Is there really a NYC law for when heat needs to be turned on in buildings?

Yes. The heat “season” begins October 1.

more info

I don’t know about NY but here in maine it is suppose to be on by october 1st. it is the law.

Anyone know if there is a simmilar law in the UK? I’m cold.

@ lightlyseared… call your town office and find out. there should be.

Is there a law on how hot can the heat get before it is illegal? I need to run my ACs to cool down my NYC apartment in the winter.

I used to have the same problem. I was on the top floor and the steam would rise up to my radiator enough that i would keep the windows open when it was below zero outside.

I tried to tell the landlord that it was a waste, but they seemed to think that spending the money to have the system fixed would be more troublesome.

Our apartment gets really hot as well, and we just crack a window and/or run a fan most of the time.

Yep, as already stated, Oct. 1st.

It’s super wastful of energy! Is there something we can do to improve this problem?

It’s really not a waste of energy unless the landlord is too lazy to monitor the temperature:
* Between the hours of 6:00 AM and 10:00 PM, if the outside temperature falls below 55 degrees, the inside temperature is required to be at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit; and,
* Between the hours of 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM, if the temperature outside falls below 40 degrees, the inside temperature is required to be at least 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

@ fireside i think you have that backwards. the Am hours are warmer outside then the Pm hours. which would make the inside temps differant from AM and PM. but you have the tempatures right. just not the AM and PM part, that part is backward according to the law in the books of landlord – tenent rights.

that’s a direct copy and paste from the link above
take it up with Bloomberg : )

Heat and Hot Water for Buildings in New York City as per
NEW YORK CITY RENT GUIDELINES BOARD

By law, building owners must provide all tenants with the following levels of heat and hot water:

Heat (During the heating season, October 1 through May 31)

* Between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., heat must register at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit when the outside temperature falls below 55 degrees;

* Between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., heat must register at least 55 degrees Fahrenheit when the outside temperature falls below 40 degrees.

@rossi_bear
People are sleeping at night and generally under cover which creates significant heat.flutherers notwithstanding. :)

55 degrees…holy shit, no wonder my sister is freezing in the winter…that is ridiculous.

@JLeslie
That’s rare from my experience in the city.
More often than not you’re opening the windows in February. Although I’m sure that there’s more than one landlord for whom these laws were custom made.

Welcome to insanely overregulated NYC.

I’ve never lived anywhere were the state was so up in everyones shit.

@proXXi
More than likely you’ve never lived in a city with 8,363,710 people either I imagine.

8,363,711 as of me.

No excuse IMO.

Until they riot. :)