Local Law 23 of 2026 establishes new cooling requirements for many tenant-occupied dwellings in New York City. The law creates a tenant opt-in process and, beginning in 2030, requires covered owners to provide cooling systems capable of keeping covered rooms at or below 78°F during the cooling season.
Here’s what you need to know:
What Is Local Law 23 of 2026?
The law adds cooling-system requirements to the NYC Housing Maintenance Code and updates the Building Code for covered rooms. It applies to a covered dwelling: a multiple dwelling or a tenant-occupied one- or two-family dwelling. Multiple dwellings used for emergency temporary housing by or on behalf of the City are excluded.
A covered dwelling unit is a tenant-occupied unit in a covered dwelling. A covered room is a room the owner knows—or can reasonably foresee—is used as a permanent occupant’s primary sleeping place.
Key Definitions
- Adequate cooling: Cooling sufficient to maintain an indoor temperature of no more than 78°F, measured at least 3 feet above the floor and 3 feet away from an exterior wall. HPD may adjust this standard by rule if it is not technologically feasible.
- Cooling season: June 15 through September 15.
- Approved cooling system: A qualifying non-central or centrally supplied cooling system that meets applicable capacity, installation, and approval requirements.
- Non-central system: A cooling system other than a centrally supplied system, such as a qualifying room unit.
- Owner-controlled system: A centrally supplied system where the owner pays the electricity costs and controls the temperature setpoint.
What Are Owners Required To Do?
Provide Cooling After a Tenant Opts In
Beginning June 1, 2030, an owner must keep a covered unit equipped with one or more cooling systems capable of providing adequate cooling to each covered room for which the tenant has made an effective election. For a rent-regulated unit, the tenant must also provide any consent required under applicable state law and regulations for necessary improvements and associated charges.
The law creates a rebuttable presumption that an approved cooling system can adequately cool a covered room within its cooling area. HPD must establish minimum equipment requirements designed to limit tenants’ operating costs and may establish installation and maintenance standards.
Maintain Existing Permanent or Central Systems
Beginning June 1, 2030, owners of covered units with centrally supplied cooling or permanent non-central cooling must maintain that equipment so it can provide adequate cooling during the cooling season.
Operate Owner-Controlled Systems
During each cooling season beginning in 2030, an owner-controlled cooling system must furnish adequate cooling to every covered room in the dwelling.
How Does the Tenant Opt-In Process Work?
Beginning March 1, 2028, a tenant may ask HPD to make a covered room subject to the cooling requirement using a form and process designated by HPD. Unless the law provides otherwise, the requirement takes effect 60 days after the election. Rent-regulated tenants must provide any required consent.
Within 10 days of receiving an election, HPD must notify the owner which rooms are covered and the effective date. HPD must also confirm the request with the tenant and provide information about possible rent impacts and how to report inadequate cooling.
Important Dates
| Date | Requirement |
| January 1, 2028 | HPD must publish a multilingual tenant notice. |
| March 1, 2028 | Tenant opt-in begins. New and renewal leases must identify who pays cooling-system electricity costs and include HPD’s notice. |
| March 1, 2028–September 1, 2029 | Owners must provide the HPD notice to tenants and post it prominently in the building. |
| June 1, 2029 | HPD’s tenant outreach and education program must begin no later than this date. |
| June 1, 2030 | Cooling obligations begin. Building Code changes apply to construction-document applications filed on or after this date. |
| June 1, 2031 | Annual inspections begin for cooling systems provided under the tenant opt-in requirement. |
| June 1, 2032 | HPD’s annual post-enforcement reporting begins. |
Notice and Lease Requirements
HPD must publish a notice in English and each designated citywide language explaining the cooling requirement, tenant election process, possible rent impacts for rent-regulated units, and complaint process.
Owners must distribute and prominently post the notice between March 1, 2028 and September 1, 2029. Beginning March 1, 2028, every new or renewal lease for a covered unit must state who is responsible for cooling-system electricity costs and conspicuously include the multilingual notice.
Annual Inspections and Records
Beginning June 1, 2031, owners must inspect cooling systems provided under the opt-in requirement once each year to confirm that they can provide adequate cooling. Owners must keep inspection records in the form and manner HPD approves.
Extensions
HPD may grant an owner additional time to comply with the tenant opt-in cooling requirement based on qualifying circumstances, including undue financial or practical hardship, major capital or electrical work, landmark status, plans to install permanent or centrally supplied cooling, or the need to renegotiate City financial assistance.
Extensions may be granted in increments of no more than two years and may be renewed while a qualifying condition continues. HPD must notify affected tenants within 30 days after granting an extension.
Violations and Enforcement
Violations of the cooling, notice, or inspection requirements are classified as Class C immediately hazardous violations. The correction period is 14 days after service of the notice of violation.
The law does not require an installation that would violate Fire Code restrictions involving fire escapes.
What Should Owners Do Now?
- Identify covered properties, tenant-occupied units, and likely covered sleeping rooms.
- Inventory existing central, permanent, and room cooling systems.
- Review electrical capacity, landmark restrictions, installation needs, and fire-escape constraints.
- Plan for multilingual notice distribution, posting, and lease updates beginning in 2028.
- Develop a process for tracking tenant elections, effective dates, installations, electricity responsibility, inspections, and records.
- Watch for HPD and DOB rules, forms, notices, equipment standards, and enforcement guidance.
- Consult qualified legal and technical professionals regarding rent-regulated units, tenant consent, permissible charges, and system design.