NYC Window Guard Law: The Air Conditioner Rule, Who Must Get Guards and How to Report a Landlord

Why the gap beside the air conditioner matters

On the night of Nov. 3, a 2-year-old girl died after falling from a fifth-floor window in Mott Haven, in the Bronx. Police sources told NBC New York they believe she climbed through the gap between a window divider and an air conditioner. Her parents said they had called 311 about safety conditions in the apartment.

That gap is exactly what the city set out to close. When the Health Department rewrote its window guard rules in 2025, it said nearly all preventable falls happen because no fall-prevention device was installed, or because a window air conditioner was improperly installed in or removed from a window. Air conditioners hadn’t been covered by the rules before.

New York City counted four window falls among children in 2025, none fatal; two involved devices that weren’t properly installed. Nationally, CPSC estimates 5,600 children 12 and under were treated in emergency rooms for window falls in 2024, and about one in three was hospitalized.

What the rule says about window air conditioners

Under the rules in force since Jan. 1, a window with an air conditioner needs no separate guard only when all three of these are true:

• Bolted in: the unit is secured to the window stool or sill with tamper-resistant one-way screws, leaving no open space wider than 4½ inches.
• Stopped: two metal L-shaped stops or brackets, one on each side of the lower sash, keep the window from opening more than 4½ inches above the unit.
• Approved: the building owner has inspected the installation and confirmed both.

A tenant in an apartment where a child lives may not remove a guard, block its installation or install a temporary window AC instead of a guard. The Health Department suggests asking the landlord to install the unit professionally.

One change from the draft: the city’s proposal also required rigid side panels on permanent installations. The Health Department dropped that from the final rule, citing the burden on building owners, but its April 2026 safety advice still tells New Yorkers to use rigid material on all sides of the unit.

How to secure the side panels on a window AC

This list works in any city. It combines the New York rule with the Health Department’s and CPSC’s advice.

• Bolt the unit to the frame or sill so it can’t be pushed or lifted, with no opening wider than 4½ inches anywhere around it.
• Use rigid material on all sides. The accordion panels that come with most units aren’t rigid; the city’s advice is material that can’t come loose and open a gap.
• Add stops on the lower sash so the window can’t be raised more than 4½ inches above the unit.
• When the AC comes out for the winter, the window needs its guard or stop back. An empty window with no guard is a fall risk.
• Keep furniture away from windows, so children have nothing to climb.
• Don’t count on screens. CPSC says never depend on a screen to keep a child from falling.
• Open windows from the top when you can.

Who must get window guards in New York City

The rules cover buildings with three or more apartments. The owner must install guards on every window in an apartment where a child 10 or younger lives, or where the tenant asks for them for any reason. That includes windows that open onto a balcony or terrace.

Guards don’t go on windows that open onto a fire escape, or on a secondary exit window; on a first floor with fire escapes, the owner picks that window. Windows at or below ground level with less than six inches of drop are exempt.

Every guard or stop must leave no opening wider than 4½ inches, be tested against a 150-pound impact and be registered with the Health Department.

Who pays

Landlords may charge tenants for guards inside apartments, but not for guards in public areas. In rent-stabilized and rent-controlled apartments, the charge is a temporary surcharge of no more than $10 per guard.

A landlord can’t make you pay before installing a required guard, and can’t tell you that guards are optional where a child lives.

The January form

Between Jan. 1 and Jan. 16 each year, landlords must send every apartment an annual notice asking whether a child 10 or younger lives there. Tenants must return it by Feb. 15.

If the form doesn’t come back, the landlord must inspect the apartment to see whether a child lives there and whether guards and air conditioners are installed correctly. A landlord who doesn’t send the notice faces a $500 penalty per apartment per year.

How to report a missing or loose guard

Tell your landlord, managing agent or super first, in writing if you can. If guards aren’t installed, or look loose or improperly installed, file a complaint with 311, online or by phone.

The complaint goes to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. HPD contacts the managing agent and, if the problem isn’t fixed, sends an inspector without telling the owner the date. It can issue violations and seek penalties, and tenants can also go to Housing Court.

Outside New York City

Most places don’t have a guard law like New York’s, so CPSC’s advice is the baseline: window stops that keep windows from opening more than 4 inches, guards with an emergency release on windows on the sixth floor and below, and, for renters, a conversation with the landlord about installing them.