2023 New York Laws › MDW - Multiple Dwelling › Article 3 - Multiple Dwellings--General Provisions › Title 1 - Light and Air › 31 - Size of Rooms.

§  31.  Size  of  rooms.  1.  The  provisions  of this section, except
  subdivision six, shall apply only to multiple  dwellings  erected  after
  April  eighteenth,  nineteen hundred twenty-nine, and shall apply to all
  such dwellings unless otherwise expressly limited.
2. Except as in this section and  in  section  thirty-three  otherwise
  expressly  provided,  rooms,  except kitchens, water-closet compartments
  and bathrooms, shall meet the following minimum requirements as to size:
a. In each apartment in a class A multiple dwelling there shall be  at
  least  one living room containing at least one hundred thirty-two square
  feet of floor area.
b. Every living room, except as provided in paragraph e, shall contain
  at least eighty square feet of floor space.
c. Every room shall be at least eight feet high, the  measurements  to
  be  taken  from  the  finished  floor  to  the finished underside of the
  ceiling beams except that as many as four beams crossing the ceiling  of
  any  basement  room  may  be  disregarded if none of them exceeds twelve
  inches in width or extends below the ceiling more than six inches.
d. Every living room shall  be  at  least  eight  feet  in  its  least
  horizontal  dimension, except as provided in paragraph e and except that
  any number of bedrooms up  to  one-half  of  the  total  number  in  any
  apartment  containing three or more bedrooms may have a least horizontal
  dimension of seven feet or more.
e. A one-room apartment in a class B multiple dwelling may be as small
  as sixty square feet in its  floor  area  and  six  feet  in  its  least
  dimension.
3.  The  requirements  of  this  section  with  respect  to  the least
  horizontal dimension  and  the  minimum  area  of  rooms  shall  not  be
  applicable to any room in a fireproof class B multiple dwelling occupied
  as  a  lodging  house in which every apartment, other than one apartment
  occupied exclusively by a person or persons engaged in  the  maintenance
  or  supervision  of  such multiple dwelling, consists of one room and in
  which every such room opens directly upon a public hall.
4. Dining bays with a floor area of fifty-five  square  feet  or  less
  shall not be considered as rooms or alcoves and shall not be required to
  comply  with the provisions of section thirty-two. Every such dining bay
  shall be equipped with such appropriate permanent  fittings  as  may  be
  required  by  the  department  and  shall  be provided with at least one
  window opening directly upon a street or upon a lawful  yard,  court  or
  space  above  a  setback.  Such  window  shall  have an area of at least
  one-eighth of the floor area of such dining bay.
5. A portion of any  apartment  used  as  an  entrance  hall  to  such
  apartment  may  be  designated  as  a  foyer.  Such a foyer shall not be
  considered a room if the department shall so permit and if either
a. Its floor area does not exceed ten per centum of  the  total  floor
  area of such apartment, or
b.  Every  room in such apartment exceeds in area the minimum required
  area of such room by more than twenty per centum and the floor  area  of
  such  foyer  does not exceed twenty per centum of the floor area of such
  apartment.
6. a. Exept in class B dwellings and dormitories,  no  room  shall  be
  occupied  for  sleeping  purposes  by  more than two adults, considering
  children of twelve years of age or  more  as  adults  and  two  children
  between  the ages of two and eleven years inclusive as the equivalent of
  one adult. Children under two years of age need  not  be  considered  as
  occupants.  No  room  shall have sleeping accomodations for more persons
  than can be accommodated in  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  this
  subdivision.
b. Every room in every dwelling, whenever erected, shall have at least
  four  hundred  cubic  feet  of air for each adult, and two hundred cubic
  feet of air for each child  occupying  such  room.  Except  in  class  B
  dwellings,  dormitories  and except as otherwise provided in subdivision
  two  of  section  thirty-one  or  in  section  thirty-four for dwellings
  erected after April eighteenth, nineteen  hundred  twenty-nine,  and  in
  sections  one hundred seventy-four, two hundred fourteen and two hundred
  sixteen, every living room shall (1) contain sixty square feet  or  more
  of floor space, (2) be at least six feet wide at its narrowest part, (3)
  if  a  sleeping  room, contain seventy-five square feet or more of floor
  space and (4) if less than seventy-five square feet in floor area, shall
  not be occupied by more than one adult.