Heat, hot water, and what your landlord owes you
- Heat season
- 1 October to 31 May
- Day, 6am–10pm
- 68°F inside, when below 55°F outside
- Night, 10pm–6am
- 62°F inside, always
- Hot water
- 120°F, all year
- Complaint
- 311, anonymously if you want
These are numbers, not opinions, and having them exact is what makes a complaint work.
How long they have, once a violation is issued
- Class A, non-hazardous
- 90 days from service
- Class B, hazardous
- 30 days
- Class C, immediately hazardous
- 24 hours
- Self-closing doors
- 14 days
- Lead paint, window guards, mould, pests
- 21 days
- Heat and hot water
- no grace period at all
Filing
Call 311, or use 311 Online or the app. TTY 212-504-4115. You can file anonymously, which matters if you are worried about the landlord knowing which apartment it was.
Looking up a building before you sign a lease
hpdonline.nyc.gov — search by address. Complaints, violations, registration, charges and litigation, vacate orders. Since September 2025 it also carries violations from court-ordered NYCHA inspections.
Do this before you sign, not after. A building's violation history is the closest thing to a landlord's reference that exists in public.
What no official source will tell you
Whether the management company actually fixes things or waits out the clock. Which buildings lose heat every January. Whether a particular landlord retaliates against tenants who file. That is neighbour knowledge and there is nowhere else to get it.
Where this came from
Checked 1 August 2026 against the Department of Housing Preservation and Development pages for heat and hot water, penalties and fees (reflecting Local Law 71, effective 8 December 2023), and HPD Online.