Int. No. 610-A
By Council Members Torres, Deutsch, Chin, Ampry-Samuel, Levine and Kallos (by request of the Bronx Borough President)
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to stove knob covers
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Article 11 of subchapter 2 of chapter 2 of title 27 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 27-2046.4 to read as follows:
§ 27-2046.4 Stovetop protection. a. An owner of a unit in a multiple dwelling, other than a dwelling unit in a multiple dwelling owned as a condominium or cooperative and used as the primary residence of such owner, shall provide stove knob covers for each knob located on the front of each gas-powered stove to tenants in each dwelling unit in which the owner knows or reasonably should know a child under six years of age resides, except where such owner has documented proof that there is no available stove knob cover that is compatible with the knobs on such stove. Such stove knob covers shall be made available within thirty days of such owner providing the notice required in subdivision b of this section unless such owner has previously made such stove knob covers available to the tenant and the tenant has not requested a replacement.
b. 1. Such owner shall provide an annual notice to each tenant of a unit regarding the owner’s obligation to provide stove knob covers pursuant to subdivision a of this section. Such notice shall inform the tenant of his or her option to refuse stove knob covers.
2. Upon being provided with such notice, a tenant may notify such owner, in writing, that such tenant refuses stove knob covers. If the tenant does not notify the owner, in writing, that the tenant refuses stove knob covers, the owner will make the stove knob covers available to the tenant pursuant to subdivision a of this section.
3. An owner will keep a record of: (i) written notifications of refusal of stove knob covers received from a tenant of a dwelling unit, (ii) the owner’s attempts to provide stove knob covers to tenants pursuant to subdivision a of this section, (iii) units for which stove knob covers were made available, and (iv) tenants who have requested stove knob covers.
c. No owner shall refuse a written request of a tenant of such dwelling unit to provide stove knob covers, regardless of whether making such covers available is required pursuant to this section.
d. Any owner who is required to provide stove knob covers pursuant to this section who fails to do so shall be liable for a class B hazardous violation, provided that it shall be an exception to a violation where (i) the owner provides documented proof that there is no available stove knob cover that is compatible with the knobs on such stove or (ii) the owner has already fulfilled two requests for replacement stove knob covers within the previous year.
§ 2. This local law takes effect 180 days after it becomes law, except that the commissioner of housing preservation and development may take such measures as are necessary for the implementation of this local law, including the promulgation of rules, before such date.
LS 5397
MPC
5/1/18 5:29pm