Local Law 1 of 2004 · Local Law 31 of 2020
Lead-Based Paint (Local Law 1 & Local Law 31)
Pre-1960 multiple dwellings are presumed to contain lead paint. Owners owe annual investigations, safe work practices, unit turnover remediation — and, under LL31, XRF testing of every unit (deadline passed August 2025: untested units are now a live liability).
Live from NYC Open Data · updated daily
122,694
open lead-paint HPD violations across NYC right now — as of September 9, 2026.
Who must comply
Multiple dwellings built before 1960, plus 1960–77 buildings where the owner knows lead paint exists. Duties concentrate on units where a child under six resides.
Key deadlines
| Annual investigation of units with a child under 6 | Every year (driven by the January Annual Notice responses) |
| XRF testing of ALL units (LL31) | Deadline was August 9, 2025 — buildings that haven’t tested are already out of compliance |
| Unit turnover | Before re-occupancy: remediate lead on friction surfaces, chewable surfaces, and deteriorated paint |
What it costs to miss
Lead violations are Class C (immediately hazardous) with the city’s toughest enforcement: presumption against the owner, HPD emergency repair at your expense, treble exposure in injury suits. Administrative misses (failure to investigate or certify) are violations even when no lead is present.
Where owners actually get hurt
Most lead liability is procedural: no annual investigation records, no XRF report, no turnover file. When a child’s blood test comes back elevated, those missing papers become the case. The physical remediation is often the cheap part.
If you haven’t completed LL31 XRF testing, do it now — the deadline has passed, and "we were getting to it" reads very differently in housing court than a scheduled testing contract does.
See NYC’s lead-violation hotspots by ZIP →
Knowing isn’t the hard part. Doing is.
Parcel flags every lead violation as critical regardless of class, tracks lead status on the portfolio Lead page, and shows per-unit lead history in the unit grid. Need an EPA-certified remediation contractor? The marketplace matches you.
Official source: HPD: Lead-Based Paint
Current as of September 9, 2026 · last reviewed 2026-08-19. This guide is a summary for owners and managers, not legal advice.