Cal. Civ. Code § 32

Artificial lighting

In Force
Verified 9/13/2026 · Next check 9/20/2026
effective 9/22/2014New YorkSpecific Conditions

Operative Text

Cal. Civ. Code § 32
  § 32. Artificial lighting. The owner shall provide a light or lights
in every public hall, stair and fire-stair on every floor so that every
such space shall be lighted adequately.
Source: Legislative text reproduced verbatim
Plain English

Under N.Y. Mult. Resid. Law § 32, the owner of a multiple residence is responsible for supplying artificial lighting throughout all public hallways, stairways, and fire-stairs on every floor of the building. The rule requires that each of these common spaces be adequately lit, meaning the lighting must be sufficient to illuminate the area. This obligation applies to every floor, not just ground-level or primary entry points.

Written by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6 · Reviewed on September 13, 2026

Plain English — not legal advice.

For Property Managers

Under N.Y. Mult. Resid. Law § 32, compliant building owners and managers ensure that functional lighting fixtures are installed and maintained in all public halls, stairs, and fire-stairs on every floor of the property. Operators generally conduct routine inspections to confirm that bulbs, fixtures, and wiring remain in working order so that adequate illumination is consistently present. Keeping maintenance logs and promptly addressing outages are practices commonly associated with meeting this ongoing obligation.

General guidance for property managers — not legal advice for your specific situation. Consult an attorney for advice on your case.

For Tenants

N.Y. Mult. Resid. Law § 32 establishes a right for occupants to have adequately lit public hallways, stairways, and fire-stairs on every floor of their building. If lighting in these common areas is insufficient or non-functional, tenants may document the condition and report it to the local housing or building code enforcement agency, or raise the violation through a housing court proceeding. Tenant-rights organizations can help residents understand the general options available for addressing a landlord's failure to maintain required common-area lighting.

General guidance for tenants — not legal advice for your specific situation. Consult a tenant-rights organization or attorney for advice on your case.

Generated September 13, 2026 — auto-generated, not yet human-reviewed. See /transparency for methodology.

Effective Timeline

Current
Sep 22, 2014
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Related Rules

§ 115
Interior water-closets and bathrooms
§ 116
Water-closets in certain class B multiple dwellings
§ 117
Employees' water-closets

Source Information

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Fetched:Sep 13, 2026, 06:13 PM UTC