• A Place of Assembly Certificate of Operation (PA) is required for premises where 75 or more members of the public gather indoors or 200 or more gather outdoors, for religious, recreational, educational, political or social purposes, or to consume food or drink.
• In order to have a legal Place of Assembly, certain Fire and Building Code requirements must be fulfilled.
• The Department of Buildings performs the initial inspection for the first issuance of a Place of Assembly Certificate of Operation.
• To obtain a Place of Assembly Certificate of Operation, download the PA-1 form and instructions, and read the service notice for more information.
• To request a Place of Assembly job folder, you can now go to the Records Room on the 3rd Floor of the Department of Buildings Manhattan Borough Office.

Above is an image of the new initial Place of Assembly Certificate of Operation.

Place of Assembly Owner Affidavit

Owners must use the Place Assembly Form (OP-45) to make necessary corrections to the owners name and mailing address on a Place of Assembly Certificate of Operation. This application can only be used for certificates issued pre-BIS.  For all other certificates, use the PA1 form.

Renewal

• Place of Assembly Certificates are renewed annually based on an inspection performed by the New York City Fire Department.
• The Fire Department forwards the results of the inspection(s), and if appropriate, a renewal is issued by the Department of Buildings.

Please note: At this time, the look of the PA renewal and the process to obtain a renewal PA is not changing. In addition, PA renewal certificates are not available on BISWeb.

Questions and Complaints

• Use the Buildings Information System to find out if an initial application was filed for a Place of Assembly Certificate of Operation at a particular establishment.
• Contact the New York City Fire Department for information about renewals.
• General questions or complaints about Places of Assembly should be made by calling 311.