CHAPTER 2
HOUSING MAINTENANCE CODE
[table of contents]

SUBCHAPTER 2
MAINTENANCE, SERVICES, AND UTILITIES

ARTICLE 10
Artificial Lighting

Section
27-2037 Duty to Provide Electric Lighting Equipment in all Dwellings
27-2038 Electric Lighting Fixtures in Certain Public Parts of Dwellings; Fixtures and Lights Required
27-2039 Lighting to be provided at Night; Owners Responsibility
27-2040 Lights Near Entrance Ways and in Yards and Courts of Multiple Dwellings

Sec. 27-2037 Duty to provide electric lighting equipment in all dwellings

The owner shall equip every dwelling for lighting by electricity. Such owner shall provide and maintain light fixtures to provide lighting for all public parts in a dwelling, including the means of egress, for every room, water closet compartment and bathroom in every dwelling unit, and for every water closet without the dwelling unit. In addition to required light fixtures, the owner shall install and maintain such receptacle outlets as may be required by the electrical code. Except as otherwise provided in this code or in the electrical code, the owner may substitute an additional receptacle outlet for a required light fixture in living rooms other than kitchens.

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Sec. 27-2038 Electric lighting fixtures in certain public parts of dwellings; fixtures and lights required

1. In every multiple dwelling and tenant-occupied two-family dwelling, the owner shall provide electric lighting fixtures for every public hall, stair, fire stair and fire tower on every floor, in accordance with the following requirements:

1. If an incandescent lighting fixture is provided, it shall be capable of providing illumination of at least ten watts per twenty-five square feet of floor area or fraction thereof. Each lighting fixture shall be provided with one or more lights of a total of not less than sixty watts. Where, under this requirement, the number of watts per fixture would exceed one hundred, one or more additional fixtures shall be provided and shall be located as may be prescribed by the department, except where the distance from the fixture to the farthest intersecting wall does not exceed twenty feet.
   
   
2. If a fluorescent lighting fixture is provided, it shall be capable of providing illumination of at least four watts cool white fluorescent light per twenty-five square feet of floor area or fraction thereof. Each lighting fixture shall be provided with one or more lights of a total of not less than twenty watts. Where, under this requirement, the number of watts per fixture would exceed forty, one or more additional fixtures shall be provided and shall be located as may be prescribed by the department, except where the distance from the fixture to the farthest intersecting wall does not exceed twenty feet.
   
3. In every multiple dwelling hereafter erected, in addition to other lighting requirements, a sufficient number of incandescent or fluorescent fixtures shall be provided so that the distance between fixtures is not more than thirty feet and so that no wall is more than fifteen feet distant from a fixture.

2. The department may approve electric lighting for public halls, stairs, fire stairs and fire towers other than the incandescent and fluorescent lighting required in subdivision a of this section if such other method of electric lighting provides equivalent illumination, and meets the requirements of the electrical code.
   
   
3. Notwithstanding any other requirement of this section, the department may require fixtures to be so located, and additional fixtures to be installed, in order to assure that every part of every public hall, stair, fire stair or fire tower is adequately lighted.

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Sec. 27-2039 Lighting to be provided at night; owner's responsibility

1. The owner of a multiple dwelling shall turn on all required lights in every public hall and stair at sunset every day and shall keep them on until sunrise the day following.
   
   
2. The owner of a multiple dwelling shall keep all required lights burning continuously

1. in every fire stair and fire tower;
   
   
2. in every stair and public hall where there is no window opening on a street, court, yard, space above a setback, or on a shaft; and
   
   
3. in every stair and public hall where there is a window which in the opinion of the department does not provide adequate natural light.

3. The owner of a multiple dwelling shall provide electric light at all hours of the day and night in rooms or spaces in multiple dwellings in which laundry equipment is provided for the common use of the occupants whenever natural light is insufficient in the opinion of the department.
   
   
4. The owner of a multiple dwelling shall install and maintain in working condition a lighting fixture that can be turned on by a tenant or by the mail carrier directly over a mail box or other receptacle for mail if the natural light in the public hall is not sufficient to read the names on each mail box or receptacle.
   
   
5. The owner of a multiple dwelling shall not be responsible if any required light becomes extinguished and remains so if such owner can show to the satisfaction of the department or the court that it became and remained extinguished without his or her knowledge or consent.

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Sec. 27-2040 Lights near entrance ways and in yards and courts of multiple dwellings

1. 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.
   
   
2. The owner of a multiple dwelling shall install and maintain in every yard and court one or more lights of at least one hundred watts of incandescent illumination or its equivalent, in such locations as the department may prescribe. The lights required by this subdivision shall be kept burning from sunset on each day to sunrise on the day following.

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