Free Chrome extension for StreetEasy
Check an NYC apartment before you sign.
Pigeon is a Chrome extension that scores StreetEasy listings out of ten on light, noise, transit, building, landlord and, for rentals, value, from public NYC records and Zillow’s rent index. Search results get a landlord score on each listing.
On a phone, or no listing? Check any NYC address for its building, landlord, noise and transit scores.
Search
A landlord score on every search result
On StreetEasy search results each listing gets a small chip with its landlord score. Click it for all six without leaving the page. A switch dims or hides the buildings with no rent-stabilized apartments registered.
The six scores
A listing tells you the rent, the size and the broker. Pigeon adds a panel on the right of the page with six scores: light, noise, transit, building, landlord and value. Each one opens to the records it comes from and the question to ask the broker.
Light
How much sunlight your floor gets
Pigeon takes every outside wall of the building from the city’s footprint data and checks it against the measured roof height of every building within 250 meters, for each floor and each hour of December 21, March 20 and June 21. Pick a floor and a month, then click an hour or press play to see which sides get direct sun. Walls shared with the next building are marked, since they have no windows. At 8:30 on a December morning, a 27-story tower 158 meters away still shades the 3rd floor of 255 West 75th Street.
Noise
Noise complaints on the block
Pigeon counts the 311 noise complaints on the address’s block over the past year, what they were about and how many came between 10pm and 4am. It then compares the block with every other residential block in the same ZIP code, counting the blocks with no complaints at all.
Transit
The walk to the subway
Pigeon finds the nearest subway entrances on the MTA’s list, which lines stop there and the walk in minutes, in a straight line at a brisk pace. It counts the lines within a 10-minute walk and lists the nearest parks of half an acre or more, so a Broadway median doesn’t count as a park.
Building
HPD complaints and violations, against every NYC building its size
Pigeon sorts two years of complaints to HPD and every open HPD violation into seven things renters care about, weighted by what they rank and what harms health: heat and hot water, pests, leaks and mold, repairs that stick, fire and safety, plumbing, power and the elevator, and upkeep. Each counts the apartments affected rather than the calls, so one tenant calling every week is one apartment, and compares the share with every NYC building the same size, about 172,000 of them. Repairs that stick counts the same complaint coming back and violations falsely certified as fixed. One bad area pulls the score down more than an average would. HPD’s class A, B or C sets only the repair deadline, so Pigeon reads what each violation is for. A problem in the listing’s own apartment is named and caps the score.
How to look up and read HPD violations →
Landlord
Who owns the building, and whether it’s rent stabilized
Pigeon names the registered owner and the head officer behind the LLC, from the building’s HPD registration. It counts housing court cases and harassment findings from the past five years and evictions, adds up the open violations across the owner’s other buildings, and says whether the building is on HPD’s list of the worst-run buildings. It also shows whether the building has rent-stabilized apartments registered with the state, how many, and whether that number is falling.
Value
Whether the rent is fair for the ZIP code
Pigeon compares the asking rent with what the same number of bedrooms asks in the same ZIP code, from Zillow’s Observed Rent Index and HUD’s bedroom ratios. 20% below typical scores a 10, typical an 8 and 50% above a 4; a rent-stabilized building or no broker fee adds a point. Sales aren’t scored. The rent is read on your computer and compared there; it is never sent anywhere.
Privacy
What leaves your browser
The address, without the apartment
Pigeon sends the building’s street address to look it up, and takes the apartment number off first.
No account
There is nothing to sign up for, and the extension runs no analytics or ads. It loads nothing from other servers; Ko-fi opens only if you click Tip jar.
The rent stays on your computer
The rent and size Value needs are read from the page and compared there. Privacy policy
Permissions: storage only, to remember whether you left the panel open. It runs on streeteasy.com pages and nowhere else.
Sources
Where the numbers come from
Public datasets from NYC Open Data and JustFix’s NYCDB. Complaints, violations, court cases and 311 reports come from the city’s live data when you open a building, and are fetched again once they are a month old. Evictions, rent-stabilized counts and the owner’s other buildings come from a citywide NYCDB snapshot taken May 30, 2026.
- HPD violations
- HPD complaints
- HPD registrations and contacts
- HPD housing court litigation
- Buildings under HPD
- Marshal evictions
- Rent-stabilized unit counts from DOF tax bills, via NYCDB
- DOHMH rat inspections
- Bedbug filings
- LL33 energy grades
- DOB elevator status
- 311 service requests
- Building footprints and roof heights
- Street centerlines (LION)
- Parks properties
- MTA subway entrances
- Zillow Observed Rent Index by ZIP
- HUD FY2026 Small Area Fair Market Rents (bedroom ratios only)
Questions about Pigeon
Is there a Chrome extension for StreetEasy?
Yes. Pigeon is a free Chrome extension that adds a panel to StreetEasy rental, sale and building pages, with six scores out of ten: light, noise, transit, building, landlord and, for rentals, value. It also adds a landlord score to each search result.
Is Pigeon free?
Yes. If it helps you, there is a tip jar on Ko-fi.
Which sites and browsers does it work on?
StreetEasy rental, sale, building and search pages. It runs in Chrome and in browsers that install from the Chrome Web Store, such as Edge, Brave and Arc.
How do I look up HPD violations for an NYC address?
Search the address on HPD Online, pick the building and open Violations. Read the descriptions rather than the class: class A, B or C says how fast the law wants a fix, and a missing window guard and a dead boiler can both be class C. On a StreetEasy listing, Pigeon’s Building score does this for you and names the apartment each violation is in. The full guide.
Who owns my building in NYC?
Start with the building’s HPD registration, which names the owner, often an LLC, its head officer and the managing agent; it is on HPD Online. The deed and mortgages on ACRIS often name the people who signed, and Who Owns What shows the owner’s other buildings. Pigeon’s Landlord score shows the owner, their housing court record and their other buildings. The full guide.
How can I tell if an apartment is rent stabilized?
Most stabilized apartments are in buildings of six or more apartments built before 1974, or in buildings that took a tax benefit such as 421-a or J-51. Check the building on the state’s building search, ask for the lease’s rent stabilization rider, and, if you live there, request the rent history from Homes and Community Renewal for free. Pigeon shows whether the building has stabilized apartments registered and how many. The full guide.
How is the light worked out?
From the city’s building footprints, which carry each roof’s measured height. For each wall of the building, each floor and each hour of December 21, March 20 and June 21, Pigeon checks whether anything nearby stands between the window and the sun. Which side the apartment faces isn’t public, so it shows every side. How to tell for any apartment.
What does Pigeon send, and to whom?
The building’s street address, without the apartment number, goes to Pigeon’s server so it can look the building up in the city’s records. Nothing about you is sent.
How do I check noise complaints for an NYC address?
The city publishes every 311 noise complaint with its address on NYC Open Data’s 311 dataset: filter by the street address and the complaint types that begin with “Noise”, and look at the past year and the hours they came in. On a StreetEasy listing, Pigeon’s Noise score counts the whole block’s complaints, by type and by hour, against the rest of the ZIP code. The full guide.
What should I check before I sign a lease in NYC?
The building’s recent HPD complaints and open violations, especially heat and pests; who owns it and their record in housing court; whether it has rent-stabilized apartments; its bedbug filing, which the owner must give you on the state’s disclosure form; 311 noise complaints on the block; and how much sun the apartment gets in December. An application fee can’t be more than $20 and a security deposit more than one month’s rent. The full checklist.
How do I know if the rent is fair?
Compare it with what the same number of bedrooms asks nearby: other listings in the neighborhood, and Zillow’s Observed Rent Index for the ZIP code. If the apartment is rent stabilized, the rent can’t be more than its legal registered rent, so ask for it. On a rental listing, Pigeon’s Value score does the comparison for you and says how far above or below typical the rent is.
Is Pigeon part of StreetEasy?
No. Pigeon is independent and not affiliated with StreetEasy or Zillow.