New Britain, CT Building Safety: Lead Paint (2026)

Sec. 13-145, in Chapter 13's Housing Code, prohibits lead paint or other potentially hazardous material on interior surfaces of any dwelling unit, rooming unit, rooming house, or any fixture or object in a facility subject to letting or occupancy by children, naming window sills, window frames, doors, door frames, walls, ceilings, and stair-rails and spindles as covered surfaces. Paint that is used must meet American Standards Institute Z66 1-1964, may not exceed 0.06 percent lead content by weight of contained solids, and caps antimony, arsenic, cadmium, mercury and selenium at the same 0.06 percent threshold, with a separate one percent cap on water-soluble barium.

Subsection (b) requires every painted surface in a building used for human habitation to be kept free of cracked, chipped, blistered, flaking, loose or peeling paint, and any surface found in that condition must be completely cleaned and repainted with conforming material. Under subsection (c), when the director of health finds that such deteriorated paint constitutes a health hazard, or discovers on inspection a child-accessible surface coated with non-conforming paint, the director issues an order to the property owner to eliminate the hazard under safety conditions the director approves; hazardous paint accessible to children must be completely removed or covered with an approved durable material, and simply repainting over it without that removal or preparation does not satisfy the section.

Violations of Sec. 13-145, like other Chapter 13 housing code violations, are punishable under Sec. 13-260's fine of not more than $150. The Health Department, through its director, is the enforcing authority and the party that issues abatement orders and evaluates compliance.