New York City's heat season runs from October 1 through May 31. During those months, a landlord must keep every apartment at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. whenever it is below 55 degrees outside, and at least 62 degrees overnight no matter what the temperature is outside. Hot water has to stay at 120 degrees year round. These are not guidelines. They are enforceable minimums under the New York City Housing Maintenance Code, and a landlord who misses them can be fined hundreds of dollars a day.
Heat Season Dates and Temperature Rules
The rules sit in Section 27-2029 of the Administrative Code and apply only during heat season, October 1 through May 31. Outside that window there is no citywide minimum indoor temperature, though a unit that gets dangerously cold at any time of year can still raise a warranty of habitability problem. Inside heat season, two separate thresholds apply depending on the time of day.
| Time | Outside temperature | Required inside temperature |
|---|---|---|
| 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. | Below 55F | At least 68F |
| 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. | Any temperature | At least 62F |
The overnight rule trips people up. It applies every night of heat season regardless of how warm it is outside, so a cold apartment on a mild 58 degree October night is still a violation if it reads below 62 inside. During the day, an inspector can only issue a violation if their own thermometer shows the outside temperature was below 55 at the moment of the inspection, so a complaint filed on an unusually warm day may not result in a violation even if the apartment feels cold.
Hot Water Rules
Hot water is a separate requirement from heat and runs all year, not just during heat season. Every bath, shower, and sink must deliver a constant minimum of 120 degrees at the tap. The one exception is for fixtures with an approved balanced-pressure or thermostatic mixing valve, which are allowed to run as low as 110 degrees to reduce scald risk. A building that fails on hot water in July is just as exposed to a Class C violation as one that fails on heat in January.
Which Buildings and Tenants the Law Covers
The heat requirement applies to every multiple dwelling and every tenant-occupied one or two-family home. An owner-occupied single-family or two-family house, where nobody else is renting, falls outside the code because there is no tenant to protect. Co-ops and condos are not exempt just because residents technically own their units. The classification that matters is the building itself, and a co-op or condo building housing tenants is treated the same as any rental for heat compliance.
Paying for that heat is the landlord's job, not an amenity billed to tenants. The one carve-out is for older buildings that use individual gas or electric heaters instead of a central system: the owner does not have to cover the gas or electric bill for those unit heaters unless the lease says otherwise, though the owner still has to keep the heaters themselves in working order.
NYCHA developments answer to the same October 1 to May 31 minimums, but NYCHA runs its own complaint system instead of 311. Heat and hot water outages are treated as an emergency with a 24-hour target response, reported through NYCHA's Customer Contact Center at 718-707-7771 or the MyNYCHA app, not through HPD.
Penalties for Heat and Hot Water Violations
Heat and hot water sit in the most serious violation tier HPD issues, Class C, immediately hazardous, and unlike other Class C conditions they carry no grace period to fix. A tenant who wants that clock running as fast as possible does it by filing a 311 heat complaint the moment the apartment fails the temperature test above. The civil penalties themselves increased under Local Law 71 of 2023, effective for any violation issued on or after December 8, 2023.
| Situation | Fine |
|---|---|
| First heat or hot water violation | $350 to $1,250 per day |
| Repeat violation at the same building, same or following heat season or calendar year | $500 to $1,500 per day |
| Third or later inspection in a season that results in another heat violation | Additional $200 inspection fee |
If the owner does not restore service, HPD's Emergency Repair Program can send its own contractor and bill the owner for the work, plus extra fees if the reading was especially severe, below 64 degrees in the daytime window or 58 overnight. A landlord who wants to see exactly how a specific violation gets cleared, including the paperwork and inspection steps, can follow the certification process on how to clear an HPD heat violation. A tenant whose heat is out right now has a faster, more direct path in what to do when the heat won't come on. Either way, it helps to know the building's own record first, which you can pull up by searching the address in the free building lookup.
The HPD Heat Sensors Program
For buildings with a documented pattern of heat problems, HPD goes further than issuing violations. Under Local Law 18 of 2020, HPD selects buildings with the worst recent history of heat violations and complaints and requires the owner to install an internet-connected temperature sensor in every apartment, so inspectors can see a building's actual heat record instead of relying on a single spot check. A selected building stays in the program for four years unless it earns an early discharge by going a full heat season without a new violation. Local Law 70 of 2023 expanded the selection from 50 buildings every two years to 50 buildings every year, with the changes taking effect in July 2024. A prospective tenant can spot this kind of chronic pattern before signing anything by checking a building's heat complaint history before renting rather than after moving in.
The program exists partly because of what happens when tenants are left to solve a cold apartment on their own. A 2022 Bronx apartment fire that killed 17 people started with a space heater a tenant was using after months of heat problems, and it remains the starkest reminder of why the city treats chronic heat failure as a life-safety issue rather than a comfort complaint. Kerosene and propane heaters are illegal indoors in New York City for exactly this reason. The city's own review of enforcement found close to 50 more space-heater fires citywide between 2022 and 2024, which is the practical argument for chasing chronic buildings with sensors rather than waiting for the next complaint. Tenants stuck in one of these buildings can get free, plain-language help from a group like Met Council on Housing rather than trying to read the code alone.
The New Summer Cooling Law
Heat season only ever covered winter. A separate law, Local Law 23 of 2026, adds a summer cooling requirement to the same part of the code. It creates a new cooling season running June 15 through September 15 and defines adequate cooling as no more than 78 degrees in a room someone uses as their primary sleeping place. The law passed the City Council in December 2025 and became law in January 2026, but the obligations phase in slowly: tenants can start formally requesting cooling in March 2028, and landlords are not required to provide it until June 2030. It changes nothing about winter heat season, and the two are easy to confuse given how new the cooling rule is.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Temperature Is My Landlord Required to Maintain?
During heat season, October 1 through May 31, at least 68 degrees indoors between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. whenever it is below 55 outside, and at least 62 degrees overnight regardless of the outside temperature. Hot water has to stay at 120 degrees year round, not just in winter.
Does the Heat Law Apply to My Co-op or Condo?
Yes. The code covers the building, not the ownership structure, so a co-op or condo with tenant-occupied units has to meet the same minimums as a rental building. A unit owned and lived in by the same person raises a different set of rules, since there is no landlord-tenant relationship to enforce.
Does the Heat Law Apply to a Single-Family House?
Only if someone other than the owner is renting it. An owner-occupied one or two-family home is outside the Housing Maintenance Code's heat requirement, but a tenant-occupied one or two-family home is covered the same as an apartment building.
Do NYCHA Apartments Have to Follow the Same Heat Rules?
NYCHA developments are held to the same October through May temperature minimums and treat a heat outage as an emergency, but tenants there report it to NYCHA's own Customer Contact Center or the MyNYCHA app rather than 311, since NYCHA is not enforced through HPD violations the way private buildings are.
Can My Landlord Use Space Heaters Instead of Fixing the Boiler?
Not as a long-term fix. A landlord can supply electric space heaters as a stopgap while a central system is repaired, but the underlying heating system still has to meet the temperature minimums. Kerosene and propane heaters are illegal indoors in New York City, and relying on any space heater for weeks at a time is both a code problem and a real fire risk.
Is the New Summer Cooling Law in Effect Yet?
Partly. Local Law 23 of 2026 is on the books, but tenants cannot formally request cooling under it until March 2028, and landlords do not have to provide it until June 2030. For now it has no effect on the winter heat season rules described above.
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