NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — A new law in New York City will help to track landlords not providing adequate heat.
As WCBS 880’s Rich Lamb reports, though the law won’t take effect until the next heating season, the law will require 50 New York City landlords with the highest numbers of heat complaints to install a $120 digital temperature sensor in each of their apartments.
The sensors will be installed at the landlord’s expense and the city will then be able to monitor the temperature to ensure heating is adequate. The legislation was the idea of Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.
“We're turning up the heat on those landlords that traditionally turn down the heat on tenants in a legal fashion,” Adams said. “We're marrying technology with governmental agencies to document individuals who are not properly providing heat.”
Adams says the devices will end what he calls a “cat and mouse game of landlords turning down the heat to save money or drive tenants out then turning it up before inspectors come by.”
The New York City Public Housing Authority agreed to the plan last year in order to settle a lawsuit brought by the federal government that alleged the agency was failing to provide decent housing.