As we previously mentioned, owners who are unable to submit Benchmarking by the 5/1 deadline will not receive a violation IF they submit a fully compliant report by 8/1.

This applies to all buildings on the Covered Buildings List – check your SiteCompli account to see if your building is required to file (and remember covered buildings expanded last year).

Owners who don’t submit by May 1st will receive a reminder (a Notice of Non-Submission). If a fully compliant report is not submitted by August 1st, owners “will be subject to violations for each quarter that they have been non-compliant.” That’s potentially $1,000 in fines.

See the Service Notice for the initial announcement, alongside details on how to pay Benchmarking violation fees via eFiling. You can also access the 2020 submission template and instructions here.

When your team is submitting Benchmarking reports, “Other” will no longer be an option as a primary property type for single use buildings. Per the Sustainability Help Center, A building with multiple property uses may select “other” as a secondary or tertiary building subcategory (e.g. Retail/Mall/Other – Mall) if there are no other appropriate subcategories AND the submitter writes a note in the Portfolio Manager “property notes” section explaining the property use type.”

Mixed-use buildings must follow guidelines set by Portfolio Manager. View the Service Notice for more details and resources.

Grades are based on the Benchmarking EnergyStar score submitted for each property, and expected to be assigned October 1st. At that time, owners will have 30 days to “post grades in a conspicuous location near each public entrance to the building.”

Be aware – in addition to fines, failure to benchmark by August 1st will also result in an “F” letter grade.

View the DOB’s Guide to Compliance for LL 33 here. 

You can also view LL87 requirements for each of your buildings in SiteCompli. Remember – the threshold for submitting EERs is still 50,000 square feet, not 25,000.

Buildings required to submit in 2020 are those on the covered buildings list for Local Law 87 with “0” as the last digit of their tax block number.

If you need to submit EERs for any of your buildings this year (by December 31st), access templates and forms here. You can also reference the Compliance Guidelines here.

Starting this year, the Benchmarking Help Center has evolved into the NYC Sustainability Help Center. In addition to information on LL 84 filings, the Sustainability Help Center can give you guidance on other related programs – Local Laws 87 and 33 (Letter Grades), to name a few.

Here’s how you can contact them for support:

• Help@NYCsustainability.org and 212-566-5584 for LL 84/Letter Grades
• LL87@NYCsustainability.org for LL 87 (10-year EER submissions)

You can also view their flyer for quick Center contact info or details on various energy resources.