Skip to main content

Multiple Dwelling Law § 51-c · Title 2. Fire Protection and Safety

Rights of tenants to install and maintain locks in certain entrance doors

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — Law content up to date as of August 28, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)

§ 51-c. Rights of tenants to install and maintain locks in certain entrance doors. Every tenant of a multiple dwelling, except a tenant of a multiple dwelling under the supervision and control of a municipal housing authority, occupied by him, except as a hotel or motel, or college or school dormitory, shall have the right to install and maintain or cause to be installed and maintained in the entrance door of his particular housing unit in such multiple dwelling, a lock, separate and apart from any lock installed and maintained by the owner of such multiple dwelling, not more than three inches in circumference, as an ordinary incident to his tenancy, provided that a duplicate key to such lock shall be supplied to the landlord or his agent upon his request; and every provision of any lease hereafter made or entered into which reserves or provides for the payment by such tenant of any additional rent, bonus, fee or other charge or any other thing of value for the right or privilege of installing and/or maintaining any such lock, shall be deemed to be void as against public policy and wholly unenforceable.

Source of truth

Edition
Law content up to date as of August 28, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
Official file
https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/MDW51-C
Text hash
sha256 cef0224074caafa8b818882cc3240fde84f19dd5a8a603ac2f289ac5d4a18917
Composed by
gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.