Co-ops and Condos Must Now Test for Lead in Common Areas

For New York City's co-op and condo boards and their management companies, those mandates never seem to stop coming. A new batch is on the way from the department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).

Common areas. Beginning Monday, March 17, building owners, including co-op and condo boards, must include testing of common areas when they perform X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) lead paint testing of dwelling units in their buildings, as already required by law. The testing of common areas must be completed no later than Aug. 9, 2025.

(XRF is a method of determining the elemental composition of materials. When it comes to housing and environmental safety, XRF measures the concentration of lead in old paint.)

Inspections and fines. The law also provides for HPD inspections of common areas. A Class C violation will be issued if inspectors detect the presence of peeling lead-based paint in a common area of a multiple dwelling where a child of applicable age resides. A Class C violation is issued when there is a "hazardous" breach of the Housing Maintenance Code that requires immediate attention. Failure to correct the condition will result in a fine of $250 a day, to a maximum of $10,000.

Record keeping. Building owners who receive a lead-hazard violation must provide records of annual notice and investigations for lead-based paint hazards conducted in the previous year. The law and the adopted rules also incorporate a provision for dismissal of record keeping violations if an owner submits all records required to be kept for the last 10 years, or, in cases where the owner does not have all required records for the last 10 years but instead submits a dismissal request form with records required to be kept for the last three years. Owners will pay $1,000 for each year of the 10 years that they do not submit records.

Unit turnover. In a unit in a pre-1960 multiple-family dwelling where a child under age 6 resides, or within three years of the date that a child under age 6 comes to reside, the owner must comply with the turnover requirements for the dwelling unit. These include: the remediation of all lead-based hazards and any underlying defects; making all bare floors, window sills and window wells in the dwelling unit smooth and cleanable; the removal or permanent covering of all lead-based paint on all friction surfaces on all doors, door frames and windows. For windows, an alternative is the installation of replacement window channels or slides on all lead-based painted friction surfaces.

The required turnover work must be completed unless the unit is turned over prior to July 1, 2027; and it must be completed within three years of a child under 6 beginning to reside in the unit. Work that is performed in occupied units must be performed in compliance with all applicable city and federal safe-work requirements.

Occupant relocation. If relocation of in-place occupants is necessary, and the occupants refuse to temporarily relocate, the owner may apply to HPD for a temporary exemption from doing such work. Such exemptions require documentation demonstrating the owner’s good faith effort to perform the required work and the occupants' refusal to relocate.

New audit criteria. The new mandates modify the criteria HPD uses for the selection of buildings to be audited for compliance. In addition to lead-based paint hazard violations and turnover violations, the criteria include data on the prevalence of elevated blood lead levels in certain geographic areas identified by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. 

That's handful. And it explains why many property management companies have divisions devoted solely to helping their co-op and condo clients comply with the city's ever-expanding list of mandates.