New York County, NY Building Safety: Lead Paint (2026)

Local Law 1 of 2004 requires owners of buildings built before 1960 (or built between January 1, 1960, and January 1,1978, if the owner knows there is lead-based paint) to presume that the paint is lead-based paint, identify and address lead-based paint hazards, particularly in buildings with children under the age of six years old routinely spending 10 or more hours per week ("residing") in a dwelling unit. The requirement for paint testing applies to these same buildings regardless of whether a child under six currently resides in the building. [...] A lead-based paint hazard exists when there is peeling or disturbed paint on a surface in a building built before 1960 in an apartment where a child under six routinely spends 10 or more hours per week ("residing") in a dwelling unit unless the surfaces have all been tested and there is less than 0.5 mg/cms 2 of lead in the paint. [...] By August 2025, property owners were required to test all painted surfaces one time for lead in apartments and common areas of a building built prior to 1960. This requirement must also be met if the rental building was built between 1960 and 1978 in cases where owner has actual knowledge of lead-based paint. [...] Local Law 1 of 2004 requires that owners follow and retain evidence that safe work practices were used for all repair work in a dwelling unit or building common area where a child under the age of six resides when more than two square feet of lead-based paint or paint of an unknown lead content is disturbed.