NYC Will Change How It Handles Heat Complaints

NEW YORK CITY— The Mamdani administration will investigate every individual heat complaint from a tenant this winter, ending a policy that allowed officials to group complaints from the same building and close some without further inspection.

The change takes effect Oct. 1, the start of the City’s legally mandated heat season, when landlords must meet minimum indoor temperature requirements through May 31.

Heat and hot water issues account for over a third of all housing maintenance concerns, making them the single most common issue.

The new policy requires housing inspectors to attempt an inspection for every non-anonymous complaint filed for an apartment.

Multiple complaints from the same apartment can still count as duplicates, according to a housing report released this summer.

The administration also plans to let tenants schedule certain building inspections and improve response times for elevator outage complaints.

Tenants can file complaints by calling 311 or using the city’s online 311 portal.