NYC Toughens Lead Paint Laws on Landlords

NYC’s City Council has passed a series of measures this week aimed at toughening the enforcement of the removal of lead paint from older apartment buildings.

The new laws create a process for landlords to correct lead-based paint violations and require lead-based paint abatement in all units where a child under the age of six resides by mid-2027. Inspections also will be increased.

The measures also require property owners to produce records for the previous year whenever a violation for lead-based paint is issued by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

The new requirements are aimed at 10,000 rent-stabilized buildings that were built before 1960, when NYC banned the use of lead-based paint.

Landlord groups expressed concerns about the requirement that lead-paint abatements are mandated while tenants are still occupying units, which they said can create additional hazards.

The measures were approved by the City Council after the Mayor’s Office announced earlier this week that it has agreed to a $500K settlement with four landlords who it said had accumulated thousands of violations involving lead paint in aging buildings.

The complaints involved 3,500 health and safety violations in more than 5,000 apartments, Brendan McGuire, chief counsel, said in announcing the settlement.

“Although lead-based paint was banned in New York City in 1960, older buildings with peeling paint continue to pose a threat to children in this city,” McGuire said, in a statement.

NYC said it compelled the property owners to resolve all of the violations, enforcing compliance with Local Law 1, the New York City Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention act, which requires that residential building owners address and prevent lead-based paint exposure.

Local Law 1 requirements include the testing for and abatement of lead-based paint each time the unit is turned over, annually resolving if and where children under six years old live in a building or remediation in units where children younger than six spend at least 10 hours per week.

Under the terms of the agreement, for the next three years, each property owner must comply with the law’s requirements for annual and lease notices, annual investigations, remediation and abatement.

The Adams administration has invested $1.4B for lead paint abatement. The NYC Housing Authority said it is testing more than 70,000 apartments.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, exposure to lead can seriously harm a child’s health, causing effects including damage to the brain and nervous system, learning and behavior problems, and hearing and speech problems.