LEWISTON — A plan to require landlords to turn up the heat by two degrees won City Council approval Tuesday.
Councilors voted 7-0 to make some housekeeping changes to the city’s building maintenance code to match state rules on minimum heat. State building ordinances require landlords to heat their buildings to 68 degrees year round. Lewiston’s rules require landlords to keep buildings heated to 66 degrees between September and May.
Gil Arsenault, the city’s director of planning and code enforcement, said Monday that the minimum temperature has been 66 degrees since the late 1980s. He noticed the difference recently when he was reviewing state rules concerning a different matter.
The amendment added a provision that lets landlords negotiate with tenants to set a lower temperature, down to 62 degrees. That would not apply to housing with people older than 65 or younger than 5.
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