Internal prototype — noindexed, not linked from public navigation yet.

N.Y. MDW Law § 178

This is the official text of N.Y. MDW Law § 178, part of New York’s MDW Law — part of the compiled statutory law of New York, published by the state as "MDW Law." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Lighting and ventilation of stairs

Official statutory text

§ 178. Lighting and ventilation of stairs. Where the stair and public\nhalls are not provided on each story with windows opening to a street,\nyard or court, a skylight equipped with ridge ventilators having an\nopening of forty square inches or more shall be provided in the roof\nover the stair, except as otherwise provided in paragraph g of\nsubdivision three of section one hundred seventy-one. The glazed roof of\nsuch skylight shall not be less in area than nine square feet nor less\nthan two feet in its least dimension, provided the ventilating and glass\nareas in such skylight are not less than herein required; except that in\ndwellings converted before April eighteenth, nineteen hundred\ntwenty-nine, where a skylight smaller than such prescribed dimensions\nwas in existence on such date, no structural change shall be required,\nbut a ventilating skylight fitting the existing skylight opening in the\nroof beams shall be deemed sufficient.\n

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

Need a lawyer in New York?

Find a New York lawyer
About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.