It shall be the duty of every person, firm,
or corporation who or which is the owner of a building or buildings
designed to be occupied, or occupied, as a residence, whenever said
owners have agreed to supply heat, to provide such heat from the first
day of October in each year to the first day of May of the succeeding
year so that the temperature of each and every apartment where one
or more persons reside shall be maintained at least at 68º F.
whenever the outside temperature falls below 55º during daytime
hours from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. At times other than those specified,
interiors of units of dwelling space shall be maintained at least
at 65º F. whenever the outside temperature falls below 40º.
In meeting the aforesaid standards, the owner shall not be responsible
for heat loss and the consequent drop in the interior temperature
arising out of action by the occupants in leaving windows or doors
open to the exterior of the building. The owner shall be obligated
to supply required fuel or energy and maintain the heating system
in good operating condition so that it can supply heat as required
herein notwithstanding any contractual provision seeking to delegate
or shift responsibility to the occupant or third person, except that
the owner shall not be required to supply fuel or energy for heating
purposes to any unit where the occupant thereof agrees in writing
to supply heat to his own unit of dwelling space and said unit is
served by its own exclusive heating equipment for which the source
of heat can be separately computed and billed.
Any person, firm or corporation who or which
shall violate any provision of this chapter or fail to comply therewith
shall severally, for each and every such violation and noncompliance,
forfeit and pay a penalty of not less than $100 nor greater than $500,
the exact amount to be left to the discretion of the magistrate before
whom the complaint is made. The imposition of a penalty for a violation
of this chapter shall not excuse the violation or permit it to continue;
such violation shall be remedied within a reasonable time. The imposition
of the above penalty shall not be held to prevent the enforced compliance
with the provision of this chapter.