Amanda's Law Explained: New York CO Detector Requirements

Last verified: August 24, 2026

New York carbon monoxide detector laws combine Amanda's Law language in Executive Law Section 378(5-a) with Uniform Code enforcement pathways. Homes, rentals, and many lodging occupancies must install listed devices when fuel-burning equipment or attached garages create carbon monoxide risk.

State guidance addresses UL listing, testing, and maintenance expectations, while local code offices enforce compliance through inspections and orders to remedy. Because Executive Law Section 382 allows escalating penalties for unresolved violations, owners and operators should keep installation records, maintenance logs, documented response timelines, and jurisdiction-specific inspection files.

Large multifamily operators should map local inspection cycles and keep proof of corrective closeout. This statewide baseline can be expanded by local jurisdictions, especially in large cities with additional housing oversight programs.

Key Takeaways

CO detector requirements for New York
Applies to homes?	Yes
Applies to rentals?	Yes
Applies to hotels/STRs?	Yes
Applies to schools?	Yes, under a condition
Applies to workplaces?	Yes, under a condition

Schools and workplaces

Schools: it depends, and the test is one you can apply to the building itself. New York legislated schools separately from everything else, and the trigger is a judgment about the equipment rather than a list of appliances. Education Law section 411, added by the school buildings carbon monoxide detectors act, directs the Commissioner to require operable carbon monoxide detectors in every elementary and secondary school building "wherein the use of heating or other equipment poses a substantial risk of exposure to carbon monoxide", to standards set by the State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code Council. The retrofit half has run: a school building occupied before 31 January 2018 had until 31 January 2020 to install. The Uniform Code rule made alongside it is 19 NYCRR Section 1228.4, and its own definition is what does the work: a detection zone is a storey of a commercial building, except that where the building includes a classroom, each classroom is a separate detection zone. The rule reaches all occupiable buildings of a school district or BOCES that contain equipment or systems which may emit products of combustion, so a bus maintenance facility, a field house and a concession stand are inside it as well as the classroom block. One edition note, and it matters less to this answer than to the rest of the record. New York replaced its Uniform Code at the end of 2025. The Department of State own 2025 Fire Code of New York State states in its preface that it "was developed as a derivative work of the 2024 edition of the International Fire Code", where the 2020 edition it replaces was drawn from the 2018 IFC. Reported rather than read from the notice itself: the 2025 Uniform Code took effect on 31 December 2025, with an option period from 1 October to 30 December 2025 in which either code could be used. The school answer above does not move with it, because it runs on Education Law 411 and Section 1228.4 rather than on a Section 915 occupancy list, and 1228.4 keys to a detection zone rather than to an occupancy group. What does move is every Section 915 citation below, which is why the Uniform Code references in the sources are marked at the 2020 editions rather than silently carried forward.

Workplaces: it depends, and the test is one you can apply to the building itself. New York is the state that answers this question at all, and it answers it in the statute rather than through an occupancy list. Executive Law section 378(5-d) requires the owner of every building containing one or more restaurants, and the owner of every commercial building in the state, to install and maintain operable carbon monoxide detecting devices to standards set by the Code Council. The condition is the subsection own: devices are required "only if the restaurant or commercial building has appliances, devices or systems that may emit carbon monoxide or has an attached garage". So an all-electric office with no attached garage is outside it and a gas-heated one is not. Note what the statute does not do: it defines neither "commercial building" nor the exemptions in its own text, so the Uniform Code rule made under it is where a marginal building is settled.

When Are CO Alarms Required?

Buildings with fuel-burning appliances
Buildings with attached garages
New construction
CO detectors are required only where the dwelling unit has CO-emitting appliances/devices/systems or an attached garage.
Multiple dwelling definition includes hotels/lodging houses and other listed occupancies (Exec. Law §378(5-a)).

Where to Install CO Alarms

In a one- or two-family dwelling, townhouse, or condominium or cooperative dwelling unit built before 1 January 2008: one alarm, on the lowest story having a sleeping area. That is the whole requirement for most existing New York homes, and it is narrower than the every-level advice that circulates for this state.
In a Group I-1 occupancy built before 1 January 2008: on each story having a sleeping area, which is the per-story rule, and it applies to that occupancy rather than to houses.
In other Group R occupancies, nursery schools, bed and breakfasts and multiple dwellings built before 1 January 2008: in each dwelling or sleeping unit where a carbon monoxide source is located, on the lowest story having a sleeping area if that unit spans more than one story, and in each unit on the same story as a source.
No alarm is required at all where no carbon monoxide source is located in or attached to the building, whatever its age.
Mounting position within the chosen story follows the manufacturer instructions rather than the Uniform Code, so keep the alarm out of dead-air corners and away from windows and doors, and give any fuel-burning appliance the clearance its manual asks for.

For detailed placement guidance beyond legal requirements, see where to place carbon monoxide detectors.

Device Requirements

CO alarms shall be listed and labeled as complying with UL 2034 or CAN/CSA 6.19 (Uniform Code reference in DOS/DHSES Code Outreach Issue 2025-01).
CO detectors used as part of a CO detection system shall be listed and labeled as complying with UL 2075 (Uniform Code reference in DOS/DHSES Code Outreach Issue 2025-01).
Maintain devices in good working order and test periodically per NFPA 720 and manufacturer’s instructions (Uniform Code reference in DOS/DHSES Code Outreach Issue 2025-01).

Landlord and Tenant Responsibilities

Landlord: Ensure required CO detectors/alarms are installed where the dwelling has a potential CO source or an attached garage, and maintain required systems in good working order (Exec. Law §378(5-a); Uniform Code maintenance/testing referenced by DOS/DHSES Code Outreach Issue 2025-01). Provision: Code Outreach Issue 2025-01.

Tenant: Test the CO alarm at least monthly and keep the unit unobstructed; promptly report suspected issues to the property owner/manager (DHSES/OFPC CO FAQ). Provision: §378(5-a), read alongside §378(5).

Uniform Code enforcement and specific responsibilities can vary by local jurisdiction (and NYC has its own building code enforcement framework).

Full New York landlord and tenant carbon monoxide duties, with citations

Enforcement

Enforced by: Local governments and their authorized agents (code enforcement / fire officials) enforce the Uniform Code.

Enforcement typically occurs:

Through local code enforcement actions (orders to remedy and appearance tickets) when violations are found.
During Fire Safety and Property Maintenance (FSPM) inspections where required by 19 NYCRR Part 1203 (intervals vary by jurisdiction/occupancy).

Uniform Code enforcement is primarily local; inspection programs and intervals are established under 19 NYCRR Part 1203.

What a Tenant Can Do in New York

When a carbon monoxide alarm stops working in a rented home in New York, these are the five routes a tenant can take and where each one comes from.

"Via general law" means the New York carbon monoxide statute itself is silent and the remedy comes from the state's landlord-tenant law instead. The remedy is available even though the alarm rule does not contain it.

"No provision found" is a finding rather than a gap in the research: the chapter that would carry that remedy was read and contains nothing either way. What was read is named beside the row.

Tenant remedies for a defective carbon monoxide alarm in New York, with the citation or the body of law searched for each.
Rent withholding	Via general lawN.Y. Real Prop. Law 235-b. The warranty of habitability is the statewide hook: it covenants that occupants will not be subjected to conditions dangerous to life, health or safety, and it cannot be waived. It does not itself say a tenant may withhold; abatement is what courts award for its breach. The one statutory withholding procedure, Multiple Dwelling Law 302-a, applies only in cities of 400,000 or more, requires a departmental rent-impairing violation, and makes the tenant deposit the disputed rent with the court rather than keep it.
Repair and deduct	No provision foundSearched: N.Y. Real Property Law Article 7 (landlord and tenant, including 235-b) and the Multiple Dwelling Law provisions on repairs and rent, Article 6 and 302-a. No statute supplies repair-and-deduct in New York. Courts have allowed a tenant who gave notice and waited a reasonable time to set the reasonable cost of a habitability repair off against rent, the case usually cited being Jangla Realty Co. v. Gravagna, but that is a New York City Civil Court decision rather than a statewide provision, which is why it sits in this note and not in the citation.
Right to end the lease	Via general lawN.Y. Real Prop. Law 227. A tenant may quit and surrender where the building is destroyed or so injured by the elements or any other cause as to be untenantable and unfit for occupancy, without the tenant's fault, and is then not liable for rent after the surrender. The threshold is the unit being unfit to live in, not a device needing a battery, so this reaches a live CO hazard and not a routine alarm defect.
Notice the tenant must give	No provision foundSearched: N.Y. Real Property Law Article 7 and Multiple Dwelling Law Article 6, checked for any notice period a tenant must serve or wait out. 235-b imposes no notice requirement and sets no period. The Multiple Dwelling Law's clock in 302-a runs from the department's notice to the owner, not from the tenant's, so it is not a tenant notice period either. Notice matters in practice because the common-law set-off requires it, but no statute fixes its form or length.
Landlord cure period	Via general lawN.Y. Mult. Dwell. Law 302-a. Six months must pass after the department notifies the owner of a rent-impairing violation before rent may be withheld, and the owner can extend that by filing corrective plans within three months. No day count is recorded in this cell because the section reaches only cities of 400,000 or more and is therefore not the answer for most of the state. Everywhere else the period is whatever is reasonable under 235-b, decided case by case.

Applies to every row above:New York's CO alarm mandate is code-based, through Executive Law 378(5-a) and the Uniform Code, and creates no tenant remedy at all, so every column here comes from general landlord-tenant law. That law splits by geography, as Illinois does around Chicago and Pennsylvania around Philadelphia, and it splits further than either. Real Property Law 235-b, the warranty of habitability, is statewide. The Multiple Dwelling Law, which carries the only statutory rent-withholding procedure and the only statutory cure clock, reaches multiple dwellings in cities of 400,000 or more, which in practice means New York City. A tenant in Rochester and a tenant in Brooklyn therefore do not have the same statutory toolkit, and this single row cannot show that split. Municipal codes, New York City's above all, add their own CO device rules and are not recorded here.

Remedies last checked 2026-08-03. Compare New York with the other states.

What New York Requires in Lodging

The New York carbon monoxide requirement reaches hotels and short-term rentals.

Hotels already standing: covered too. The New York requirement reaches an existing hotel and not only one being built.

Operator duty: Executive Law 378(5-a) reaches a hotel by naming one. Its definition of multiple dwelling lists "hotel, lodging house, rooming house, boarding house" alongside apartment hotel and tourist house, so no occupancy trace is needed. The trigger is written at unit level: detectors are "required only where the dwelling unit has appliances, devices or systems that may emit carbon monoxide or has an attached garage". The statute then delegates rather than specifies, requiring a detector "of such manufacture, design and installation standards as are established by the council", so placement is the State Fire Prevention and Building Code Council's question and lives in the Uniform Code. That code splits by construction date at 1 January 2008 rather than by the sleeping-unit exception the model codes use, and the 2020 Fire Code of New York State could not be opened from here, so the statute is stated with confidence and the placement detail as the Department of Health summarises it.

Full New York hotel and short-term rental requirements

Penalties for Non-Compliance

Uniform Code violations and failures to comply with an order to remedy can be punished by fines up to $1,000 per day and/or imprisonment up to one year, with escalating minimum daily fines after 180 days (Executive Law §382).

Executive Law §382 (Remedies), enforcement, appearance tickets, and penalties.

Additional Notes

This YAML captures statewide requirements and state-issued guidance. Local jurisdictions may adopt stricter requirements.
NYC and some other jurisdictions may have additional/local rules and enforcement processes.

Local Rules That Differ From State Law

At least one New York municipality sets CO requirements that go beyond the statewide rule. Where your property sits decides which applies, and the stricter one governs.

New York City

Four departures matter to a reader, and the first two change who needs an alarm at all. Section 915.1.1.1 defines the affected dwelling units by proximity rather than by ownership of a fuel-burning appliance: units on the story where carbon monoxide-producing equipment or enclosed parking sits, units on the stories immediately above and below it, units in a building with a central furnace, boiler or water heater, and units merely served by such a central system standing in an adjoining or attached building. That last category reaches an apartment whose own building burns nothing. Section 915.1.1.1.1 then puts a device in any room used for sleeping purposes, not only where an appliance sits in the bedroom, and on every story including below-grade stories and penthouses. Third, Local Law 77 of 2023 added Section 915.1.1.1.2, which for one- and two-family homes and townhouses with an attached garage requires a powered exhaust system that starts on its own at 35 parts per million and moves 1.5 cubic feet per minute for each square foot of garage floor, wired to fail safe so that a cut wire or a pulled sensor starts the fan, and kept off arc-fault and ground-fault protected circuits. No state carbon monoxide statute in this dataset requires ventilation hardware. Fourth, Section 915.3.1 makes a detector at the source shut that source down, generators excepted, and Section 915.1.2.1 applied the commercial detector rule retroactively to existing buildings with fire alarm systems by July 1, 2021.

New York City Building Code Sections 915.1.1.1, 915.1.1.1.1, 915.1.1.1.2, 915.1.2.1 and 915.3.1, with Section 901.9.5.1 (Local Law 77 of 2023) Checked 2026-08-03.

What was checked:Checked New York City, Rochester and Buffalo. New York City rewrites the carbon monoxide provisions rather than adopting them, and the rewrite is deep enough that a landlord in the five boroughs who reads Executive Law 378(5-a) and stops has read the wrong document. Rochester and Buffalo could not be reached and are recorded as open rather than clean: both are absent from the code publisher that served New York City, both return 403 from eCode360, and neither has a Municode client, so nothing was searched and no negative was inferred. Upstate cities running their own rental certificate programs were not searched either. Section text was read from a jurisdiction-specific rendering of the 2022 New York City Building Code, control-tested at 245 occurrences of sprinkler and 66 of carbon monoxide in the chapter pulled.

Local sweep last reviewed 2026-08-03.

Official Sources & References

New York Executive Law §378(5-a), Standards for installation of carbon monoxide detectors , §378(5-a), read alongside §378(5) (state code, accessed 2026-08-08)
Primary statute requiring CO detectors in specified dwellings; limits the requirement to units with a CO source or an attached garage; defines 'multiple dwelling' to include a hotel, lodging house, rooming house and boarding house by name. Note which subdivision does the work, because the two next to each other both concern lodging and only one concerns carbon monoxide. Subdivision 5 is 'Standards for hotels, motels and lodging houses' and requires a notice posted in each guest room giving the nearest exits and fire alarms and what to do when a fire or smoke detector sounds; it says nothing about carbon monoxide. Subdivision 5-a is the detector mandate. A citation to 378(5) for a carbon monoxide duty is a real provision pointing at the wrong obligation.
New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control, Carbon Monoxide: The Facts (CO FAQ) , Q6 (need/placement) + testing guidance (agency guidance, accessed 2026-02-16)
Placement and basic maintenance/testing guidance for homes.
NYS Department of State (BSC) & NYS DHSES/OFPC, Code Outreach Program Issue 2025-01: Fire Safety and Property Maintenance Inspections - Carbon Monoxide Alarm and Detection , Uniform Code references, cited here at the 2020 editions and superseded on 31 December 2025 by the 2025 Uniform Code (2020 PMCNYS §705; 2020 FCNYS §915.1, §915.4, §915.6) (agency guidance, accessed 2026-02-16)
Official state guidance quoting Uniform Code requirements for listing, maintenance, testing, and inspection context.
New York State Register, Department of State emergency rule making DOS-45-10-00007-E, Installation of Carbon Monoxide Alarms in Residential Buildings, amending 19 NYCRR 1220.1 and 1225.1 , Substance of emergency rule, items (1) to (5), for buildings constructed before 1 January 2008 (state code, accessed 2026-08-20)
Read on 2026-08-20 because the placement bullets above were consumer-guidance phrasing rather than the Uniform Code, and one of them put an alarm on every level of the home. That is not what the rule requires of an existing house. The notice sets out the pre-2008 structure in tiers, and the first governs most New York homes: in a one- or two-family dwelling, townhouse, or condominium or cooperative unit, an alarm must be installed within each dwelling or sleeping unit, on the lowest story having a sleeping area. The per-story rule is real but belongs to Group I-1 occupancies. It also carries three things the record had only in part: no alarm is required where no carbon monoxide source is in or attached to the building whatever its age; battery, cord-type and direct-plug alarms are permitted and need not be interconnected; and alarms must be listed to UL 2034 or CAN/CSA 6.19.
New York Executive Law §382, Remedies (Uniform Code enforcement and penalties) , §382(1)-(2) (state code, accessed 2026-02-16)
Provides local enforcement powers and penalties for Uniform Code violations.

Disclaimer: This page explains the law as it stood on August 24, 2026. It is general information, not legal advice, and reading it creates no attorney-client relationship. Requirements vary by city, county and building type, and statutes and codes are amended: confirm the current text with the issuing authority before acting on it. Each requirement here cites the instrument it comes from, so you can check it at source.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Amanda's Law require for New York dwellings?

Amanda's Law is codified in Executive Law Section 378(5-a) and requires carbon monoxide detection in covered New York dwelling units when CO-producing conditions are present. The law applies to many homes, rentals, and lodging occupancies, especially where fuel-burning appliances or attached garages create risk. It works alongside Uniform Code provisions that set device listing and maintenance expectations. For owners and managers, compliance means more than installation at move-in: routine testing, prompt repair, and documentation are key. Local jurisdictions can add stricter rules, but the statewide requirement is the legal baseline.

When can a New York home fall outside statewide CO alarm triggers?

The trigger logic is tied to carbon monoxide risk factors, not simply the building label. A home without fuel-burning appliances and without an attached garage may be outside typical statewide trigger language, but owners should verify local amendments before treating a unit as exempt. Multi-unit buildings may still create exposure when neighboring units have combustion equipment. New York code officials often evaluate actual building conditions, not just owner declarations. For that reason, many operators install alarms in borderline cases to reduce incident risk and avoid disputes during inspection or enforcement review.

Where should CO alarms be placed in New York residences?

Placement standards in New York generally focus on sleeping areas and proximity to potential carbon monoxide sources. State guidance and Uniform Code references commonly require alarms in or near bedroom corridors, with additional attention to spaces served by fuel-burning equipment. Devices should be listed to applicable standards, such as UL 2034 for alarms or UL 2075 for detection systems, depending on setup. Owners should follow both code text and manufacturer instructions because improper placement can fail inspection even when a device is present. Local code offices may publish more specific room-by-room placement expectations.

Who is responsible for CO alarm compliance in New York rentals and lodging?

Property owners and operators carry the primary legal duty to install and maintain required devices under Executive Law Section 378(5-a) and Uniform Code enforcement practice. Tenants are typically expected to avoid disabling alarms, test units periodically, and report defects quickly. In lodging occupancies, operators should also maintain service records that show testing and corrective action timelines. Responsibility can be shared in day-to-day maintenance, but legal exposure usually follows the party controlling code compliance. That is why lease documents, hotel operating procedures, and maintenance logs should mirror New York code requirements.

How does New York penalty exposure change between first and repeated CO alarm violations?

Executive Law Section 382 gives local enforcement agencies authority to pursue remedies when Uniform Code violations remain unresolved. Penalties can include daily fine exposure and other enforcement actions, which can escalate if an order to remedy is ignored. The financial risk often exceeds the cost of compliant installation and maintenance, especially for multi-unit operators. In addition to direct penalties, unresolved carbon monoxide issues can complicate inspections, insurance positions, and post-incident liability. Owners should treat notices from local code officials as urgent compliance events rather than routine paperwork.

How do New York requirements compare with Pennsylvania Act 121?

New York uses a stronger statewide framework through Amanda's Law and Uniform Code enforcement, while Pennsylvania Act 121 is narrower and focuses heavily on covered multifamily scenarios plus sale-transfer disclosure. Teams operating across both states should not reuse one checklist. New York workflows usually need broader occupancy mapping, while Pennsylvania compliance often starts with Act 121 scope analysis and local code overlays. For side-by-side review of the narrower model, see Pennsylvania CO detector laws before finalizing policy language.

Practical CO Detector Guides

Beyond legal requirements, these guides help you choose, install, and maintain CO alarms:

Where to place carbon monoxide detectors, room-by-room placement recommendations
CO detector beeping patterns, what different alarms mean
What to do if your detector goes off, emergency response checklist
CO resources and links, official agencies and safety information