Local Law 88 of 2009 — Lighting & Submetering

What Local Law 88 Requires

Local Law 88 of 2009 is part of the Greener Greater Buildings Plan, the same package that produced LL84, LL85, and LL87. It mandates two physical upgrades and a filing that proves they happened.

Lighting upgrades

Every covered building had to bring its lighting systems into compliance with the New York City Energy Conservation Code (NYCECC) at the time of installation: light power density limits per area, automatic shutoff controls, daylight harvesting where applicable, occupancy sensors in eligible spaces, and tandem wiring.

The standard applies to all areas in non-residential buildings and to common areas in residential buildings. Lighting installed on or after July 1, 2010 is exempt if it was code-compliant at installation. R-2 and R-3 occupancy spaces (the apartments and dwelling units within them) are exempt from the lighting requirement, but the building-wide filing is still required.

Tenant submetering

Non-residential buildings over 25,000 sqft must install electrical submeters for every covered tenant space. A “covered tenant space” means either:

• A single tenant occupying more than 5,000 sqft on one or more floors, or
• A floor over 5,000 sqft shared by two or more tenants

Each covered space needs a submeter, and its tenants must receive monthly statements showing measured consumption. Usage-based billing is optional; the statement isn't. The tenant submetering guide covers the triggers, exceptions, and cost drivers.

Who's Covered

The threshold is 25,000 gross square feet, and aggregation reaches smaller buildings: buildings sharing a tax lot, or condo buildings under one board, whose combined area exceeds 100,000 square feet. The DOB Sustainability Law Covered Buildings List, republished every March, is the authoritative record.

Tax Class 1 homes and garden-style apartments are exempt, as is lighting inside R-2/R-3 dwelling units, though the building-wide filing still applies. A building brought up to NYCECC during a renovation may already satisfy the lighting requirement; the filing is still needed to document it.

The 2016 Amendments (LL132 and LL134)

Local Law 132 of 2016 lowered the threshold from 50,000 to 25,000 square feet, and Local Law 134 extended the lighting requirement into residential common areas (lobbies, hallways, laundry rooms, garages) while tightening the covered-tenant-space definition for submetering. DOB refers to the composite as “LL88 as amended.”

The amendments are why a residential co-op or condo with ground-floor retail, a building that looked exempt under the 2009 original, almost certainly has an LL88 obligation today.

Deadlines

The work was due by January 1, 2025, and the filing, an attestation by a registered design professional or licensed electrician submitted through BEAM, by May 1, 2025. Per DOB, the filing fee is $115, waived for buildings filing LL97 the same year. Every covered building that hasn't filed is now accruing penalties; the extension and missed-deadline guide covers the dates that still matter this year.

There is no annual re-filing. Once an attestation is on record the building is done, unless lighting or submetering changes materially.

Penalties

Three separate fines accrue for non-compliance, and they stack:

A mixed-use building missing both reports, with five covered tenant spaces unmetered, accrues $5,500 a year; three years out, that's $16,500 in fines before the upgrade cost. Because the fines recur until the filing closes, delay costs more than curing for most covered buildings.

Figures are DOB's published penalty amounts under Rule 103-18, checked July 2026.

Common Pitfalls

The work is done, the filing was never closed.

The most common case we see: LED upgrades went in years ago, but no attestation was ever filed, so the reporting penalty accrues as if nothing had happened. The cure is a survey, an attestation, and the BEAM filing, usually a few weeks of work.

Assuming residential buildings are exempt.

The R-2/R-3 exemption covers the dwelling units, and only them. Lobbies, hallways, mechanical rooms, and ground-floor retail still need to comply, and the building-wide filing still applies.

LED tubes without the controls.

Re-lamping with LED tubes doesn't automatically meet NYCECC, which also governs power density and controls. A building that “already did LED” may still need controls work before it can attest.

How LuxNet Helps with LL88

Our field survey documents fixtures, controls, light power density, and the meter inventory against the covered-space rules, producing an inventory your design professional or electrician can certify against. Where the building falls short, the report says exactly what closes the gap.

A Compliance-tier survey plus attestation and BEAM filing closes the obligation; the Project+ tier extends the survey into specifications a contractor can bid against.