New Heating Regulations
The City Council and the Mayor of New York City have passed new legislation that will impact all of us in many ways.
Beginning October 1, 2017, pursuant to Local Law 86 of 2017, the regulations regarding providing heat during the nighttime hours have changed. Read the full text of the new regulation here.
Between October 1 – May 31 property owners must maintain an indoor temperature of 62° inside all apartments at all times — this means regardless of the outside temperature. More specifically, this means that the temperature inside apartments at night must now legally remain at 62° (up from 55°) even between the hours of 10PM and 6AM without any regard to the outside temperature (outside temperature formerly needed to be below 40°). The legal daytime temperature inside remains at 68° whenever the outside temperature is below 55°.
This change in the law will undoubtedly have an immediate impact on all buildings.
- Boilers will be working much more often, and oftentimes around the clock, without needed rest.
- Heating systems will require additional maintenance and surveillance.
- The loss of heat through improperly insulated pipes will become a greater problem than it now is.
- And, obviously, every building can expect to require more heating fuel — meaning an increased number of fuel deliveries (how will the already much-maligned fuel delivery industry respond?)
- Obviously too, these changes come with resultant increased demands on the operating budgets of every building.
These are all issues that need to be addressed now by Boards and building managers, before the cold weather is upon us and before the impact of LL86 is felt.
