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Multiple Dwelling Law § 50-a · Local Law 63 of 2021

A dead intercom is a violation, not a maintenance item.

If your building has 8 or more units and went up after 1968, a two-way intercom at a self-locking front door is required. HPD writes violations for one that does not work. Tell us the address and we will tell you where you stand.

Step 1 of 7

6 more to go

First, who should we call?

Intercom and door entry, with a real range at the end. Name and number first, then six quick questions about the building. Stop at any of them and someone can still get back to you.

A number we can reach you on.

We send the written summary here when you finish. Leave it blank if you would rather just talk.

We call before we email — it is the fastest way to tell you whether this is a two-camera job or a riser.

Your answers are saved as you go, so you can stop and we will still know how to reach you. We never sell or share your details.

Two minutes, six questions. We call the same day, most of the time inside five minutes. The call tells you which rule your building falls under.

  • NYS DOS licensed

    Licensed security and fire alarm systems installer, New York State Department of State. The license number is on every proposal.

  • Insured, certificate first

    Your agent gets our certificate of insurance before anyone starts.

  • NYC and Miami

    Co-ops, condos, rentals, townhouses and commercial buildings across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.

  • UniFi Protect

    We build on UniFi Protect and UniFi Access. The recorder is yours. The footage stays in the building, and there is no monthly fee to watch your own cameras.

  • § 50-a: two-way voice at the main door, and every unit able to talk to it and let someone in.
  • Smart entry has its own law. Written consent, less data kept, and a real key that still works.
  • Life safety wiring is a different rule. We say up front who is allowed to pull it.

What this looks like in three buildings.

A post-1968 rental

The old panel was dead and half the handsets were gone. New video intercom, new cable, and a door that locks itself again. The violation is the clock on this one, so the survey comes first and the design follows it.

A co-op that wants phone entry

The board wanted app entry. Two shareholders did not want an app at all. Both are fine: the lock still takes a key and a fob, consent is collected in writing, and the data settings are handed over with the drawings.

A commercial building

Readers at the doors, credentials managed by one person on site, and a record of who opened what. When somebody leaves, the card dies that afternoon instead of at the next lock change.

How this goes, start to finish.

  1. Step 1

    A free site survey

    30 to 90 minutes

    We walk the building with your super. Entrances, lobby, risers, the closet, and whatever is already wired. No charge, and nothing to sign at the end of it.

  2. Step 2

    A design and a written quote

    Two to three days after

    You get a drawing, a device list and one price. Line by line, so a board can read it in a meeting without us in the room.

  3. Step 3

    Install and training

    Most jobs, two to five days

    We work around tenants and we clean up as we go. At the end we sit with your staff until they can pull a clip and add a key on their own.

The four rules in play, with the citation on each.

This is the part most quotes leave out. Read it before you take a price from anybody, including us.

Your building may be required to have a working intercom

NY Multiple Dwelling Law § 50-a

  • A Class A multiple dwelling with 8 or more units, built or converted after 1 January 1968, must have a two-way voice intercom at a self-locking main entrance.
  • Every unit has to be able to talk to the door and release it.
  • An older building has to put one in if a majority of tenants ask for it. The owner may recover that cost from tenants.
  • HPD inspects intercoms and writes violations when one does not work. A broken panel is not a maintenance item you can sit on.

What we do about it: We check the year, the unit count and the front door hardware during the survey, and the quote says which of those two cases your building is in.

Smart entry has its own law, and a key still has to work

Local Law 63 of 2021 (Tenant Data Privacy Act), NYC Admin. Code §§ 26-3001–26-3007

In force 29 July 2021. Tenants can sue over it from 1 January 2023.

  • A smart-access system needs express consent, in writing or in the app, from each tenant who uses it.
  • Collect only the data the door actually needs, and keep it only as long as it is needed.
  • A physical key has to stay available. A tenant cannot be made to use smart access to get into their own home.
  • Since 2023 a tenant can bring their own case over it, so this is not only an agency matter.

What we do about it: We set the system up so the lock still takes a key or a fob, and we hand over the consent wording and the data settings with the as-built drawing.

Who is allowed to pull the wire changed in December 2025

Local Law 128 of 2024, adding NYC Admin. Code § 28-105.4.7

In force 21 December 2025.

  • Wiring under 50 volts for signalling, communication, alarm or data does not need its own electrical permit.
  • That only holds when the work is done by a licensed master electrician, a special electrician, or a qualified person as the code defines one.
  • There is a hard exception. If the low-voltage wiring is connected to, part of, or inside a life safety system, a licensed master or special electrician has to do it.
  • So the question is never only what voltage the cable carries. It is what the cable is tied into.

What we do about it: Before we quote, we say which of those three categories the crew falls under for your job, and we flag anything that touches fire alarm so it goes to a licensed electrician instead of us.

A certificate of insurance is not insurance

ISO form CG 20 38, Additional Insured — Owners, Lessees or Contractors

  • A certificate is a summary. It is not the policy and it does not add anyone to it.
  • The endorsement is what adds your building. A good managing agent asks for a copy of it, not just the certificate.
  • The one that matters for this work is CG 20 38. It covers the owner you are required by contract to name, and the ongoing operations language is the part that applies while we are on site.

What we do about it: We send the certificate and the endorsement copies to your agent in the same email, named to the building, before the first day of work.

This is a plain summary of public rules, not legal advice. Your building should confirm how each one applies with its own counsel.

What it costs you to find out: nothing.

  • The survey is free. You keep the drawing and the device list either way.
  • After the survey the price is fixed and in writing. Not an hourly guess that grows.
  • No deposit until the board signs off. If they say no, you owe us nothing.

Find out where your building stands.

Name and number, then six questions about the building. If you stop halfway we will still call you back, and the survey is still free.

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