Albany requires every vacant building to be registered with the Department of Buildings & Regulatory Compliance under City Code Chapter 133. Registration fees escalate by year of vacancy — $250 first year, $500 second, $750 third, $1,000 fourth and beyond — for 1-, 2-, and 3-family buildings. As of 2023 the registry held roughly 921 properties. The program is the city's core blight-mitigation tool and runs alongside Chapter 313 property-maintenance enforcement.
Albany's primary tool for combatting property blight is the Vacant Building Registry, codified at Albany City Code Chapter 133 (Building Construction), Article XIA, and administered by the Department of Buildings & Regulatory Compliance (BRC). The city's legislative findings — recorded in the registry ordinance — state that vacant buildings impose disproportionate costs on surrounding neighborhoods and on the city as a whole through depressed property values, crime, fire risk, and demands on city services, and that the registry exists to mitigate those costs and incentivize owners to rehabilitate and return buildings to occupancy.
Any building that has been vacant for the threshold period defined in Article XIA must be registered with BRC, and registration must be renewed annually until the building is no longer vacant. For 1-, 2-, and 3-family buildings, fees follow an escalating schedule designed to push owners toward rehabilitation or sale: $250 for the first year of vacancy, $500 for the second year, $750 for the third year, and $1,000 for the fourth year and every year after. Larger structures pay higher rates set by the BRC fee schedule. Fee exemptions are available in narrow circumstances: a new owner making a good-faith rehabilitation effort, a building damaged by fire or natural disaster, or a property that passes a BRC inspection showing no interior or exterior code violations.
Albany's registry has been one of the most active in upstate New York. Public data published by the city and analyzed by AlbanyDataStories shows roughly 921 properties on the registry as of Q2 2023. BRC works with owners on rehabilitation plans and refers persistent non-compliance to the Corporation Counsel for litigation, In Rem tax foreclosure, or transfer to the Albany County Land Bank.
Running alongside the registry, Albany enforces general property-maintenance standards under City Code Chapter 313, which targets the visible elements of blight — peeling paint, broken windows, missing siding, accumulated junk, abandoned vehicles, and similar conditions. A property does not have to be vacant to be cited for blight; occupied homes and rental properties are equally subject to Chapter 313 inspections, often triggered by neighbor complaints filed through 311 or SeeClickFix.
Failure to register a vacant building is a violation of Chapter 133, Article XIA. Penalties include the full registration fee plus per-day fines, and unpaid fees are added to the property's tax bill as a lien. Continued non-compliance can trigger emergency demolition or stabilization orders under § 133-55 and ultimately In Rem tax foreclosure with title transfer to the Albany County Land Bank. Chapter 313 property-maintenance violations (debris, junk, broken windows, peeling paint) typically carry fines of $250–$1,000 per violation, per day, plus city abatement costs billed back to the owner.
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