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Article 11: Protective Devices and Fire Protection
In every dwelling the owner shall provide and maintain a peephole in the entrance door of each dwelling unit. Such peephole shall be located, as prescribed by the department, in such a place that the person in each dwelling unit may view from the inside any person immediately outside the entrance door. However, such peephole need not be installed in any tenant-occupied one- or two-family home where it is possible to see from the inside any person immediately outside the entrance door. This section shall not apply to hotels, apartment hotels, college or school dormitories, or owner-occupied dwelling units in one- and two-family homes.
a. It shall be the duty of the owner of a multiple dwelling, which is required to be equipped with self-closing doors pursuant to section 28-315.10, or any other applicable law, to keep and maintain such doors in good repair.
b. Any owner required to keep and maintain self-closing doors pursuant to subdivision a of this section who fails to keep or maintain such doors shall be liable for a class C immediately hazardous violation. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the time within which to correct such violation shall be 14 days after service of the notice of violation.
c. The department shall conduct a re-inspection of a self-closing door violation no later than 20 days after the expiration of the correction period specified in subdivision b, notwithstanding any submission of a certification of correction. The department shall make reasonable efforts to conduct a re-inspection of a self-closing door violation that was issued for a door that opens into an interior corridor and is an entrance door to a dwelling unit, and shall notify the occupant of such dwelling unit of efforts to re-inspect the door within the re-inspection period specified in this subdivision, including information on how to reschedule the re-inspection if the department was unable to access the door for re-inspection.
d. Notwithstanding the civil penalties set forth in subdivision (a) of section 27-2115, the civil penalty for a violation of subdivision a of this section shall be not less than two hundred fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars and, in addition, two hundred fifty dollars per day from the date set for correction until the violation is corrected.
(L.L. 2018/111, 6/9/2018, eff. 6/9/2019; Am. L.L. 2022/063, 6/1/2022, eff. 7/16/2022 and 1/1/2023)
Editor's note: Pursuant to Section 5 of L.L. 2022/063, subdivision c takes effect on January 1, 2023.
a. General. The department shall develop a process, to be implemented by July 1, 2023, to periodically inspect certain self-closing doors in class A multiple dwellings in accordance with this section.
b. Multiple dwellings to be inspected. The department shall establish by rule criteria for annually selecting 300 class A multiple dwellings to be inspected pursuant to this section. Such criteria shall include, but need not be limited to, buildings identified in consultation with the fire department. Notwithstanding the criteria established by the department, the annual selection of multiple dwellings to be inspected pursuant to this section shall not include any building that: (i) is currently the subject of a court order appointing or a proceeding brought by the department seeking the appointment of an administrator pursuant to article 7-A of the real property actions and proceedings law, or (ii) has been included in the alternative enforcement program pursuant to section 27-2153 and has not been discharged from such program. Any multiple dwelling inspected under this section shall not be subject to inspection under this section again for at least five years.
c. Inspection process. Self-closing doors shall be inspected and tested in accordance with this section and applicable rules of the department promulgated pursuant to this section. The commissioner shall develop criteria to be used during the inspection of a self-closing door.
d. Inspection requirements. At each inspection conducted pursuant to subdivision c of this section, the department shall inspect self-closing doors in common areas, public spaces, hallways and corridors and reasonably accessible self-closing dwelling unit doors.
e. Annual report on self-closing doors.
1. No later than September 30, 2024, for the period of the prior fiscal year, and annually thereafter, the commissioner shall submit to the mayor and the speaker of the council and shall post conspicuously on the department's website a report regarding self-closing doors inspected by the department pursuant to this section.
2. The report shall include a table in which each separate row references a building inspected by the department pursuant to this section in the previous year. Each such row shall include the following information, as well as any additional information the commissioner deems appropriate, set forth in separate columns:
(a) The address of the building where such inspection was attempted;
(b) The building or property owner at the time of inspection;
(c) The date on which an inspection of such building occurred;
(d) The number of floors contained in such building;
(e) Whether or not the building was accessed;
(f) The number of self-closing door violations issued as a result of the inspection; and
(g) The number of self-closing door violations that were corrected by the owner.
(L.L. 2022/071, 7/3/2022, eff. 7/3/2022)
The owner of a multiple dwelling in which there are one or more self-service elevators shall affix and maintain in each such elevator a mirror which enables persons to view its interior before entering the same. The mirror shall meet such requirements as the department shall by regulation prescribe.
a. The owner of a dwelling shall provide a key lock in the entrance door to each dwelling unit and at least one key. In a class A multiple dwelling such door shall be equipped with a heavy duty latch set and a heavy duty dead bolt operable by a key from the outside and a thumb-turn from the inside.
b. Each dwelling unit entrance door in a class A multiple dwelling shall also be equipped with a chain door guard so as to permit partial opening of the door.
a. An owner of a multiple dwelling and an owner of a dwelling unit in a multiple dwelling owned as a condominium shall provide, install and maintain a window guard, in accordance with specifications established by the department of health and mental hygiene, on each window of each dwelling unit in which a child ten years of age or under resides, and on the windows, if any, in the public areas of a multiple dwelling in which such a child resides.
b. Subdivision a of this section shall not apply to a window that gives access to a fire escape or to a window that is a required means of egress from a dwelling unit on the first floor of a multiple dwelling.
c. No tenant or occupant of a dwelling unit, or other person, shall obstruct or interfere with the installation or maintenance of a window guard as required by subdivision a of this section nor shall any person remove such window guard.
d. No owner of a multiple dwelling and no owner of a dwelling unit in a multiple dwelling owned as a condominium shall refuse a written request of a tenant or occupant of a dwelling unit to provide, install and maintain a window guard, in accordance with specifications established by the department of health and mental hygiene, regardless of whether such provision, installation and maintenance is required pursuant to subdivision a of this section, except that this subdivision shall not apply to a window that gives access to a fire escape or to a window that is a required means of egress from a dwelling unit on the first floor of a multiple dwelling.
e. Any owner required to provide, install and maintain a window guard pursuant to subdivision a or d of this section who fails to provide, install or maintain a window guard shall be liable for a class C immediately hazardous violation. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the time within which to correct such violation shall be twenty-one days after service of the notice of violation.
f. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the department shall be the sole agency of the city authorized to seek a monetary penalty from an owner who is required to provide, install and maintain a window guard for failure to provide, install or maintain such window guard. Nothing in this section shall limit the authority of the department of health and mental hygiene to investigate a fall from any window or to issue an order to correct any condition that such department determines contributed to such fall.
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