Yonkers, NY Building Safety: Carbon Monoxide Detectors (2026)

L. No. 4-2001, covers virtually every occupied unit in the city. Section 56-170A applies to any building of residential or mixed occupancy with one or more residential units, defining "residential unit" to include multiple-family dwellings under § 43-8 of the Zoning Code. Only two narrow exceptions exist: a unit that burns no fossil fuel for heat, ventilation or hot water and sits away from any combustion source (§ 56-170B(1)), and a steam, hot-water or electric-heated unit with no duct or shaft connection to a fossil-fuel boiler or heater (§ 56-170B(2)).

Every other unit needs at least one detector within 10 feet of each sleeping room (§ 56-170C), plus an additional detector in any unit attached to or above a garage (§ 56-170D). Hotels and motels need one detector per 10,000 square feet of floor area on any floor with a fossil-fuel appliance, boiler, furnace or warm-air heating (§ 56-170E). Every detector must meet UL 2034-96 Second Edition and carry a digital CO readout (§ 56-170G). Section 56-171 splits maintenance duties: the owner installs the initial units, replaces any device that fails within a year due to a manufacturing defect within 30 days of written notice, and replaces batteries before re-renting a vacated unit; tenants test, maintain and replace batteries in their own units.

Buildings heated by one central fossil-fuel unit get a second layer under § 56-172: a detector in the room housing the heating unit, in any adjacent or overhead room, and in corridors leading to the heater room. Removing batteries or otherwise disabling a required detector is unlawful under § 56-170I, except for routine battery replacement.