City Inspectors Now Have to Hand You Your Rights. Here's How to Use Them.
Since Oct. 1, inspectors from eight New York City agencies must give storefront businesses a printed Business Owner Bill of Rights at the start of every onsite inspection. Here's what the document promises, what else Mayor Mamdani's Executive Order 18 changed, and how owners can put it to work.
NEW YORK — The next time an inspector walks into your shop, the first thing they hand you is supposed to be a piece of paper about your rights.
Under Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Executive Order 18, signed July 20 and titled “Open for Small Business,” inspectors from eight city agencies have been required since Oct. 1 to give a physical copy of the updated Business Owner Bill of Rights to the owner, manager or relevant employee at the beginning of every onsite inspection of a storefront business. The agencies are the Department of Buildings, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Fire Department, the Health Department, the Parks Department, the Department of Sanitation and the Department of Transportation.
The city says the change was overdue. According to the Department of Small Business Services, a 2025 SBS survey found that just 9% of city businesses even knew the earlier, online-only version of the Bill of Rights existed.
What the Document Says
The 2026 Bill of Rights lists 11 rights for business owners. In short, it promises access to the information and tools a business needs to compete; information in languages other than English; a “small business lens” on city policy and enforcement; timely, coordinated support that respects your time; clear rules; fair, consistent and coordinated inspections across agencies; respectful treatment by a knowledgeable worker with clear identification; guidance to correct issues before penalties, whenever possible; clear explanations of violations and how to contest them; interpretation at inspections and hearings; and the right to give anonymous feedback without fear of retaliation.
It’s worth being clear about what this is. The Bill of Rights is a statement of the service standard the city has set for itself. It doesn’t erase a violation or stop an inspection. What it gives owners is a clear baseline to point to, and a feedback channel that agencies are now being measured against.
How to Use It During an Inspection
Ask for ID. The document promises treatment by a worker “with clear identification.” Asking politely to see it is reasonable, and it is also a good habit, since it protects you from anyone impersonating an inspector.
Ask for an interpreter if you need one. If you or your manager are more comfortable in another language, you can request interpretation, both during the inspection and at any later hearing. The executive order also requires inspectors to point owners to digital translations of the Bill of Rights in all designated citywide languages.
Ask what you need to fix, and how. The right to “clear explanations of violations, corrective steps and options to contest or appeal them” means you can ask the inspector to explain exactly what was found, whether it can be corrected, and what your options are. Write down the answers, the inspector’s name and agency, and the date.
The Feedback Loop
The part most owners will skip, and probably shouldn’t, is the survey. The Bill of Rights directs owners who didn’t get service that meets its standards to the city’s Customer Service Survey, and the city says that feedback may be shared among agencies to improve service.
Executive Order 18 gives that feedback some weight. It directs the eight inspecting agencies to consider survey results for inclusion as a performance standard in their evaluation programs, to have all inspectors complete customer service training, and to report training completion numbers each year starting Feb. 1, 2027. The city also plans to recognize at least one inspector from each agency for excellence in public service by Dec. 1, with positive survey feedback as one consideration. Good experiences are worth reporting too.
The Other Help You May Not Know About
The same order expanded NYC Business Express Service Team, or NYC BEST, at SBS, and those services may matter even more than the paperwork:
- A licensing concierge. Each NYC BEST client gets a dedicated project manager to help identify required licenses and permits, avoid common delays, coordinate pre-opening inspections and track application status.
- “Just in time” compliance education. SBS will partner with agencies to offer onsite compliance education no more than 60 days, or as soon as practicable, before a pre-opening or periodic inspection. It isn’t offered before follow-up or complaint-driven inspections.
- Help with summonses. SBS will advise owners on whether a violation is curable, how to settle or resolve a summons before a hearing, and how to respond at an administrative tribunal.
If you already have old fines on the books, the city’s separate Debt Demolisher program, which runs through Jan. 10, 2027, lets eligible businesses resolve qualifying Environmental Control Board judgments with accrued interest waived and at a discounted rate.
Bottom Line
The city is now putting in writing that inspection day should work differently, and tying inspector evaluations, at least in part, to what owners report. The full text is at nyc.gov/bizrights, and NYC BEST and other SBS services can be reached at nyc.gov/sbs or 888-SBS-4NYC.