Local Law 1 of 2004: How New York City’s Lead Paint Law Works

What a parent can use

In older buildings, the law presumes paint is lead-based paint. The presumption covers buildings built before 1960, and buildings built between January 1, 1960, and January 1, 1978, if the owner knows there is lead-based paint. It ends only if testing by an EPA-certified inspector shows the paint is not lead-based and HPD grants the owner an exemption. Since December 1, 2021, paint counts as lead-based at 0.5 milligrams of lead per square centimeter or more; the earlier standard was 1.0.

A child under six who routinely spends 10 or more hours a week in the apartment is residing under the City’s materials. Tell the landlord, return the annual notice, let the inspector in, and call 311 if paint is peeling or work is making dust that is not contained. The landlord is supposed to look every year where a child of applicable age resides, and to fix hazardous conditions; when an apartment becomes vacant, the turnover rules add more work, including doors and windows. Under Local Law 123, in a pre-1960 multiple dwelling the required turnover-level work is due at the earliest of: turnover; July 1, 2027, if a child under six resided there as of January 1, 2025; or within three years after a child under six begins to reside in an occupied unit before turnover.

Key terms in the law

Lead-based paint hazard: a condition in a home that exposes people to lead through lead-contaminated dust, peeling lead-based paint, or lead-based paint on a chewable surface, friction surface, impact surface, or deteriorated subsurface, in a way that would harm health.

Friction surface: a painted surface that touches another surface so the two can rub, scrape, or bind — including window frames and jambs, doors, and hinges.

Impact surface: an interior painted surface that shows markings, denting, or chipping from repeated sudden force, such as certain parts of door frames, moldings, or baseboards.

Chewable surface: a protruding interior window sill that a child of applicable age can reach, and other edges such as a rail or stair if there is evidence of chewing or the occupant has notified the owner that a child has mouthed or chewed it.

Child of applicable age: “Child of applicable age” means under six. Section 27-2056.18 originally used under seven for at least one year and authorized the Board of Health to redefine the age as under six; that Board action took effect October 1, 2006, and HPD and the Health Code apply under six today. A child resides in an apartment if the child routinely spends 10 or more hours a week there.

Inspections and records

The owner must inquire yearly whether a child resides, using HPD forms. A tenant should tell the landlord if a child begins to reside after the notice is answered. The notice goes out between January 1 and January 16, and HPD’s owner guidance sets February 15 as the return date. If it isn’t returned and the owner doesn’t otherwise know whether a young child lives there, the owner must try to inspect. If reasonable attempts between February 16 and March 1 don’t get the owner inside, the owner must notify the Health Department in writing.

Owners must keep records of notices, inspections, and remediation for at least 10 years. Turnover work records are to be kept for 10 years from completion and transferred to a new owner. Local Law 31 of 2020, as later amended, required a one-time XRF test of painted surfaces by an EPA-certified inspector or risk assessor independent of the owner and its contractors. The deadline was the earliest of August 9, 2025, one year after a child under six comes to reside, or a Health Department order, and Local Law 111 of 2023 added common areas. It covers pre-1960 buildings and 1960–1978 rentals where the owner knows of lead-based paint. The August 2025 deadline has passed.

Lead dust numbers

New York City’s current dust figures for Local Law 1 / Health Code clearance and hazard testing remain 5 / 40 / 100 micrograms per square foot (floors / window sills / window wells). EPA’s federal dust-lead rules changed in January 2026. City law requires the Board of Health to lower thresholds when EPA or HUD does; as of this update the Board’s proposed 4 / 32 / 80 amendment was still pending. Recheck NYC Rules and Board actions on publish day.

Older reports used higher cutoffs: 10, 50, and 100 for samples taken from June 11, 2019, until June 1, 2021, and 40, 250, and 400 before June 11, 2019.

2023 amendments now in effect

Local Law 1 of 2004 is still the City’s main housing lead law. HPD lists four 2023 amendments to it: Local Laws 111, 122, 123, and 127.

Local Law 111 of 2023 added building common areas to the one-time XRF paint testing due no later than August 9, 2025, made it a Class C violation when lead-based paint in the common area of an apartment building where a young child lives is peeling or on a deteriorated subsurface, and has HPD inspectors check common areas on their way to the apartment during lead inspections.

Local Law 122 of 2023 (effective September 1, 2024): when HPD issues a lead-based paint hazard violation under § 27-2056.6 in a unit where a child of applicable age resides, the owner must produce the annual notice and investigation records within 45 days of HPD’s notice, covering the previous year. On and after August 1, 2025, that demand includes XRF analysis records. Failing to produce them is a separate violation. For a family, that means the landlord’s paperwork for the prior year has to go to HPD.

Local Law 123 of 2023 (effective September 1, 2024) extends turnover work to occupied apartments with young children in pre-1960 multiple dwellings (apartment buildings). The owner must fix lead-based paint hazards and their causes, make bare floors, windowsills, and window wells smooth and cleanable, and remove or permanently cover lead-based paint on the friction surfaces of doors, door frames, and windows, or install replacement window channels or slides. Under Local Law 123, in a pre-1960 multiple dwelling the required turnover-level work is due at the earliest of: turnover; July 1, 2027, if a child under six resided there as of January 1, 2025; or within three years after a child under six begins to reside in an occupied unit before turnover. Local Law 123’s July 1, 2027 and three-year child-resides deadlines apply to dwelling units in pre-1960 multiple dwellings (apartment buildings). Tenant-occupied units in pre-1960 one- and two-family homes remain subject to other Local Law 1 duties described by HPD, including annual notice and testing rules; call The Frankel Law Firm before assuming an exclusion. HPD says door and window friction surfaces must be abated even when the paint is intact, unless they were abated before. Missing these requirements can bring an immediately hazardous Class C violation.

Local Law 127 of 2023 (effective September 3, 2024) revised how HPD selects at least 200 buildings each fiscal year for additional lead-record audits and related inspections, including buildings with turnover violations among the selection criteria. HPD selects them with the Health Department using criteria that include lead paint violations, mold and leak violations, and turnover violations, considered alongside local rates of elevated blood lead levels.

More on landlord responsibility.

How Local Law 1 connects to injury claims

City agencies enforce Local Law 1, but the duties it sets out also matter when a lead-poisoned child’s family brings a negligence case against a landlord. In Juarez v. Wavecrest Management Team Ltd., 88 N.Y.2d 628 (1996), Michael Stewart Frankel of The Frankel Law Firm was counsel of record for the plaintiffs. The Court of Appeals held that, under the then-applicable lead ordinance, an owner with actual or constructive notice that a young child lived in the apartment is charged with notice of lead-based paint hazards there; the Court rejected absolute liability and applied a reasonableness standard. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Whether these principles help a particular family depends on facts this page cannot assess. Read more about landlord responsibility and landmark lead poisoning cases.

Limits of this guide

This guide explains the framework; it does not decide whether your landlord broke the law or what damages may be available. Coverage differs by building type. HPD applies the law to tenant-occupied units in pre-1960 one- and two-family homes and to co-op and condo units occupied by someone other than the owner or the owner’s family, but not to co-op or condo units the owner lives in. Don’t assume an exception applies to your home.

Local Law 1 of 2004 — Article 14 of Title 27 of the New York City Administrative Code — became effective August 2, 2004. The CDC blood-lead reference value used in our materials is 3.5 µg/dL; that figure is a reference value, not a toxicity threshold.

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Official sources

• HPD: Lead-based paint and Local Law 1
• NYC Administrative Code, Article 14: Lead Poisoning Prevention and Control
• Definitions, § 27-2056.2
• Local Laws 111, 122, 123, and 127 of 2023
• HPD: Required work at turnover and in child-under-6 units
• NYC Health Department: Lead in dust standards (2021)
• NYC Health Department: Proposed lead dust rule (2026)
• EPA: Lead hazard standards and clearance levels
• CDC: Blood lead reference value
• 311: File a peeling paint complaint

Lead poisoning guides

• Lead poisoning in New York
• Turnover requirements
• Lead testing and XRF
• Lead disclosure rights
• Landlord responsibility
• Landmark lead poisoning cases
• Blood lead levels
• NYCHA and public housing
• What to do now
• Children and lead
• Lead poisoning lawyer

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