go into calculating scores include active health and safety violations per unit, days since the property’s certificate of occupancy expired, and days since the oldest health and safety violation was cited. The lower the score, the greater the number of open violations the property has accumulated.

Not all properties have been evaluated in this way. Out of 64,810 total structures and lots in the city, only 22,117, or about 34%, have been scored.

Only manager contact records submitted after May 24, 2023, are included in the scoring. Properties not inspected in the last year may not be counted to formulate landlord scores. The site doesn’t state when a property or landlord’s rating was last reviewed or updated.

It also doesn’t allow users to search by property owner or manager name, only by property address.

Also: This is the most misspelled word in New York. Does it stump you?

Here’s how to view the landlord scores for yourself

To see the score for a specific rental property or property owner:

1. Navigate to the BuildingBlocks site. The site works best with the Chrome or Firefox search engines, and it won’t work on Internet Explorer. Ensure “Rochester, NY” is listed in the top left corner. On the right, you’ll see a list of all properties in the database, along with their parcel IDs — their identification numbers — their addresses and owners.

2. Type the property address, without abbreviations, into the small, dark gray search bar at the top of the page.

3. Click the property; if the address looks right, it appears under the search bar.

4. Scroll down on the property page to “Renter tools.” If the property in question has been given a score, you’ll see this section about eight subheadings down. Within it, you’ll see the number of rental units in the property, the “Rental Owner Score,” and the “Rental Property Score.”

To see all properties within a score range:

1. Navigate to the BuildingBlocks site. Ensure “Rochester, NY” is listed in the top left corner. On the right, you’ll see a list of all properties in the database, along with their parcel IDs, identification numbers, addresses, and owners.

2. Click “Add Filters,” the bright blue button in the top left corner of the page. Several boxes representing categories you can search by will pop up.

3. Scroll down and click “Scores,” a white button with a meter symbol.

4. Choose which score type you want to see. Three options will pop up, and you’ll decide whether you wish to search by “Rental Manager Score,” “Rental Owner Score,” or “Rental Property Score.” Click on one of them.

5. Filter the score range. For example, if you want to see a list of all high-scoring properties in the city, you can select a range between 50 and 100 or 75 and 100. Drag the slider to adjust the range.

6. Click to the right to see the properties or landlords scoring within your chosen range.

Property owners or managers looking to improve their score or inquire about a missing property can visit the city’s Infor Civics portal, launched in May 2023. The portal also includes instructions on disputing scores and reporting incorrect information.

— Christina Chkarboul is a summer intern at the Democrat and Chronicle and a student journalist at USC, where she focuses on Earth science, global studies and journalism. Contact her at [email protected] with story tips related to code enforcement.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Is your rental safe? How to look up Rochester NY property violations