Bulletin to Property Owners - November 2024

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Dear Property Owners,

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) periodically provides updates on new legislation and information on available materials and resources to residential building owners to support compliance with the New York City Housing Maintenance Code, the New York State Multiple Dwelling Law and other relevant city codes. Visit the HPD's webpage  to read this bulletin (and past bulletins) in other languages.

This publication is intended for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. This information is not a complete or final statement of all the duties of owners and tenants regarding laws and rules relating to housing in New York City

 

IMPORTANT DATES (Further Details on Requirements are Below)

DECEMBER 1 THROUGH DECEMBER 31: Annual Bedbug Filing (file online with HPD). Property owners of multiple dwelling(s) are required to file the Annual Bed Bug Report electronically with HPD. Only non-corporate owners (individual owners or joint owners) may submit paper reports. The filing period starts December 1st and ends December 31st. For more information about Bedbug filing visit HPD’s webpage.   

BY JANUARY 16: Window Guard annual inquiry regarding the presence of a child under 11 – delivered to all tenants in multiple dwellings (buildings with 3 or more units). You can use either the notice linked below under Lead-Based Paint Annual Inquiry or this notice if your building was built after 1960 Appendix B of Annual Notice to Tenant or Occupant: Window Guards Required (nyc.gov) 

Annually inspect units for indoor allergen hazards such as mice, cockroaches, rats, and mold. You can keep records properly by using HPD's Sample Investigative Report.

Annually distribute a Notice regarding the availability of Stove Knob Covers to tenants.  Note that the Annual Notice to be provided to tenant has been revised and landlords should download the new notice.  As a reminder, owners are required to provide either stove knob covers or permanent stove safety knobs with integrated locking mechanisms to tenants in each dwelling unit in which the owner knows or reasonably should know a child under six years of age resides when requested to do so in writing by the tenant.  The owner must provide the type of device requested unless there is no available stove knob cover or permanent stove safety knobs with integrated locking mechanisms that is compatible with the knobs on the stove. 

Reminder about other issues that you can check for when conducting annual allergen hazard, lead-based paint, and window guard apartment inspections. Note that these are all issues that a Housing Inspector will check for when conducting an inspection for any given reason:

  • Apartment and public area doors that do not self-close Self-Closing Doors - HPD (nyc.gov)
  • Fire Safety Notices on the back of apartment doors nyc-apartment-building-emergency-guide.pdf
  • Carbon monoxide detectors and smoke detectors should be present and working. As a landlord, you are responsible to replace any carbon monoxide and detectors upon the expiration of its useful life.  Note: Beginning in 2025, you will also be required to install natural gas detectors and may wish to replace any devices now with a combined device including natural gas detection.  More information will be provided when HPD’s rules on this new requirement are approved, but for information about the basic legal requirements you can review Local Law 159 of 2016.
  • Tenants should not install double-cylinder locks on doors or unapproved (by the FDNY) fire gates on windows.  These must be removed.

Bedbug Annual Report

Property owners of multiple dwelling(s) are required to file an Bed Bug Annual Report with HPD every year. This filing is FREE and requires only five pieces of information which you must provide.  Please be aware that some companies are reaching out to property owners attempting to obtain significant fees for the filing of this report.  This report is required to be filed by the property owner or agent and has no cost associated with the filing.

The reporting period to be covered in the Bedbug Annual Report is November of the previous year through October of the current year. Property owners will be required to file a Bedbug Annual Report between December 1 and December 31 only. Once December 31 passes, HPD may issue a violation for failure to file.

  • Corporate owners (corporations, LLCs, etc.) can only file electronically through the application available at Annual Bed Bug Report.  Paper submissions will be returned to you.
    • Guidance for Electronic Filers having Username or Password Issues:
      • Forgot Password Only: If you know your Username, click on the “Forgot Your Password?” button on the bottom of the HPD Enforcement Desk sign-in page. You will be prompted to enter your Username (email address).  You will then receive an email containing instructions about how to change your password. Please note: this feature will only work if you enter a valid Username. If you do receive an email, please follow the instructions in Forget both your Username and Password below.
      • Forgot both your Username and Password: Email EnforcementDesk@hpd.nyc.gov or call Karen Whitley (212) 863-7437.
  • Individual owners and joint owners (as indicated on your property registration) can file electronically but may alternatively file using a paper form.  Copies of this form are available at Bed Bug Annual Filing Form.
  • In order to file, the property must be validly registered in the HPD Registration System. If the property is currently registered through August 31, 2025 but you are still having trouble submitting your application/form, please email the HPD Enforcement Desk at: EnforcementDesk@hpd.nyc.gov. If your building is not currently registered or you are not sure if the property is registered, please register your building or check the information by clicking on this link Register Your Property -HPD.
  • The owner is required to provide the filing to the tenant, either by posting the report or distributing it to tenants, along with a copy of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Stop Bedbugs Safely.

Window Guard Annual Notice (January 1 - January 16)

The Annual Notice regarding Window Guards is required for all residential properties with 3 or more apartments.  It is not required, but recommended, for residential properties with 1 or 2 units.  Window guards save the lives of children every year.   This Notice advises tenants that they are entitled to window guards and requires the property owner to install window guards if they receive notice that a child under 11 resides in the apartment.

Depending on whether the building was built prior to 1960, an owner can provide the tenants with a Window Guard Annual Notice (post 1960) or use the combined form (also inquiring about a child under 6 for lead-based paint compliance):Window Guard Annual Notice

  • Combined Lead-based Paint and Window Guard Annual Notice in English and Spanish

Indoor Allergen Hazards 

Owners of multiple dwellings are required by Local Law 55 of 2018 to:

  • Inspect units annually for indoor allergen hazards such as mice, cockroaches, rats, and mold, and respond to any complaints received directly from tenants or HPD. Make sure vacant apartments are thoroughly cleaned and free of pests and mold before a new tenant moves in.
  • Provide the What Tenants and Landlords Should Know About Indoor Allergens and Local Law 55 fact sheet and a Notice with each tenant's lease that clearly states the property owner's responsibilities to keep the building free of indoor allergens.
  • Remediate pest infestation. Use Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to address pest infestations. The safe work practices in Section 27-2017.9 of Local Law 55 and Title 28 Rules of the City of New York section 54-04 must be followed when assessing and correcting any underlying defects (such as moisture) that may have caused the infestation. IPM Requirements.
  • Remediate mold conditions in accordance with the law.  If the property has 10 or more units, you are required to utilize properly licensed mold assessors and mold remediators. For more information on mold remediation and the specific requirements for your building (work practices and required contractors), see our Allergen Hazards webpage.

Stove Knob Covers Annual Notice

Property owners of multiple dwellings are required to provide tenants with an Annual Notice (available in multiple languages on HPD’s website page) on Stove Knob Covers which must inform tenants that:

  • Owners are required to provide stove knob covers or permanent stove safety knobs with integrated locking mechanisms to tenants in each dwelling unit in which the owner knows or reasonably should know a child under six years of age resides when requested to do so in writing by the tenant, unless there is no available stove knob cover or permanent stove safety knobs with integrated locking mechanisms that is compatible with the knobs on the stove.
  • Tenants may request stove knob covers or permanent stove safety knobs with integrated locking mechanisms. The owner is required to provide the requested type of device unless the owner can document that there was no available device of the type requested for the specific stove that the tenant has.

  • Tenants may also request stove knob covers or permanent stove safety knobs with integrated locking mechanisms even if they do not have a child under age six residing with them. The owner is required to provide the requested type of device unless the owner can document that there was no available device of the type requested for the specific stove that the tenant has.

  • Owners must make the stove knob covers available within 30 days of the written request by the tenant.

 An owner is only required to provide replacement stove knob covers or permanent stove safety knobs with integrated locking mechanisms twice within any one-year period. 

It is the owner’s obligation to keep documented proof for five years of delivering the annual notice; a list of units for which stove knob covers or permanent stove safety knobs with integrated locking mechanisms (collectively “safety devices”) were provided; a list of written requests from units for safety devices and the attempts to make them available; and a list of units which requested safety devices, but where such safety devices could not be made available and documented proof that either compatible safety devices were not available or that the stove was not a gas stove. Owners are not required to submit notices to HPD unless audited for such documents.

New Federal Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detector Requirements for Properties Which Currently Are Subject to Housing Quality Standard Inspections

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires updates to smoke and carbon monoxide detector requirements. Effective December 29, 2024, all HPD rent subsidized properties must comply with the new statutory guidelines for these safety devices. Congress effected this change in the 2023 Appropriations Act, and HUD communicated this timeline to Public Housing Authorities like HPD in HUD PIH Notice 2024-26 (Revision 1).

  1. Smoke Alarms:
  • Effective December 29, 2024, the NSPIRE mandate requires all smoke detectors to be either hardwired or equipped with sealed 10-year batteries.
    • At least one working smoke alarm on every level of the property.
    • At least one working smoke alarm outside every sleeping area.
    • At least one working smoke alarm inside each bedroom.
  1. Carbon Monoxide Detectors:
  • Statutory requirements for carbon monoxide alarms align with the 2018 International Fire Code:
    • If the unit contains a fuel-burning appliance or fireplace in the bedroom, sleeping area, or attached bathroom, a carbon monoxide alarm must be installed inside the bedroom or attached bathroom.
  • NOTE: this requirement for Carbon Monoxide Detectors is already in place. While the inspection, notification and enforcement process may look different, this is not a new requirement for owners.

To learn more about the timing of these changes, please review the NSPIRE Standard for Smoke Alarms (https://www.hud.gov/site/dfiles/PIH/documents/NSPIRE-Standard-Smoke-Alarm_20230811.pdf) and the NSPIRE Standard for Carbon Monoxide Alarms (https://www.hud.gov/site/dfiles/PIH/documents/NSPIRE-Standard-Carbon-Monoxide-Alarm_20230811.pdf)

Local Law 88 Lighting Upgrades and Submetering Compliance Deadline

The deadline for compliance with Local Law 88 (LL88) is December 31, 2024.  LL88: For buildings > 25,000 SF, LL88 requires common area lighting upgrades and the installation of tenant sub-metering systems for tenant spaces over 10,000 square feet. Building owners will need to submit a compliance report to DOB certified by a licensed design professional. In addition to reducing energy use and energy cost, LL88 overlaps with LL97 compliance, creating potential synergies for building owners aiming to comply with both regulations. For more information on how to comply with Article 321 of LL97 and LL88 see here. The AMEEP program offers incentives for various energy efficiency measures including lighting upgrades.