Know the apartment before you rent it.
PRA turns a city's public records into a clear report on any building, so renters can see what they're signing up for.
Why I built it
I've rented in New York, one of the most expensive cities in the world, for a long time. Every time I signed a lease, the other side of the table knew far more about the building than I did. I knew what the listing photos showed.
Who owns this building? Who manages it? Does it get fixed when something breaks? Most of the answers are already public. They're spread across city agencies, in formats few people have time to dig through, and many buildings are owned through an LLC, so renters can't easily see who they're actually dealing with.
PRA brings those records together on one page, so you can walk into a lease or a renewal knowing the building's record and find a fair middle ground. It's a small, independent project, not affiliated with any landlord, broker or listing site.
What PRA shows you
- Who owns the building and when it last changed hands, as each owner appears in the public record.
- Repairs and violations: open and closed, with dates.
- Complaints: heat, hot water, pests, noise and more, with dates.
- Your rights: plain-language cards on repairs and rent increases, each naming the law it comes from, and a repair request you can send the landlord.
Every fact names its source and date, and links to the original record where there is one. PRA doesn't score landlords or tell you what to decide, and it isn't legal advice. It gives you the evidence, and you make the call.
Who it's for
- Students and people new to the city signing their first lease here.
- Anyone comparing apartments who wants to know the building, not just the unit.
- Renters facing a renewal or an increase who want to walk into that conversation knowing the building's record.
Free for renters
Checking a building is free. If we add paid tools later, the basic building report will stay free.
What beta means
PRA is open to a first group of renters while we check it against real buildings. It covers a few neighborhoods for now. Each building's records are refreshed from the city every few days, so a report can run a little behind the city's own systems, and some buildings are missing a field or two.
If something looks wrong or missing, tell us through the feedback form. It comes straight to the team.
How PRA works
Where the data comes from
NYC Open Data datasets from HPD, the Department of Buildings, 311, the Department of Finance (ACRIS) and City Planning (PLUTO and GeoSearch). Each fact links to the record behind it, with the date PRA retrieved it.
What PRA does not have yet
Asking rents and listing activity. Public records do not include them, and listing sites do not allow their data to be copied. PRA leaves these sections empty rather than estimating.
Missing data is labeled
“No records” means a source was checked and had nothing for this building. “Source unreachable” means PRA could not check, which is different. Stale data is shown with its date.
People and privacy
Names of people appear only in the role a public record lists them in, on that building's report. PRA has no search by person and does not show which apartment an eviction happened in.