Fire is the first question here, and since the Twin Parks fire in January 2022 it starts with whether apartment and hallway doors close by themselves. Heat complaints, boiler paperwork and open violations come next, then how much of the rent roll is regulated. Flood is a separate policy, and in 2021 it came from rain and rivers, not the coast. Send me the violation history, the boiler and heat records, the rent roll and any flood history, and I can present the building properly.
What underwriters ask on each side of the city line
- Self-closing doorsRequired on apartment and public hallway doors in New York City. A door that does not close and latch is an immediately hazardous violation.
- Heat and boilersThe Bronx follows the city’s heat season. Yonkers has its own temperatures, an annual heating inspection and a boiler permit for larger buildings.
- Regulated rentsCity rent stabilization in the Bronx. In Westchester, the Emergency Tenant Protection Act, but only in municipalities that adopted it, and with different size thresholds.
- RegistrationWith the city housing agency in the Bronx; with the building department in Yonkers or New Rochelle.
- Lead paintA city law in the Bronx. A new state rental registry in four Westchester ZIP codes.
- Rivers and rainBoth counties were in the federal disaster declaration for the remnants of Hurricane Ida.
The policy itself is built the same way on either side (how apartment programs are put together). The local part is below.
Twin Parks and the self-closing door rules
On January 9, 2022 a fire in the Twin Parks apartments, a 19-story building in the Bronx, killed 17 people. When the mayor signed five fire safety bills that June, a city council member said that working self-closing doors would have kept smoke from filling the tower. The same package restricted the sale of electric space heaters that lack an automatic shut-off.
What the rules now require of an owner in the Bronx:
- Doors that close and latch on their own. The housing agency, HPD, says apartment doors and hallway doors must swing closed and latch by themselves after being opened.
- Fourteen days to fix. A defect is a class C, immediately hazardous violation. The correction period was shortened from 21 days to 14, and HPD must reinspect within 20 days after that.
- Emergency repairs at the owner’s cost. If the door is not fixed, HPD can attempt the repair itself and charge the property, and can seek civil penalties in Housing Court.
- Proactive inspections. Under Local Law 71 of 2022, HPD picks 300 buildings a year, using complaint and violation data, and inspects every self-closing door it can reach.
An underwriter reads open door violations as a fire-spread problem and a liability problem at once. Before a submission goes out I ask owners to test the doors and close out what is open. Westchester buildings are not under HPD, but the question travels: fire underwriters now ask it everywhere.
Heat season, Yonkers boilers and space heaters
Cold apartments lead to space heaters, and space heaters lead to fires, so heat records are part of the fire picture. In the Bronx the city’s heat season runs from October 1 through May 31. HPD requires at least 68 degrees inside between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. whenever it is below 55 outside, and at least 62 degrees overnight whatever the outside temperature.
Yonkers writes its own rule into its Housing and Building Maintenance Code, and it differs in the details:
- TemperaturesAt least 68 degrees when it is below 55 outside between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m., and 65 degrees when it is below 55 outside overnight.
- Annual heating inspectionOwners of buildings with residential tenants must have heating systems and water heaters inspected and tested between May 1 and September 1 by a qualified person, and file the report with the city no later than September 15.
- Boiler permitIn a multiple residence housing six or more families, the boiler needs a permit to operate from the Department of Housing and Buildings, good for no more than one year.
- If the report is missingFailing to inspect and file is treated as prima facie evidence of an intentional violation if the system later fails to provide heat.
Send those filings with the submission. They also support equipment breakdown coverage, which is what pays when the boiler itself fails.
ETPA in Westchester and stabilized rents in the Bronx
In the Bronx, state housing regulators say rent stabilization generally covers buildings of six or more units built between February 1, 1947 and December 31, 1973, along with other categories. In Westchester the equivalent is the Emergency Tenant Protection Act. The state’s fact sheet says it applies to buildings of six or more units built before January 1, 1974, only in localities that declared an emergency and adopted it, and that some municipalities limit it to larger buildings.
Westchester County publishes the thresholds. Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle and White Plains use six units. Sleepy Hollow uses 10, Port Chester 12, Mount Kisco 16, and Irvington and Pleasantville 20. A county Rent Guidelines Board sets the yearly adjustments for renewal and vacancy leases.
This matters for insurance because loss of rents should be sized to the rents you can legally collect, unit by unit. Mark the regulated units on the rent roll. How income coverage works.
Registration, chronic violators and lead
- The BronxBuildings with three or more units register with HPD every year by September 1. City Local Law 1 of 2004 makes owners of buildings built before 1960 presume the paint contains lead.
- YonkersOwners of multiple dwellings file a building registration statement with the Commissioner of Housing and Buildings, naming a responsible person in the city and a 24-hour phone number, and give written notice within 48 hours of a sale. Units that are not owner-occupied must be painted at least every three years.
- New RochelleOwners of buildings with three or more families file a registration statement with the Building Official and name a managing agent in the city. With six or more units, the superintendent must be reachable around the clock or by a message service.
- Mount VernonA building of six or more families whose owner receives five or more violations within a year can be classified as a chronic violator. That brings a task force inspection and a sign on the building, and the owner must submit a written repair plan.
- Lead rental registryWestchester County’s health department says a new state registry requires owners of buildings with two or more units built before 1980 to register in ZIP codes 10550 in Mount Vernon, 10801 in New Rochelle, and 10701 and 10705 in Yonkers.
Liability underwriters pull public violation records. A current registration and a short open-violation list do more for the quote than anything I can write in a cover letter.
Ida, rivers and wind deductibles
When the remnants of Hurricane Ida crossed the region from September 1 to 3, 2021, FEMA’s disaster declaration made individual assistance available in five New York counties, and the Bronx and Westchester were two of them. New York City’s own report on the storm says rain peaked at 3.15 inches in an hour, that 13 people died in the city, and that water entered buildings from street runoff, from plumbing fixtures in basements, and from overtopped rivers and streams, primarily in the Bronx.
None of that is covered by a standard property policy. Flood is a separate policy, and FEMA says a federal flood policy typically takes 30 days to go into effect. Tell me what is in the cellar: boilers, meters, laundry and any apartment below grade. How flood insurance works.
On wind, the state Department of Financial Services tells consumers that some insurers require hurricane deductibles in the five boroughs and in coastal areas of Westchester County. The state’s FAIR plan, the New York Property Insurance Underwriting Association, writes commercial buildings when the regular market will not. Its broad-form policies carry a two percent hurricane deductible in both Bronx and Westchester counties. It does not cover liability, flood or theft, and it will not take a building with outstanding code violations that affect occupancy. Hurricane deductibles in New York.
What to send me
- Address, year built, stories, unit count and construction, and for Westchester the city, town or village the building is in.
- Violation history: the HPD record for a Bronx building, or the building department’s for a Westchester one, with what is still open.
- Fire protection: self-closing door checks, sprinklers, alarms and the last fire department inspection.
- Heat and boiler records: the annual heating inspection report, boiler permit or certificate, and fuel type.
- The rent roll, marked to show stabilized or ETPA units, and a recent operating statement.
- Registrations: HPD, Yonkers or New Rochelle, and the lead rental registry where it applies.
- Flood history: any water in the cellar in 2021 or since, and what was moved or raised afterward.
- Five years of loss runs and current declarations pages for property, liability, umbrella and flood.
Common questions
Who insures apartment buildings in the Bronx and Westchester?
Standard insurers, surplus lines insurers and, for property that cannot be placed, the state’s FAIR plan. As an independent broker I submit the building to several markets with its violation, heat and rent records attached.
Why do insurers ask about self-closing doors on my Bronx building?
Because the 2022 Twin Parks fire killed 17 people after smoke spread through the building. A door that does not close and latch is now a class C violation that must be corrected within 14 days.
Is my Yonkers apartment building under rent stabilization?
Yonkers adopted the Emergency Tenant Protection Act, which the state says applies to buildings of six or more units built before January 1, 1974. Westchester County lists the unit threshold for each municipality that adopted it.
Do I have to register my rental building in Yonkers or New Rochelle?
Yes for multiple dwellings. Yonkers requires a building registration statement filed with its Department of Housing and Buildings, and New Rochelle requires one filed with the Building Official for buildings of three or more families.
Does my apartment building in the Bronx or Westchester need flood insurance?
A standard property policy does not cover flood, and both counties were in the 2021 federal disaster declaration for Ida. If the cellar holds the boiler and electrical service, a separate flood policy is worth pricing.
Is there a hurricane deductible on apartment buildings in Westchester?
It depends on the policy. The state says some insurers require one in coastal areas of Westchester County, and the FAIR plan applies a two percent hurricane deductible on broad-form policies there.
What heat does a landlord have to provide in Yonkers?
The city code requires at least 68 degrees when it is below 55 outside between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m., and 65 degrees when it is below 55 outside overnight.
General information about insuring apartment buildings in the Bronx and Westchester County as of November 2026, not legal advice. City codes, rent regulation and registration rules differ by municipality and change; confirm your building’s obligations with HPD or your local building department, the state housing agency and counsel. Coverage depends on underwriting and the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued.