Smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms are not décor. New York City requires them in dwellings. You should find them already installed when you get the keys. You should not take the batteries out because the cooking set them off, and you should not leave a missing unit for a month because the beep is annoying.
What you should see on day one
Walk the apartment on move-in and note every alarm: location, whether it chirps, whether it looks old enough to have been painted over. Photograph them. If one is missing, hanging by a wire, or dead, tell the building the same day. That is maintenance, not a personality test.
Carbon monoxide alarms belong in a home that has gas cooking, which this building has. Heat and cooking gas are included here. Electric is separate. None of that is a reason to disable a detector.
What you must not do
Do not remove an alarm to silence it. Do not cover it with a shower cap. If cooking sets it off, use the fan and open a window, then tell management if the placement is so close to the range that it cannot function as a life-safety device. A disabled alarm is how a small fire becomes a 911 call for the floor.
If you add a plug-in detector of your own, that does not replace the required unit. Keep the building's equipment in place.
Who to call
Start with the 24-hour front desk at 222 East 34th Street. If an alarm is sounding and you smell gas or see smoke, get out and call 911. Housing issues that the owner does not fix can go to 311 later. For a tour of a specific residence, schedule one or call (212) 684-3222.
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