Yonkers, NY

Yonkers City Code § 59-45 bars anyone from setting fire to hay, leaves, wood, refuse or any other combustible material in a street or on any lot in the city. The Fire Commissioner can…

Any residential propane or LP-gas installation in Yonkers needs a Fire Commissioner permit before hookup, no matter how small the tank. Plans and specs go to the Commissioner first…

Yonkers is an urban municipality with no defensible-space brush-clearance mandate. Property owners must keep lots free of overgrowth, debris, and nuisance vegetation under the city's…

Yonkers is not in a designated wildfire zone. New York does not maintain WUI (wildland-urban interface) fire hazard maps, and Yonkers is a dense urban city in Westchester County with…

Yonkers City Code § 59-40A(9) makes it unlawful for any owner, tenant, contractor or their agents to fail to install or maintain required smoke detectors. The Fire Department enforces…

New York Penal Law bans most consumer fireworks statewide. Ground-based sparkling devices are legal by default outside New York City, though counties may opt out and about a dozen have…

Yonkers City Code prohibits leaving a disabled or willfully abandoned motor vehicle on any public street, highway or City-controlled property for more than one week. The Police…

Yonkers requires a building and electrical permit for every Level 2 or Level 3 electric vehicle charging station and treats EV chargers as an accessory use allowed in every zoning…

Yonkers caps commercial curb use in marked loading zones at 30 minutes and passenger zones at three minutes under City Code § 109-84, enforced whenever the posted zone hours are in…

Yonkers Code § 109-74 makes it unlawful to park anywhere parking is posted as prohibited or restricted, or in front of or partially blocking a private driveway. Companion sections back…

Yonkers bans parking a commercial vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, house-on-wheels, bus, school bus, or any food-delivery vehicle on a city street except while actively loading…

Yonkers runs three named residential parking permit districts under Chapter 109, Article XII: Tibbetts Brook Park (§ 109-128), Garrett Park (§ 109-129), and Yonkers Raceway/Empire City…

When the Mayor of Yonkers declares a snow emergency, City Code Chapter 108 bars parking on eleven signed emergency routes, including North Broadway, South Broadway, Warburton Avenue…

Yonkers City Code § 43-41N allows only one recreational vehicle, camper, boat or trailer stored on a residential lot, owned by the resident, and it must be kept in a garage sized to…

Single- and two-family homes in Yonkers may park at most two currently licensed passenger vehicles in a paved front-yard driveway, and only within specific zones defined by the…

New Yorkers outside New York City who get towed or booted from a private lot rely on General Business Law 399-v, not a statewide rate cap. The law applies only to lots with capacity…

Yonkers City Code § 43-41G(4) bars any advertising display or identification sign for a home occupation, and prohibits displaying products where they are visible from outside the…

Yonkers City Code § 43-41G confines a home occupation entirely inside the dwelling: no accessory structures, no outside storage, no visible change to the home's appearance, and no…

Running a family day-care home in a Yonkers residence requires a valid State Department of Social Services permit filed with the Department of Housing and Buildings before the city…

Yonkers City Code § 43-41G(7) forbids any customer, client, colleague or member of the public from visiting a home in connection with a home occupation. Section G(8) backs it up by…

New York lets you sell home-baked and other shelf-stable foods without a food processing license through the Department of Agriculture and Markets Home Processing exemption, which…

Veterinary offices and animal hospitals in Yonkers need a special use permit under City Code Chapter 43 and must keep all animal-holding buildings, exercise areas and accessory areas…

Yonkers bars anyone from putting on a display of wild or exotic animals, or a rodeo, on any property the City has an interest in, from circuses and photo ops to carnival rides…

Yonkers City Code § 58-20D, amended in 2023, bars leaving food for birds, fowl, dogs, cats or other animals in the open, or in any manner that rodents can reach, in and around…

Yonkers doesn't regulate dogs by breed: it licenses and restrains any dog or animal that meets the City Code's behavior-based definition of 'dangerous.' Owners must get a special…

Yonkers bars keeping backyard chickens or any other poultry, fowl or bird on a residential property. City Code § 65-23 carves out only live poultry markets and small caged pet birds…

Every dog in Yonkers must be on a leash no longer than six feet whenever it is off its owner's property, with dangerous dogs held to the tighter four-foot, muzzled standard. Dogs may…

Agriculture and Markets Law Article 15 establishes a uniform statewide apiary inspection program with mandatory disease control standards applicable to all hives in New York.

Yonkers City Code § 43-41P(4) requires in-ground and partial in-ground pools to be enclosed by a fence at least six feet and no more than ten feet high. Every gate must self-close…

Yonkers zoning sets firm rules for backyard pools under City Code § 43-41P: no use after 10:00 p.m., a six-foot minimum setback from every property line, and fencing keyed to pool…

Yonkers allows an accessory apartment inside an existing single-family house only if it satisfies a detailed checklist under Section 43-22: one apartment per lot, no more than two…

Yonkers does not allow an accessory apartment to be rented on the open market. Section 43-22 restricts occupancy of any legal accessory apartment, whether pre-existing with a…

An accessory apartment in Yonkers can only keep its legal status if the property owner actually lives in the main house. Section 43-22 conditions every accessory apartment, whether it…

Yonkers City Code § 43-41O scales shed size to lot area: 100 square feet per 5,000 square feet of lot, with an eight-foot height cap and a five-foot setback from every property line…

Yonkers bans gasoline-powered leaf and garden blowers citywide from June 1 through September 30 each year under City Code § 91-31. The Commissioner of Public Works can lift the ban…

Playing a radio, boom box, stereo or any amplified sound-reproduction device loud enough to disturb someone else violates Yonkers's noise code, and loudspeakers or PA systems can't run…

Yonkers City Code Chapter 66 sets numeric sound-level limits. A residential property receiving noise from another residence is in violation above 55 dBA from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and 50…

Yonkers City Code § 66-4C makes it a violation to own, possess or harbor a dog whose barking creates a noise disturbance across a residential property line. The code sets a bright-line…

Yonkers City Code § 66-4E bans unmuffled vehicles, straight pipes, and car stereos audible 25 feet away, and treats drag racing, tire-squealing and extended near-home idling as…

Yonkers City Code § 66-4F bars construction, repair, demolition or excavation equipment between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. and at any time on weekends or legal holidays. Emergency work…

Aircraft operating from Westchester County Airport must comply with current federal rules and the airport's local noise abatement regulations under County Code § 712.421.

Yonkers Code § 92-4(E) makes clear that its mandatory recycling law does not stop residents from composting garden and yard waste on their own property. No permit, registration or bin…

Property owners whose trees overhang a Yonkers street or sidewalk must keep the branches trimmed to a minimum 15 feet above the roadbed and 9 feet above the sidewalk. City Code § 80-18…

Cutting, removing, or even climbing a tree in any Yonkers public highway or public place is unlawful without a written permit from the Commissioner of Parks, Recreation and…

Yonkers City Code § 69-1 bars property owners from letting noxious weeds, long grass or rank growths stand. After a written notice from the Commissioner of Public Works and five days'…

Once the County Executive declares a drought emergency, lawns may be watered only 4 hours a day in early-morning or evening windows, on odd or even days matching your street address.

Yonkers caps fences and walls at 4 feet in any required front or street-facing yard setback and 6 feet in other required yards, with an 8-foot allowance for open-construction fencing…

Yonkers City Code § 43-41D bans electrically charged fences, barbed wire and any fence built of sharp materials on residential lots. Fences must also sit inside lot lines and meet…

Yonkers treats retaining walls the same as fences under City Code § 43-41D: they cannot exceed four feet in a required front yard or any yard setback abutting a street, and six feet in…

Yonkers has no standalone fence permit, but City Code § 56-96 forces Department review anyway: a wood fence within 10 feet of a public street or 30 feet of a building can't exceed 6…

New York's Town Law § 300 makes adjoining landowners split the cost of a division fence along their shared boundary, but only when the land is actually used to keep animals…

Westchester's Room Occupancy Tax law treats short-term rental booking platforms as 'room remarketers' deemed to operate the hotel, making them liable to collect and remit the county's…

New York imposes state and local sales tax plus hotel-style occupancy taxes on short-term rentals statewide, and a 2024 registration law adds county-level registries and mandatory…

Yonkers is an MS4 community under NYS DEC SPDES General Permit GP-0-15-003. Illicit discharges to storm drains are prohibited; new development must meet NYS Stormwater Management…

Yonkers zoning caps private piers, docks and boathouses on waterfront residential lots: piers may run no more than 50 feet into the water and six feet wide, and boathouses are limited…

New construction and substantial improvements in Yonkers' mapped Zones A1-A30, AE and AH must have the lowest floor, including any basement, elevated at least two feet above the base…

Yonkers caps engine idling at three minutes for any parked, standing, or stopped motor vehicle under City Code § 109-88, with an exception for vehicles running a loading or processing…

Hudson River waterfront development in Yonkers is governed by the city's Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP) and NYS DEC tidal wetlands/Article 25 permits. Major projects…

When a Yonkers development site has more than 5,000 square feet with a slope over 15%, City Code § 43-105B imposes extra erosion and sediment control standards for site plan approval…

Yonkers bars any construction, filling or excavation in a FEMA-mapped special flood hazard area without a floodplain development permit from the City Engineer, and every violation is a…

Rooftop solar in Yonkers needs both a building permit and an electrical permit before installation at a one- or two-family home. Section 43-23 lets roof- and building-mounted solar…

New York's Solar Rights Act, Real Property Law Article 9-C, section 342, voids any homeowners' association rule that effectively bans rooftop solar. A restriction counts as an illegal…

Ground-based air-conditioning and heating equipment on new downtown Yonkers buildings can only go in the rear or interior side yard, at least five feet from any lot line, and never in…

Yonkers City Code § 66-4E bars a motor vehicle's exterior alarm from sounding more than five minutes continuously or 10 minutes intermittently, and separately bans shaker switches or…

Yonkers' Zoning Ordinance imposes noise-containment standards on cabarets and nightclubs beyond the general Chapter 66 noise limits. City Code § 43-36D sets minimum setbacks from…

Loading and unloading boxes, crates, containers or drums between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. is a noise-code violation in Yonkers if it creates a noise disturbance across a residential…

Yonkers City Code § 66-6J exempts emergency generators used during a power failure from Chapter 66's noise disturbance restrictions entirely. No decibel cap, curfew or permit applies…

Yonkers City Code § 43-41E limits residential garage and yard sales to no more than twice per calendar year per property, and only for items not bought specifically for resale. The…

Yonkers requires every household to separate recyclables from trash at the point of generation, a duty running since September 1, 1992 under City Code Chapter 92. Commingled metals…

Yonkers requires household waste, commingled recyclables, newsprint and cardboard to be at the curb by 7:00 a.m. on the assigned collection day under City Code § 92-5(E). Miss the…

Yonkers Code § 91-38 bans dumping dirt, construction debris, household or commercial waste on any street, lot, park or public or private property unless authorized at that specific…

Every residential waste generator in Yonkers must source-separate recyclables, newsprint, cardboard, glass, metal, plastics, yard waste, batteries and motor oil from household trash at…

Yonkers charges commercial and multiple-dwelling property owners a monthly rental fee to use a City roll-off dumpster: $125 for a 20-cubic-yard container, $150 for 30 cubic yards, or…

Yonkers collects leaves, small branches, twigs and brush only on the Wednesday route, alongside newsprint and cardboard. Yard waste must go out loose in an open container or a brown…

Yonkers caps household trash cans at two cubic feet and 50 pounds, requires tight covers at all times, and sets curb timing: containers go out no earlier than sundown the night before…

Yonkers runs three weekly collection routes: Monday/Thursday, Tuesday/Friday, or Wednesday-only, each pairing trash pickup with a different recyclable stream under City Code § 92-5…

Yonkers requires large new construction and renovation projects on city-owned or city-purpose property, plus certain private developments, to meet the Yonkers Green Building Standards…

Any construction, alteration, repair or demolition job in Yonkers that requires scaffolding under the state code must get a scaffolding permit from the Department of Housing and…

Yonkers requires automatic sprinkler systems throughout every hotel, dormitory, lodging house and rooming house, plus in the public corridors, lobbies, stairwells, basements and…

Yonkers City Code § 56-170 requires every residential or mixed-occupancy building with one or more residential units to install approved carbon monoxide detectors, with at least one…

Yonkers City Code § 57-10 bars any plumbing, drainage or gas work from starting until the Bureau's Director approves an application, plans and drawings. Approval costs a $30 filing…

Yonkers requires a Department permit before installing, altering or adding to any electrical wiring, devices or equipment in a structure, with narrow exceptions for minor repairs like…

Yonkers requires the Department of Housing and Buildings to inspect every passenger elevator and escalator at least every six months and every freight elevator at least once a year…

Before any construction, alteration, repair, installation, or demolition in Yonkers, the owner, lessee, or their architect, engineer, or builder must apply to the Department of Housing…

Yonkers requires every permitted construction project to pass mandatory inspections at each stage of work, from excavation through final completion, before the next phase can proceed…

Group homes, family day-care homes and day-care centers in Yonkers each answer to a distinct fire-safety checklist under City Code § 59-296: specific extinguisher placement, remote…

Westchester County's housing code requires existing lead-poisoning paint conditions in dwellings to be eliminated under the state Public Health Law's lead-poisoning prevention…

Yonkers licenses charitable, religious, veterans' and similar nonprofit groups to run games of chance under its own 1983 Games of Chance Licensing Law, adopted under General Municipal…

New York's Upstate Gaming Economic Development Act divides the state into two casino development zones. Zone One is New York City plus Nassau, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk, and…

New York's Penal Law never criminalizes playing a private card game or betting pool: it only criminalizes advancing or profiting from gambling. Penal Law § 225.00(3) protects anyone…

Sports betting is legal in New York only through operators licensed by the state Gaming Commission under Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law Section 1367-a. Nine mobile…

Anyone acting as a hawker, peddler or solicitor in Yonkers must first obtain a license from the Director of the Office of Licensing. The annual solicitor's license costs $19.50 (rising…

Home solicitors in Yonkers may only knock or ring a doorbell between 10:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., never on Sundays or major holidays, and must skip any residence displaying a posted "no…

Digital billboards are barred everywhere else in Yonkers because § 43-33K(1) treats billboards as legally nonconforming uses and § 43-33Q(2)(c) bans moving or animated signs outright…

New nonresidential and mixed-use buildings in Yonkers' downtown districts must keep ground-floor glass at least 50% transparent, and signage can cover no more than 25% of any window or…

In New York, affixing a political sign, poster, or notice to property you neither own nor have permission to use, a utility pole, highway structure, or another person's land, is…

A restaurant, cafe or hotel abutting a Yonkers street may run a sidewalk cafe only after the Office of Licensing issues a license, priced at $4-$5 per square foot of sidewalk used…

Yonkers requires a permit before using City-owned picnic grounds at Cook Field, Austin Avenue Field, or Sullivan Oval. The Commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Conservation issues the…

No parade may march along a Yonkers street without a permit from the Police Commissioner. The Commissioner limits routes through residential areas, restricts nighttime parades, and may…

Pawnbrokers in Yonkers must hold a Director-issued license costing $750 a year, post a $10,000 surety bond, and cannot charge more than 3% monthly interest on loans under $100 (2%…

Yonkers requires every retailer of cigarettes, cigars, e-cigarettes and other tobacco products to hold a cigarette dealer license from the Office of Licensing before opening. The…

Yonkers requires anyone who commercially buys or sells secondhand goods, from jewelry and coins to general used merchandise, to hold a secondhand dealer license from the Office of…

Yonkers caps private-property towing at 190 citywide licenses issued by the Police Commissioner. Towing an unauthorized car from a private or public lot requires a $250 annual City…

Yonkers zoning flatly excludes automobile repair from what counts as a lawful home occupation. Residents may run a quiet accessory occupation out of a dwelling under strict rules, but…

Yonkers zoning treats a tattoo parlor as a personal service establishment but layers on one hard spacing rule: no tattoo establishment may sit within 500 feet of another tattoo…

In Yonkers, a sexually-oriented business needs a special use permit and must sit at least 500 feet from any residence zone, school, place of worship, place of public assembly, or…

Yonkers Article XVII bars every retailer, including licensed cigarette dealers, from selling, offering for sale or distributing any flavored e-liquid or e-cigarette containing one. §…

New York Public Health Law §1399-cc raised the minimum age to purchase tobacco and vapor products to 21 (Tobacco 21 Act, signed 2019). New York also bans the sale of all flavored vapor…

New buildings and additions in Yonkers' Low- and Medium-Density Urban Residential Districts, UR-LD and UR-MD, are reviewed against the city's Downtown Neighborhood Design Guidelines…

Yonkers City Code lets developers of bonus inclusionary developments build four extra market-rate units for every affordable unit they add, capped at 40 bonus units per project…

Yonkers can force the owner of a structurally unstable, fire-damaged or otherwise dangerous building to repair, remove or secure it, and if the owner refuses, the city will do the work…

Every owner, lessee or contractor in control of a vacant lot in Yonkers must keep it clean, free of standing water and rubbish, and fence off any portion that sits below sidewalk…

Yonkers owners must clear snow and ice from the sidewalk in front of their property, and from a three-foot ring around any abutting fire hydrant, within six hours of a daytime snowfall…

Before altering, adding to, or demolishing a City-designated landmark or any building inside a designated historic district, an owner must first obtain a certificate of appropriateness…

Yonkers bans aggressive solicitation everywhere in the city and bans all begging within 10 feet of a bank, check-cashing business or ATM entrance during business hours. City Code…

Yonkers makes it unlawful to drink alcohol on any City-owned sidewalk, street, highway, or Parking Authority and Board of Education property. Simply carrying an open container there…

Yonkers City Code § 68-12 bans smoking, including e-cigarettes and vaping, inside any playground or within 50 feet of play equipment run by the Department of Parks and Recreation. §…

Yonkers City Code § 58-5 directs the Department of Housing and Buildings to enforce the Housing and Building Maintenance Code whenever it receives a complaint or an inspection request…

Yonkers requires every owner of a multiple dwelling to file a building registration statement with the Department of Housing and Buildings, naming the owner, a local responsible person…

Yonkers runs one curfew on the books, and it only applies on Halloween night. City Code Chapter 70 bars unescorted children, juveniles and minors from public places between 10 p.m. and…

City parks in Yonkers carry a nighttime loitering ban. Unlighted parks and playgrounds are off-limits from sunset to 8 a.m., and lighted ones close to loitering between 10 p.m. and 8…

Yonkers controls exactly where and how trees go into the strip between curb and sidewalk. City Code § 80-12 bars planting any tree where less than 36 inches separates the curb from the…

County Code § 712.314 bars removing a protected or specimen tree, or disturbing its dripline, on Westchester County-owned property without prior authorization.

Yonkers prohibits any property owner from encroaching on a City street within the projection of their own lot lines to the street's center line. Encroachments that already existed when…

Every Yonkers property owner must keep the sidewalk in front of their lot in good repair and safe for public use, a duty that also covers multiple-residence developments. If the…

Yonkers bars anyone from encumbering sidewalks, streets or public ways with goods, boxes, furniture or merchandise except brief loading or unloading, and separately bars retailers from…

When a Yonkers residential lot is narrower than 50 feet or shallower than 100 feet, required side and rear yards shrink proportionally, but City Code § 43-33K and § 43-33L set hard…

Yonkers limits how much of a residential yard accessory buildings and structures can cover, not just how tall or how far back they sit. Under Section 43-40D(2), the combined footprint…

Detached single- and two-family homes in every Yonkers residential district face a hard cap: no exposed wall may rise more than 35 feet from finished grade to the eave, and an inwardly…

Licensed Yonkers food vendors may not stand within 1,500 feet of any park perimeter that has an authorized concession, cannot block crosswalks or sidewalks, and need a separate park…

Selling food from a truck, trailer, or pushcart in Yonkers requires a food vendor license from the Director of the Consumer Protection Bureau. Full-term licenses are capped at 50…

Westchester County requires every mobile food unit to hold a Health Department permit and display the operator's name, address and permit number in four-inch letters on both sides.

Yonkers runs a red-light camera demonstration program under City Code § 109-45, first authorized in 2017 and amended in May 2025, that lets the Traffic Engineer install photo…

City Code § 109-71 spells out how electric bikes and scooters must use Yonkers bike lanes: riders may use any marked lane, must stay in it on highways posted above 30 mph, and cannot…

Yonkers regulates electric bikes and scooters under City Code § 109-71, effective February 11, 2025. The ordinance defines Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes and electric scooters using New…

New York draws a hard line between a golf cart and a low-speed vehicle. A low-speed vehicle is defined by Vehicle and Traffic Law § 121-f as a limited use automobile with a maximum…

Yonkers City Code § 59-41H lets the Fire Department order the elimination of any barbecue apparatus or cooking appliance used on a building's terraces, fire escapes, halls or cellars…

Yonkers City Code § 103-82 makes it unlawful to kindle a fire, barbecue, grill, portable stove or burning charcoal or wood on any City street, sidewalk or public property unless a…

Yonkers Code Chapter 76 makes it illegal to let any building, structure or property become rodent- or insect-infested. The Director of the Bureau of Housing and Buildings inspects on…

Chain restaurants with 15 or more locations in Westchester County must post calories for every standard menu item on menus and menu boards, enforced by the County Health Department.

Yonkers City Code § 58-21 bars occupying or renting any dwelling unit that falls short of its space rules: at least 150 square feet for the first occupant plus 100 more per additional…

The county's Fair Housing Law bars landlords, brokers and agents from refusing tenants because their income includes Section 8 vouchers, social security, alimony, or other public…

Before filing a nonpayment eviction, a New York landlord must serve a 14-day written rent demand under RPAPL Section 711. The demand requires, in the alternative, payment of rent or…

New York's Good Cause Eviction Law (RPL Article 6-A) limits evictions and rent hikes for covered tenants in NYC by default, with optional adoption by other municipalities.

Real Property Law Section 238-a, added by the 2019 HSTPA, caps residential late fees at $50 or 5% of the monthly rent, whichever is less, and bars any late fee until rent is more than…

To end a tenancy or decline to renew, a New York landlord must give written notice scaled to how long the tenant has lived in the unit under Real Property Law Section 226-c: 30 days…

New York requires advance written notice before a landlord raises rent 5% or more, or declines to renew a lease. The notice window scales with how long the tenant has lived in the…

Since the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, New York landlords cannot collect a security deposit larger than one month's rent. Within 14 days after a tenant vacates…

New York's adverse possession period is 10 years of continuous, exclusive possession under RPAPL Sections 501 and 511. A 2024 budget amendment to RPAPL Section 711 clarified that…

Yonkers outlaws planting running bamboo anywhere in the city and requires a $25 permit plus a confinement barrier for clumping bamboo. City Code § 82-1 makes owners keep any bamboo…

Yonkers does not ban invasive plants citywide, but its Zoning Ordinance forbids planting them in specific development contexts. Steep-slope site plans must use native or non-invasive…

Yonkers property owners connected to the city water main must fix any leak in their service pipe within 48 hours of written notice from the Commissioner of Public Works, or the city…

Yonkers imposes a 5.875% tax on the rent charged for every hotel or motel room occupancy in the city, collected by the operator and remitted to the Commissioner of Finance. Permanent…

Yonkers doesn't regulate home security cameras, but it does mandate them for certain businesses: alcohol sellers, anything open between midnight and 4 a.m., check-cashers…

Westchester County's only codified plate-camera rule is Chapter 708. Images and license plate data from school bus stop-arm cameras must be destroyed 90 days after an alleged violation…

Building or substantially improving a structure in a mapped Yonkers flood zone requires filing the proposed lowest-floor elevation with the City Engineer up front, then a certified…

Restaurants, bars, grocery stores and other food and drink sellers in Yonkers can only hand out plastic straws when a customer asks. City Code Chapter 37, the Plastic-Straw-Free…

Food service establishments and retail food stores in Westchester County may give out single-use utensils, straws and condiment packets only when a customer requests them.

Westchester County bans food service vendors and stores from possessing, selling or using expanded polystyrene foam cups, plates, trays and takeout containers.

The New York Bag Waste Reduction Law (Environmental Conservation Law §27-2801, enacted 2019, enforced March 2020) bans most single-use plastic carryout bags statewide. Counties and…

New York prohibits the sale and distribution of expanded polystyrene foam food containers and loose packing peanuts statewide under Environmental Conservation Law Article 27.

New York Cannabis Law allowed municipalities a one-time opt-out window before December 31 2021, after which the Office of Cannabis Management uniformly licenses retail dispensaries…

New York law lets adults 21 and over grow cannabis at home and preempts municipalities from prohibiting it, setting uniform plant limits and secure storage requirements statewide.

New York Labor Law §652 sets a tiered statewide minimum wage that leaves no room for local wage ordinances. As of January 1, 2026 the rate is $17.00/hr in NYC, Long Island, and…

New York mandates paid sick leave under Labor Law § 196-b and paid family leave under Workers' Compensation Law Article 9, with statewide coverage that applies to nearly every private…

New York requires a state-issued concealed carry license under Penal Law § 400.00, with mandatory training and a long list of statewide sensitive locations where carry is forbidden.

New York Penal Law treats a vehicle as a public place for firearm purposes, requiring a valid pistol license to transport a handgun and strict storage rules for long guns and…

New York has no comprehensive HOA act. Condominiums get a statutory common-charge lien under Real Property Law § 339-z that is foreclosable like a mortgage but junior to a first…

New York homeowners association boards answer to Not-for-Profit Corporation Law Section 621. A member of record for at least six months, or a holder of five percent of any voting…

New York voids HOA bans on solar power and EV charging. Real Property Law § 342 (Solar Rights Act) makes any restriction effectively prohibiting a solar system unenforceable and void…

New York's Electric Vehicle Rights Act, Real Property Law Article 9-D Section 343, bars homeowners' associations statewide from adopting rules that effectively prohibit or unreasonably…

New York Real Property Law Section 339-j strips condominium boards of managers of the power to enforce any by-law, rule, or resolution against a unit owner who displays a United States…

New York creates an assessment lien by statute only for condominiums. Real Property Law § 339-z gives the board of managers a lien on each unit for unpaid common charges that outranks…

New York condominiums have no inherent power to restrict unit leasing: under Real Property Law § 339-v(2)(a), by-laws "may also provide for" leasing restrictions only if the board…

No section of the New York Vehicle and Traffic Law authorizes sobriety checkpoints by name. The practice rests on Court of Appeals case law, chiefly People v. Scott, applied against…

New York is one of the few states that put the right to record police into its own statute rather than leaving it to case law. Civil Rights Law § 79-p, headed "Recording certain…

New York has no stop-and-identify statute. Criminal Procedure Law § 140.50(1) lets a police officer who reasonably suspects a felony or a misdemeanor defined in the Penal Law stop you…

New York wrote an unusually specific rule into the Penal Law when it legalized adult-use cannabis: § 222.05(2) provides that no conduct made lawful by that section shall constitute the…

Agriculture and Markets Law Article 25-AA governs certified agricultural districts statewide and limits how local zoning can apply to working farms inside them.

NY Agriculture and Markets Law §301-309 protects sound agricultural practices in certified Agricultural Districts from local ordinances and private nuisance suits. The Commissioner…

Vehicle and Traffic Law section 375(41) governs every light added to a New York vehicle beyond the lamps the law already requires, and it opens with a near total prohibition: no light…

New York grants a dash cam no designated place on the windshield. Vehicle and Traffic Law section 375(30) makes it unlawful to operate a motor vehicle with any object placed or hung in…

New York prohibits lane splitting outright. Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1252(c) makes it illegal to operate a motorcycle between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or rows of…

New York does not allow license plate covers of any kind. Vehicle and Traffic Law § 402(1)(b)(ii-a) states flatly that number plates shall not be covered by glass or any plastic…

New York does not ban radar detectors in private passenger cars. Vehicle and Traffic Law section 397-a prohibits using a radar or laser detector only in a motor vehicle with a gross…

New York allows studded snow tires, but only within a fixed season and only within precise dimensional limits. Vehicle and Traffic Law § 375(35-a) makes it unlawful to drive a motor…

New York requires at least 70 percent light transmittance through the front windshield, both front side windows and the rear window under Vehicle and Traffic Law section 375(12-a)(b)…