N.Y. Multiple Dwelling Law § 212: Yards and courts

§ 212. Yards and courts. 1. No tenement shall be enlarged or its lot

diminished in any way which would leave any yard or court less in any

dimension than the minimum dimensions prescribed for yards or courts in

section twenty-six.

The restrictions of this subdivision shall not apply to tenements

erected after April twelfth, nineteen hundred one, on lots which run

through from one street to another street and do not exceed one hundred

feet in depth.

2. Any court constructed on or after December fifteenth, nineteen

hundred sixty-one in a tenement to ventilate any room, public hall,

water-closet compartment or bathroom shall be of the dimensions

prescribed in section twenty-six, and such court shall under no

circumstances be roofed or covered over at the top. Every such court, if

an inner court, shall be provided at the bottom with one or more

horizontal air-intakes constructed as provided in section twenty-six.

3. Any shaft or court constructed after April eighteenth, nineteen

hundred twenty-nine, which is used to light or ventilate any room

occupied for living purposes in any old-law tenement shall be at least

twenty-five square feet in area and four feet in width in every part,

and shall under no circumstances be roofed or covered over at the top.

Every such shaft shall be provided at the bottom with a horizontal

air-intake or duct at least four square feet in area communicating

directly with a street or yard and so arranged as to be easily cleaned.

4. In every old-law tenement there shall be a door at the bottom of

every shaft and inner court giving access to the shaft or court and

whenever the shaft or inner court is less than two hundred square feet

in area or ten feet in any dimension, such door and its assembly shall

be fireproof with the door self-closing. Where a window or door existing

on April eighteenth, nineteen hundred twenty-nine, gives proper access

to such a shaft or court, such window or door shall be deemed

sufficient.