Residential buildings in New York City must post a set of notices listed by HPD: the superintendent's contact at the entrance, the boiler room key holder, the serial number sign, the street number, a floor number on every floor, the fire safety notice inside every apartment entrance door, the gas leak procedure notice, the garbage collection schedule and, where it applies, the rent stabilization notice. Construction sites add the posted permit, a project information panel on every fence that faces a street and, on sidewalk sheds, no advertising at all.
This guide is drawn from HPD's required signage page and the Department of Buildings pages on fences and sidewalk sheds, all checked October 2026. Rules change, so treat the official pages as the final word.
What signs does HPD require in an apartment building?
HPD lists more than a dozen notices that owners of residential buildings must post, and says each must be "in sufficient size to be readily seen in public areas". It sets no other general size.
| Notice | Where it goes | Languages | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent stabilized dwelling units | Common area, with the address and HPD registration number | English and Spanish | Buildings with at least one stabilized unit |
| Janitor or superintendent | Building entrance: name, address, apartment and phone | Not specified | All covered buildings |
| Boiler room key holder | Lobby, and the boiler room door | Not specified | Buildings with a boiler room |
| Serial number sign | Entrance hall | Not specified | All covered buildings |
| Street number | Front of the building, visible from the sidewalk | None | All buildings |
| Fire safety notice | Inside every apartment entrance door, and the lobby or a common area | Not specified | Buildings with 3 or more apartments |
| Floor number | Painted or posted on every floor | None | All covered buildings |
| Gas leak procedure | Common area | Not specified | All covered buildings |
| Garbage collection | Lobby, in plastic or a frame | Not specified | Buildings without 24-hour dumbwaiter service |
| Interruption of service | Posted 24 hours before any outage of 2 hours or more | English and Spanish | All covered buildings |
| Safe Construction Bill of Rights | Posted until permitted work is complete | English, plus other languages as needed | Buildings with permitted construction |
| Inspection visits frame | 48 to 62 in above the floor, at or near the mailboxes | None | All covered buildings |
The list also covers detector notices, the bedbug filing receipt, heat sensor notices in program buildings, maximum occupancy signs inside hotel and rooming units, and an emergency notification before storms and long outages. Since February 2, 2026, owners may show the bedbug, detector, garbage, heat sensor and service interruption notices on a digital sign instead, but if they use digital for one they must use it for all five, in bold type at least 0.25 in high, in English and Spanish.
What is the NYC fire safety notice and where does it go?
It is the Emergency Preparedness Notice that tells residents what to do in a fire, and HPD requires it inside the entrance door of every apartment and in the lobby or a common area of buildings with three or more apartments. FDNY publishes sample notices for fireproof and non-fireproof buildings, and the right one depends on how the building is constructed.
Paper taped to a door does not last a lease term. An adhesive vinyl print or a thin PVC plate stays legible and is cheap to replace when the notice changes. For a building with many units, a single print run of door notices, lobby notices and floor numbers keeps them consistent.
Do building signs in NYC have to meet ADA rules?
Room and floor identification signs in many buildings do. Floor designations, room numbers and exit signs fall under the ADA's tactile sign rules, which we cover in detail in our guide to ADA and lobby signage for NYC buildings. The HPD notices themselves are informational postings, and HPD requires its digital signs to meet ADA accessible design standards.
What signs are required on a NYC construction site?
At minimum, the building permit posted where the public can see it, and a project information panel on each fence that fronts a street. Local Law 47 of 2013 set out both: the permit must be laminated or encased in plastic where it is exposed to the weather, and the panel section replaced the earlier site sign section of the Building Code. The text is in the Local Law 47 of 2013 PDF on nyc.gov.
- Size: 6 ft wide by 4 ft high. Sites with less than 60 ft of street frontage use a 55 x 36.5 in panel.
- Content: a rendering or drawing of the finished building (not needed for demolition), the type of project, the anticipated completion date, owner and contractor contacts, a line in English and Spanish inviting the public to report unsafe conditions to 311 anonymously, and the primary permit with a pointer to other permits on nyc.gov.
- Placement: on the fence along each perimeter that fronts a public street, 4 ft above grade, according to the DOB construction fence page.
- Material: durable, weatherproof and flame retardant, such as vinyl, plastic or aluminum.
- Sites for one-, two- and three-family homes may follow a separate section of the code instead.
The same DOB page requires solid construction fences to be painted hunter green. Mesh banners are the usual choice on chain link fencing because wind passes through them; see our banner material guide for how mesh compares with solid vinyl.
Can you put advertising on a sidewalk shed in NYC?
No. The Department of Buildings' sidewalk shed page says it is illegal to post any information, pictorial representation, business or advertising message on a sidewalk shed. The one exception: when a shed blocks an existing, legal business sign, that business may post a temporary sign on the face of the shed.
The shed must also show its permit numbers, expiration dates and the permit holder's name, address and phone number in a central, visible spot, and sheds carry their own project information panel at the parapet. Under DOB rules announced on August 20, 2026, shed permits must be renewed every 90 days, and DOB tells applicants to print each renewed permit and post it at the site. A weatherproof sleeve that takes a new letter-size sheet saves a trip every quarter.
Before you order a temporary sign for the face of a shed, photograph the storefront sign the shed is hiding. The exception covers a business whose legal sign the shed blocks, so the temporary sign should carry what the original carried. A shed sign that turns into a sale banner falls outside the exception.
Building sign questions
What signs does HPD require in apartment buildings?
Among others: the superintendent's contact at the entrance, the boiler room key holder, the serial number sign, the street number, floor numbers, the fire safety notice, the gas leak procedure, garbage collection times, service interruption notices and, where it applies, the rent stabilization notice.
Where does the fire safety notice go?
Inside the entrance door of every apartment, and in the lobby or a common area, in buildings with three or more apartments.
What size is a NYC construction project information panel?
6 ft wide by 4 ft high, or 55 x 36.5 in on sites with less than 60 ft of street frontage, mounted 4 ft above grade on each fence that faces a street.
Can you advertise on scaffolding or a sidewalk shed in NYC?
Not on a sidewalk shed. DOB bans business and advertising messages on sheds, except a temporary sign for a business whose legal sign the shed blocks.
Can HPD building notices be digital?
Since February 2, 2026, five notices may be shown on a digital sign: bedbugs, detectors, garbage collection, heat sensors and service interruptions. If one is digital, all five must be.
We produce building notices, fence panels and mesh banners and deliver free anywhere in Manhattan. Managing agents and brokers ordering the rest of a building's print can also read our guide to real estate printing in Manhattan.
Need this printed? We are at 40 Wall Street, and we deliver free anywhere in Manhattan.