New York City will investigate all tenant heat complaints
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New York City officials will now investigate each individual tenant heat complaint after October 1, responding to concerns about a previous policy that often closed reports without review.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the change, which stemmed from testimony during the administration’s “rental ripoff” hearings, where residents described the importance of reliable heat. Previously, the city grouped complaints from the same building together, leading to thousands of individual issues being closed without investigation according to a report from City Limits.
The new approach requires inspectors to attempt an inspection for every apartment with a non-anonymous complaint. City regulations already require landlords to maintain minimum temperatures between October 1 and May 31 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit when outdoor temperatures fall below 55 degrees during the day, and 62 degrees at night. Residents are still encouraged to first attempt to resolve issues directly with their landlord or building management.
The city is also improving response times for elevator outage complaints and will allow tenants to schedule certain building inspections.
