As mayoral candidates argue over how to rein in New York City’s out-of-control cost of living, you wouldn’t expect the City Council to consider legislation that will drive up rents, slam homeowners’ budgets and give everyday New Yorkers fresh headaches just to benefit special interests.

But that’s exactly what’s about to happen this week, as the council votes on an obscure new law called Intro 429.

Under the guise of improving safety, the council is about to double or triple the cost of replacing major household appliances.

Need a new stove?

A new clothes dryer?

How about a dishwasher or refrigerator?

Get ready to pay a licensed master plumber big bucks — in many cases, more than the cost of the appliance itself — just to hook it up.

Intro 429 has several components, but the one that affects every city resident, from single-family homeowners to co-op and condo owners to millions of tenants, is the provision that defines who can install kitchen and other large appliances.

The law will add hundreds of dollars to every installation because it will require licensed master plumbers to perform a job store technicians, building supers, contractors and handy homeowners have been doing safely for decades.

How do we know it’s safe?

Because right now you can buy a stove from Home Depot, PC Richard & Sons or any local appliance store and have it delivered and installed without issue. Sometimes a super or contractor does the work.

That’s how it’s been done in NYC for decades, without any risk or danger.

The tragic gas explosions and fires that make headlines are typically caused by gas-main leaks or illegal piping, not appliance hook-ups — which have never caused such a disaster here.

But that hasn’t kept special interests from using fear to push City Council members into creating a profitable new monopoly.

It’s going to be a sweet gig for plumbers: Easy work at a premium, with most charging $500 or more per installation.

But when Intro 429 passes — as it’s on track to at the council’s next meeting — the result for residents won’t be greater safety but higher costs and worse service. 

If a tenant’s stove breaks, building owners will go all-out to repair rather than replace it, just to avoid the steep installation cost.

And if residents want a new dishwasher, the cost will double, busting household budgets and raising rents.

Add in delays: Scheduling a plumber to get your new oven working could take weeks.

Plumbers are already busy with serious work — repairing gas mains, re-piping buildings, handling city-required inspections, working in boiler rooms and on heating systems.

Basic appliance installation isn’t their specialty, and it doesn’t need to be.

So let’s call this what it is: a shakedown. And the City Council is playing the enforcer, threatening substantial fines on anyone who doesn’t go along.

Plumbers argue they’re the only ones who can safely install appliances.

The claim is absurd.

Everywhere else in the country, technicians and homeowners themselves do this work.

I recently spoke with a building super who has done hundreds of stove installations without a single safety issue.

This law is the equivalent of requiring a prescription for aspirin — then suing a nurse’s aide who thinks that’s ridiculous and slips you a couple of tablets.

Council members talk nonstop about affordability and an “abundance agenda,” but when push comes to shove they serve special interests and leave renters and homeowners to foot the bill.

New Yorkers don’t mind paying more for added convenience or quality. This new law will do the opposite: It makes things more expensive while reducing both.

If the council cared about affordability, it would clarify and expand its rules on who is qualified to install household appliances, not restrict that role.

A short training course or Buildings Department video for supers, technicians and contractors could ensure safety.

Instead of piling on regulations that raise costs and rents, the council should align with historical practices that have worked well and efficiently for decades.

Kenny Burgos is the CEO of the New York Apartment Association.