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What a DBI Notice of Violation means

A plain English guide for SF renters

NOV vs. complaint

A complaint is a report. A Notice of Violation is the city's formal response after an inspector confirms something is actually wrong. They are not the same thing, and the distinction matters when you are reading a building's record.

The chain looks like this:

  1. Someone files a complaint with SF DBI; could be a tenant, neighbor, anonymous reporter, or even the landlord.
  2. A DBI inspector visits the building, usually within 72 hours.
  3. If the inspector finds a code violation, they issue a Notice of Violation. This often happens within a few weeks of the complaint.
  4. The landlord has a cure period to fix the issue.
  5. The inspector returns to verify the fix. If complete, the NOV closes. If not, the city escalates.

So a complaint by itself only means a tenant said something. An NOV means the city looked, agreed, and put it on the record.

What's on an NOV

Every NOV references the underlying complaint number, lists the specific code sections violated, describes the problem and its location, and gives a cure deadline. Common categories you will see in San Francisco:

What happens to the landlord

The cure period is usually 30 days. Some violations carry shorter or longer windows depending on severity and complexity. If the landlord cures, the NOV closes and stays in the public record as a resolved item.

If they do not cure, the city escalates:

The presence of an NOV in a building's history does not by itself mean the landlord is currently in trouble. The presence of an open NOV (status: still active, not closed) is the meaningful signal.

What it means if you find an NOV on your building

For a building you already live in: you have something concrete to point to in any tenant communication. NOVs are documented city records, not opinions, which makes them useful when you are advocating for repairs.

For a building you are considering renting: at minimum, ask the landlord about it directly before signing. The questions worth asking:

  1. Is this NOV resolved or still open?
  2. What was the underlying issue?
  3. What was the fix?
  4. Has there been a re-inspection to confirm the fix?

If the NOV is open and the landlord cannot answer specifically, that is informative.

Repeated NOVs over years

A pattern of repeated NOVs is a stronger signal than a single one, but what it actually says depends on whether those NOVs are open or closed.

Many open NOVs means management is not responding to the city. The cure deadlines passed, the inspector returned, and the issues are still on the record. That usually means they will not respond to you either.

Many closed NOVs of the same type (heat, pests, electrical) means the underlying problem keeps coming back, even when each round of fixes technically passed inspection. The landlord did respond each time, but the issue is structural enough that it keeps reappearing. Worth knowing before you sign for a unit in that category.

Housing Report Card flags repeated themes across complaint files so the pattern is visible at a glance, and shows whether each NOV is still open or has been closed.

What to do

If you live in a building with an open NOV, or you have a new issue the landlord still has not fixed, you can file your own complaint. New complaints become part of the building's public record and can prompt re-inspection. Search the address below, then click Report a housing issue on the report page; the city's complaint form opens right inside Housing Report Card, prefilled with the address.

Look up your address

For more on the filing process, what to include, and your protections against retaliation, see How to file a housing complaint in San Francisco.