Your NYC landlord must provide gas leak detection by 2027

In a regular apartment or a rented one- or two-family home in a New York City building with gas piping, the owner must install a natural gas alarm in your unit by January 1, 2027, alongside the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms already required. The alarm sounds when it senses leaking gas, so you can get out and call for help before the gas can explode. Owners must replace alarms when they wear out and give occupants information about testing them and responding to an alert. Tenants test alarms inside their units monthly and replace their batteries.

You don’t need to apply. The law also covers hotels and other Class B buildings, whose owners may put alarms in each unit or use a centrally monitored detector system in public corridors and spaces. In a Class A apartment or rented one- or two-family home, the owner may charge you up to $25 for a separate natural gas alarm, and you get a year to pay. Tenants in Class B buildings pay nothing.

The law came after deadly gas explosions in East Harlem in 2014, which killed eight people, and in the East Village in 2015. Council Member James Vacca sponsored the alarm bill in a gas safety package the Council passed unanimously in November 2016. Mayor Bill de Blasio signed it that December. The alarms couldn’t be required until the Buildings Department set a standard for them, which took effect in 2024. Then a shortage of approved alarms led the Council to push the deadline from May 2025 to 2027. In June 2026 the Buildings Department confirmed the 2027 deadline will hold.