HPD COMMISSIONER BEEN ANNOUNCES BEGINNING OF THE 2015-2016 “HEAT SEASON” REMINDING LANDLORDS OF THEIR LEGAL OBLIGATION TO PROVIDE HEAT AND HOT WATER TO TENANTS

Tenants should be aware of their rights – if landlords don’t take action to fix heating problems call 311, or visit 311 online.
Tenants can now also file heat and hot water complaints easily from their Android or iPhone using 311MOBILE. 
HPD attempted approximately 128,300 heat related inspections during the previous heat season, performed emergency repairs valued at more than $4.2 million,
and initiated over 3,800 housing court actions based on heat violations

New York City, NY – October 2, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Vicki Been reminds residential building owners of their legal obligation to provide tenants with hot water year-round and heat when the outdoor temperature warrants it. The 2015-2016 “heat season” begins today, October 1st, and continues through May 31st 2016.

During heat season, residential building owners with tenants are required by law to maintain an indoor temperature of at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit between 6:00 A.M. and 10:00 P.M. when the outdoor temperature falls below 55 degrees. Between 10:00 P.M. and 6:00 A.M., building owners must maintain an indoor temperature of 55 degrees when the outside temperature falls below 40 degrees. It is legally required that hot water is maintained at 120 degrees year-round.

“Landlords are required by law to ensure that all of their tenants have heat and hot water throughout the winter months. While a majority of the city’s landlords abide by the law and comply with the city’s housing codes, it is important for tenants to know their rights and to report ongoing problems to HPD through the 311 system,” said HPD Commissioner Been. “HPD’s mission is to promote quality housing and ensure tenants’ rights and safety. When landlords don’t obey the law and properly maintain their buildings, we will use all of the enforcement tools at our disposal to see that tenants are protected.”

In the event of a heat deficiency, a tenant should first attempt to notify the building owner, managing agent or superintendent. If heat is not restored, the tenant should register a complaint via 311. Tenants should call 311, the City’s central 24-hours-per-day, seven-days-a-week information and complaint line, or file complaints via 311 Online at www.nyc.gov/311. Hearing-impaired tenants can register complaints via a Touchtone Device for the Deaf TDD at (212) 504-4115.  Tenants can now also file heat and hot water complaints easily from their Android or iPhone using 311MOBILE.  Once the 311 mobile app is downloaded, the tenant simply opens the app and selects “Make a Complaint” from the main menu. Tenants can then select “Heat or Hot Water” from the complaint menu.  The app will identify the customer’s location and list the address as the complaint location. Once the customer confirms the address, he or she may select the type of condition – i.e. no heat, no hot water, or both – and indicate if one unit or the whole building is affected.

When the complaint is received, HPD attempts to contact the building’s owner or managing agent to have heat or hot water service restored. Before an HPD code inspector is dispatched to the building, HPD will call the tenant back to determine if service has been restored. If the tenant indicates that service has not been restored, an HPD inspector is sent to the building to verify the complaint and, if it is warranted, will issue a violation and attempt to access the boiler to assess the problem.

If HPD receives multiple heat complaints from the same building, the inspector will attempt to inspect the first apartment that calls in a complaint. If the inspector observes that heat is not adequate in that apartment, a violation will be issued for the building and the inspector will not attempt an inspection at every apartment in the building that called in a duplicate heat complaint. If the inspector cannot access the first apartment, inspections are attempted at other apartments that registered duplicate complaints. If inspectors cannot access any apartments that registered complaint, they will also knock on doors of apartments that did not call in heat complaints to request access to perform a heat inspection.

HPD fields a team of inspectors who work in shifts, and are situated in offices in all five boroughs to provide coverage 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. For situations that merit the deployment of additional crews, such as prolonged periods of below-freezing temperatures, the agency will deploy additional inspectors and maintenance staff to any given shift, sometimes doubling the normal number of inspectors on duty to help respond to complaints and emergencies.

It is an owner’s responsibility to comply with the violation and restore heat and hot water service.  There are three potential penalties to a property that fails to comply:

• Emergency Repair: In cases where private owners fail to restore heat and hot water, or when HPD is unable to reach owners, HPD’s Emergency Repair Program (ERP) may use private contractors to make the necessary repairs to restore essential services. The cost of the emergency repairs, plus administrative fees, is billed to the owner and becomes a tax lien on the property if not paid. The City’s ERP is by far the most extensive in the nation, spending more than $5.6 million to ensure heat and hot water during fiscal year 2015, which includes $4.2 million spent within the 2014-2015 heat season.
• Civil penalties: HPD’s Housing Litigation Division (HLD) also initiates legal action against properties that were issued heat violations. Property owners are subject to civil penalties for heat and hot water violations that range from $250 to a maximum of $500 per day for first violations. Subsequent violations at the same location, within the same calendar year, are subject to penalties ranging from $500 to $1000 per day. Owners who incur multiple heat violations are subject to litigation seeking maximum civil penalties on heat and other code deficiencies. HPD’s HLD filed more than 3,800 cases in the 2014-2015 heat season and has already recouped more than $1,855,293 in civil penalties related to those cases.  Property owners who address heat and hot water conditions immediately and have not been issued prior violations during the same or previous heat season are offered simplified process for satisfying the civil penalty without going to Housing Court. If the violation is the first that has been issued on the property since the beginning of the previous heat season or the last calendar year, and the violation is corrected within 24 hours of the posting of the Notice of Violation, the property owner may satisfy the civil penalty by properly completing a Notice of Correction by the correction date listed on the violation and submitting a payment of $250. HPD collected $102,000 in these settlement fees during the last heat season.
• Inspection fees: HPD imposes a fee of $200 per inspection if it has to perform three or more inspections at the same location, within the same heat season for heat violations or calendar year for hot water violations. Failure to pay will result in the City filing a tax lien against the property. During the 2014-2015 heat season, HPD billed for $163,800 in inspection fees.

For more information visit the Heat and Hot Water link on the Residential Building Owner’s page of the HPD website at:  www.nyc.gov/hpd

During the 2014/2015 heat season (October 1, 2014 – May 31, 2015):

• 228,796 total heat and hot water problems were reported to the City through 311 (this number includes duplicate calls)
  • 115,848 unique heat and hot water problems were reported (this number does not include duplicate calls).
• HPD inspectors attempted 128,300 heat-related inspections (this number includes multiple inspection attempts in response to a complaint).
• HPD inspectors wrote 9,214 heat-related violations.
• HPD completed a total of $4,187,769 million in heat-related emergency repairs
  (charged to building owners).
• HPD filed 3,800 heat cases in court and collected $1,855,293 in fines.

Top Community Board In Each Borough for Primary Heat/Hot Water Complaints
Manhattan

• CB  12:  15,544 complaints logged (peak month – January 2015: 3,505 complaints)

Bronx

• CB : 7: 13,909 complaints logged (peak month – January 2015: 2,961 complaints)

Brooklyn

• CB :  17:  8,382  complaints logged (peak month – January 2015:  1,899 complaints)

Queens

• CB  12: 3,537  complaints logged (peak month – January 2015: 710 complaints)

Staten Island

• CB  1:  1,576 complaints logged (peak month – January 2015: 349 complaints)

Information on heat season is also available on the HPD website at www.nyc.gov/hpd. As part of HPD’s commitment to providing information to non-English speaking New Yorkers, HPD has produced magnets with heat season requirements in multiple languages. The magnets can be picked up at HPD’s Division of Code Enforcement borough offices listed below:

HPD also works with building owners who want to improve the management of their buildings or need assistance with improving their heating systems. Building owners and managers can access HPD’s e-learning course online at www.nyc.gov/hpd to learn about heat and hot water regulations, HPD’s processes and heating system maintenance.

# # #

New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD):
The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is the nation’s largest municipal housing preservation and development agency. Its mission is to promote quality housing and diverse, thriving neighborhoods for New Yorkers through loan and development programs for new affordable housing, preservation of the affordability of the existing housing stock, enforcement of housing quality standards, and educational programs for tenants and building owners. HPD is tasked with fulfilling Mayor de Blasio’s Housing New York: A Five-Borough Ten-Year Plan to create and preserve 200,000 affordable units for New Yorkers at the very lowest incomes to those in the middle class. For more information visit www.nyc.gov/hpd and for regular updates on HPD news and services, connect with us via www.facebook.com/nychpd andwww.twitter.com/nychousing.

Contact: Juliet Morris (HPD), morrisj (at) hpd.nyc (dot) gov