If
Is water actively dripping or flowing right now? → Yes, it's dripping or flowing
Class C24 hours
If
Is water actively dripping or flowing right now? → No, it's a stain or damage
Class B30 days
How it works
AI proposes, code disposes.
A vision model is good at saying “that looks like a leak.” It is not allowed to say what the law requires. In Habitable the AI only names the problem, and a small, cited table of NYC housing-code rules decides the hazard class and the correction window — the same answer every time, with a source you can click.
1The flow
- Your photoFingerprinted and dated on your phone. Location stripped.
- AI picks one of 7Leak, mold, heat, pests, lock, paint — or not covered. Plus how sure.AI stops here
- Rules tablePlain data. Every row cites the NYC code and an HPD source.
- BClass + window + citationStamped A, B or C, the correction window, the section.
- Your timelineDay counter, countdown, follow-ups, receipts.
- The noticeA dated PDF for your landlord, EN or ES.
2Who does what
The AI proposes
Picks exactly one of seven answers, says how sure it is and why in one sentence. If it's unsure, it asks you one question.
It never sees the law and never sets a class or a deadline. You can always correct it.
The code disposes
The rules table is plain data. Each row carries the code section, an HPD or 311 source, the official wording and a plain-English line.
If a rule needs a fact the photo can't show — mold size, a child under 6 — it asks you.
Set by codenot the AIYou keep the record
Photo, capture time, a SHA-256 fingerprint, a signed server receipt and dated follow-ups — on your phone, ready for a notice, 311, or housing court.
3The full rules table
Rules are checked top to bottom; the first row whose conditions hold wins. Verified against HPD and NYC311 pages and the enacted local laws. Table version 2026-10-24.
If
About how much visible mold is in this room? → Less than 10 sq ft (smaller than half a door)
Class A90 days
If
About how much visible mold is in this room? → 10 to 29 sq ft (about a door)
Class B30 days
If
About how much visible mold is in this room? → 30 sq ft or more (a big patch of wall)
Class C21 days
If
What's missing? → Hot water or Both
Class CNo time — immediately
If
What's missing? → Heat
Heat season (Oct 1 – May 31): yes — from the date
Class CNo time — immediately
If
What's missing? → Heat
Heat season (Oct 1 – May 31): no — from the date
no classHeat is only required from October 1 to May 31, so there's no heat violation outside heat season. Hot water is required all year.
If
Which pest is it? → Mice, cockroaches or rats
Class C21 days
If
Which pest is it? → Bedbugs or another pest
Class B30 days
If
Which door, and what's wrong? → My apartment door can't be locked
Class C24 hours
If
Which door, and what's wrong? → My apartment door locks, but the lock is damaged
Class B30 days
If
Which door, and what's wrong? → The building's entrance door won't lock
Class C24 hours
If
Which door, and what's wrong? → A door that should close by itself doesn't
Class C14 days
If
Was your building built before 1960? → Yes, before 1960
Does a child under 6 live here, or spend 10+ hours a week here? → Yes
Class C21 days
If
Is the plaster underneath cracked or broken too? → Yes, the plaster is damaged
Class B30 days
If
Is the plaster underneath cracked or broken too? → No, just the paint
Class A90 days
Anything else
No class. You can pick one of the six yourself, or log it as a dated note — it still gets a fingerprint and a receipt.
HPD's classes, in its own words
| Class | Meaning | Window |
|---|---|---|
| A | Non-hazardous | 90 days from date of service |
| B | Hazardous | 30 days from date of service |
| C | Immediately hazardous — lead-based paint, window guards, mold, mice/cockroaches, rats | 21 days from date of service |
| C | Immediately hazardous — self-closing doors | 14 days from date of service |
| C | Immediately hazardous — heat and hot water | No time |
| C | Immediately hazardous — all other | 24 hours from date of service |
Source: HPD — Clear Violations
4What the countdown means
The legal clock isn't yours to start. HPD correction windows run from service of an HPD Notice of Violation, not from a tenant's photo or letter. HPD considers a mailed notice served five days after mailing; heat and hot water notices are served at inspection.
So Habitable's countdown is the repair-by date your notice requests: the day you first documented the problem plus the window HPD would give for that class. It's a fair, specific ask that mirrors the law — not a legal deadline.
For heat and hot water HPD gives no time at all, so the notice asks for a repair within 24 hours. Heat is only required October 1 to May 31; hot water all year.
Example · Class B leak
Documented Oct 24 → repair-by Nov 23
30d 00h 00m
Requested repair-by date · mirrors HPD's 30-day window.
5Privacy
- Stored only on this device. Your address, issues, photos and follow-ups live in this browser's storage. No account, no cloud copy.
- Location removed. Photos are re-drawn before they're stored, which drops GPS and every other metadata tag.
- What leaves your phone: a downscaled copy of the photo and your optional one-line note go to the AI to name the problem, and the photo's fingerprint (not the photo) goes to Habitable's receipt service. Nothing else from your log.
- Address and building lookups send what you type in the address box to NYC's public GeoSearch service, then only your building's public tax-lot number (BBL) to NYC Open Data.
- Deleting is real. "Delete my case" removes everything from this device.
6Limits — and not legal advice
Habitable documents and cites; it doesn't give legal advice or represent you. An HPD inspector decides the actual class of a violation — where that's a judgment call (leaks, locks, plaster), the card says so and shows how HPD has classed similar cases.
NYC only, six problem types for photos, plus a heat log, a landlord track record, Ask the law (quote-checked answers) and a message coach — each with the same split: the AI proposes, code decides. For what usually comes after the notice (311, Housing Court, free legal help, your rights as a tenant), see next steps & your rights. To file a complaint now, call 311 or go to portal.311.nyc.gov.
7Data sources
- HPD — Clear Violations (classes and correction windows)
- HPD — Mold and pests (Local Law 55)
- HPD — Heat and hot water
- HPD — Lead-based paint
- NYC Open Data — HPD violations (wvxf-dwi5)
- NYC Open Data — HPD registrations (tesw-yqqr)
- NYC Open Data — HPD registration contacts (feu5-w2e2)
- NYC Open Data — PLUTO, year built (64uk-42ks)
- NYC GeoSearch — address lookup
- NYC311 — apartment maintenance complaints
- Local Law 55 of 2018
- Local Law 86 of 2017
Built with the Devpost Learn skill pack — see the planning docs in the repo.