New Laws & Regs

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New York City’s curbside composting program is coming to all five boroughs before the end of 2024. Mandatory curbside composting recently started in Brooklyn with collections on Oct. 2. The service will be automatic, guaranteed, free, and year-round.

With these new rules, 70% of the city’s trash is headed into containers.

Mayor Adams and DSNY Commissioner Jessica Tisch recently announced a new front in the administration’s war on rats. They’re launching a plan to containerize waste at approximately 95 percent of residential properties across the five boroughs. The new residential garbage containerization rule will cover all 765,000 NYC buildings with nine or fewer units, contin...

In November 2021, New York City enacted Local Law 126 of 2021, which requires periodic inspections of NYC parking structures. At the same time, the legislation added to the NYC Administrative Code required periodic observation or inspection of building parapets. DOB recently adopted the final rules regarding parapet inspections with an effective date of Sept. 28, 2023.

Automatic audits of self-inspections, mandated abatement, and a new inspection program are on deck.

New York State is joining a handful of other states that have enacted flood disclosure laws for renters to ensure they are made aware of potential flood risks to apartments before it’s too late. As climate change increases the frequency and severity of disasters, lawmakers hope to provide renters with more transparency before they sign a lease and have them made aware of flood insurance available to renters.

The maximum penalty for burning No. 4 oil after the phase-out dates has been increased to $10,000.

The legislation responds to the risks related to e-bikes and lithium-ion batteries.

Although e-bikes and e-scooters are an affordable and convenient alternative to cars, the fires caused by the batteries that power such micromobility devices are a significant problem in New York City. The lithium-ion batteries commonly found in these devices can malfunction and cause extremely dangerous fires that are difficult to contain and extinguish.

New York City’s population of older adults, which currently represents 20 percent of the city’s entire population, will grow as the Baby Boomer generation ages. A 2021 CUNY Graduate Center study reports that the population of adults ages 65 and older in New York State will increase 25 percent between 2021 and 2040, compared to just 3 percent growth in the general population. And in New York City alone, the number of older adults is expected to jump 40 percen...

In our November 2022 issue, we covered new trash rules proposed by the NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY) governing the time for placing solid waste and recyclable materials at the curb for collection. On Nov. 19, DSNY held a public hearing on the proposed rules. Since then, DSNY recently released the Notice of Adoption for the final rules. The rules will go into effect on April 1, 2023.

Owners get more climate protection law details ahead of 2024 deadline.

The DOB recently issued draft regulations to implement Local Law 97 of 2019 (LL97). In 2019, the City Council passed LL97 with ambitious goals to tackle climate change by putting carbon caps on the city’s buildings, the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Since the passage of the law, however, there has been little guidance until now on how owners could achieve the ...