Lights near entrance ways and in yards and courts of multiple dwellings

NYC Housing Maintenance Code § 27-2040, "Lights near entrance ways and in yards and courts of multiple dwellings", is cited on a violation when an HPD inspector finds the condition it covers. The owner of a multiple dwelling shall install and maintain one or more lights at or near the outside of the front entrance way of the building which shall in the aggregate provide not less than one hundred watts incandescent illumination or its equivalent for a building with a frontage up to twenty-two feet, and two hundred watts incandescent illumination or its equivalent or a building with a frontage in excess of twenty-two feet. In the case of a multiple dwelling with a frontage in excess of twenty-two feet and front entrance doors with a combined width in excess of five feet, the owners shall install at least two lights, one on each side of the entrance way, with an aggregate illumination of three hundred watts incandescent illumination or its equivalent. If the minimum level of illumination is maintained, the owner may determine details of location, design and installation of lighting fixtures, subject, however, to regulations of the department with respect to the maximum height above or distance from the entrance way of such fixtures, and the electrical and other safety of their installation. The lights required by this subdivision shall be kept burning from sunset on each day to sunrise on the day following.

Each notice carries its own deadline set by the violation's hazard class. Across 49,427 § 27-2040 notices, the median legal deadline was 35 days from the notice date.

Measured across 18,231 § 27-2040 violations that reached "violation closed", the median took 1,500 days from the notice date, against a median legal deadline of 35 days.

23,523 § 27-2040 violations are open as of Aug 7, 2026, and 23,498 of them are already past the legal deadline on the notice.