Local Law 88 Compliance, Surveyed and Filed.
The LL88 deadline passed in January 2025. If you haven't filed, the fix is simple: we survey the building, tell you what's needed, or file it as-is if it already complies. Lighting and submetering both, for buildings 25,000 sq ft and up.
Either way the obligation is still open, and the penalty is accruing. The path is the same: survey, report, filing. If the building is already in good shape, we document it and just file — often a quick job.
What LL88 Actually Requires
Local Law 88 of 2009 — expanded by Local Laws 132 and 134 of 2016 — requires buildings over 25,000 sq ft to upgrade lighting to current NYC Energy Conservation Code standards, and nonresidential tenant spaces over 5,000 sq ft to be electrically submetered, with monthly energy statements to each tenant. The deadline was January 1, 2025. The obligation doesn't expire — it accrues.
Failing to file carries two separate civil penalties: $1,500 a year for the missing lighting report and $1,500 a year for the missing submetering report — $3,000 a year until both are on record. Required-but-missing tenant submeters can add $500 per meter per year.
New to LL88? The full law page covers thresholds, submetering triggers, and penalty mechanics in detail.
The LL88 Checklist
Four questions tell you whether LL88 is handled at your building. Anything you can't tick is where we come in.
LL88 generally applies at 25,000 sq ft and up. Smaller buildings are usually out of scope, though tax-lot aggregation can pull them in.
LL88 requires lighting that meets the energy code — for most buildings that means LED. Older fluorescent fixtures are the most common gap.
Tenant spaces over 5,000 sq ft need their own metering. Often already in place, especially where tenants hold dedicated utility meters.
Doing the work and filing it are separate steps. The report goes through the city's BEAM portal, and the obligation stays open until it does.
Want it on paper? Take the one-page checklist with you — or send whoever manages the building the shareable checklist page.
Download the PDFHow It Works
The whole engagement is three steps — a focused version of our compliance survey. We tell you what the building needs, or that it needs nothing. Then we file:
LL88 Survey
Compliance Report
We File It
Own more than one covered building? We survey and file whole portfolios in one cycle, and multi-building work is priced at a bulk discount.
If Work Is Needed, It Pays for Itself
The penalty buys nothing; the upgrade pays back. LED fixtures draw a fraction of the wattage of the lamps they replace, and networked lighting controls save about 47% more lighting energy on top of that on average — roughly 70% of projects save 30% or more (DesignLights Consortium, 2017). Every recommendation in the report carries its own numbers: wattage removed, projected savings, simple payback.
Controls are our core trade. If the report calls for occupancy sensors, daylighting, or a networked system, our NLC design & commissioning service designs the system, oversees the install, and commissions it so the savings actually show up on the bill.
We finished the lighting work but never filed. Can you just close it out?
What does waiting actually cost?
Who certifies the LL88 filing?
Does this cover submetering, not just lighting?
What if the building isn't compliant yet?
It's a residential building. Does LL88 apply?
One Filing Stops the $3,000-a-Year Clock.
Survey, report, filing — we handle all three. If the building already complies, we document it and file as-is. No obligation; we respond within one business day.
200+ ll88 filings completed · 1,500+ buildings surveyed
Prefer to talk? (929) 577-2490
Not sure it applies? Check your building free →Penalty figures and compliance details reflect DOB's published rules and can change. This page is general information, not legal or financial advice; confirm specifics with DOB, your utility, and your own professionals.
Last updated: July 2026. NYC building compliance rules, deadlines, and DOB procedures may change.