Coldest night of the season is here. What NYC landlords must do about heat

New York City is in for its coldest night of the fall so far, and for many tenants that means the first real test of the building's boiler.

The National Weather Service forecasts a low around 40 degrees in the city Saturday night under mostly clear skies, with north winds of 10 to 20 mph. Behind Friday's cold front, temperatures were forecast to fall more than 20 degrees in 24 hours, to roughly 10 degrees below normal on Saturday, ABC7 reported. Freeze warnings are in effect overnight for Orange and Putnam counties and parts of northern New Jersey and Connecticut, but not for the five boroughs, according to the weather service.

It gets a little better from there: the forecast calls for a sunny Sunday with a high near 59, a low around 44 Sunday night and a high near 63 on Monday.

What your landlord has to provide

Heat season in New York City runs from Oct. 1 to May 31. During that time, building owners must meet these minimums, according to the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development:

• Overnight (10 p.m. to 6 a.m.): at least 62 degrees inside, whatever the temperature outside.
• Daytime (6 a.m. to 10 p.m.): at least 68 degrees inside whenever it is below 55 degrees outside.
• Hot water: at least 120 degrees, all year.

If the radiator stays cold

HPD says to contact your landlord or building manager first. If that doesn't work, file a complaint by calling 311 (TTY 212-504-4115) or through 311 online or the 311 app. You can file anonymously, but then the inspector will pick an apartment in the building at random. After a complaint, HPD tries to reach the owner and may send an inspector, who records the outside temperature on every visit.

Owners can be fined $250 to $500 a day for a first heat or hot water violation and $500 to $1,000 a day for repeat violations, according to HPD. If an owner still doesn't fix the problem, the agency's Emergency Repair Program can hire a contractor to restore heat and bill the owner.

Complaints are already coming in

New Yorkers filed 5,907 heat and hot water complaints with 311 from Oct. 1 through Oct. 15, according to an analysis of NYC Open Data by NewYorkNews.app. The busiest days were Oct. 6, with 960 complaints, and Oct. 7, with 978. Last heat season, HPD counted 344,437 heat complaints through May 31, up from 282,606 the season before.

Staying safe and warm

HPD's cold-weather tips: plug space heaters directly into a wall outlet, never an extension cord, and don't leave them running when you leave the room or go to sleep. Keep curtains, furniture and other things that can burn at least three feet from any heat source, and make sure you have working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Never use a gas stove or oven to heat your home. Kerosene heaters and propane space heaters are illegal in New York City.

If paying for heat is the problem, call 311 to ask about help. The state's Home Energy Assistance Program opens for the season on Nov. 2.