Local Law 31 NYC: Lead Paint Rules for 2026 Owners

NYC Local Law 31: The 2026 Lead Paint Compliance Picture for Property Owners

Last updated: May 2026 By Andrew McLellan, President & Founder, Environmental Education Associates

The August 9, 2025 deadline to XRF-test every apartment and common area in pre-1960 NYC buildings has passed. If you own a covered building and that testing is not done, you are not “running late.” You are non-compliant, and 2026 is the year HPD’s audits and violations catch up with that gap.

Did the Local Law 31 testing deadline already pass?

Yes. Under Local Law 31 of 2020, owners of covered buildings were required to complete XRF lead-based paint testing of all dwelling units by August 9, 2025, and Local Law 111 of 2023 added common areas to that same deadline.

If your testing is complete and documented, your job now is recordkeeping and ongoing obligations. If it is not, the priority is closing the gap before an audit or a turnover triggers a violation. Covered buildings are:

• Multiple dwellings built before January 1, 1960
• Buildings built between 1960 and 1978 where lead-based paint is known or suspected
• All dwelling units in those buildings, not only units with young children
• All common areas, including hallways and stairwells (Local Law 111 of 2023)

What Local Law 31 actually requires

Local Law 31 of 2020 requires XRF (X-ray fluorescence) testing performed by an EPA-certified lead inspector or risk assessor, not a hardware-store swab. A surface is treated as lead-based paint when it reads 0.5 mg/cm² or higher.

The process is specific, and HPD expects the paper trail to match the work:

1. Hire a certified professional. Only an EPA-certified inspector or risk assessor may perform compliant XRF testing. You can confirm a firm’s status through EPA’s lead program, and EEA trains and certifies the inspectors who do this work.
2. Test every painted surface. Each dwelling unit, every hallway, and every stairwell gets scanned during XRF testing so you know exactly where lead is present.
3. Keep the written results for 10 years. HPD can request them, and the records must be produced on demand.
4. Treat the result as a living obligation, not a one-time errand. Conditions and occupancy change, and so do your duties.

The 10-year retention rule is where owners get burned. If HPD asks for records and you cannot produce them, the work being done in reality does not save you. Missing documentation reads as non-compliance.

The 2026 reality: enforcement, audits, and penalties

Since August 2025, an owner who receives a lead-based paint hazard or turnover violation must submit annual notice records, lead investigation records, and XRF testing records to HPD within 45 days, under Local Law 122 of 2023. This is the single most common point of confusion: the law gives you 45 days from the violation, not an open-ended window, and not “immediately.”

Local Law 127 of 2023 made failure to meet turnover requirements a criterion HPD uses to select buildings for audit. In plain terms, a turnover slip can pull your whole building into review. Penalties scale with the violation:

• Class “C” (immediately hazardous) violations for peeling lead paint where a child of applicable age resides
• Civil penalties up to $1,500 based on an audit or a record-submission request
• Mandatory abatement orders from HPD when hazards are confirmed

A negative XRF result is not the finish line

Most owners read a clean XRF report as “done forever.” That is the costliest misread in the entire law, and here is why.

A negative building-wide result lets you file for a lead-based paint exemption, which removes the presumption of lead and many annual monitoring duties. But the exemption is tied to the surfaces that were tested as negative. The moment a child under six comes to reside in a unit that still has presumed or confirmed lead-based paint, Local Law 123 of 2023 obligations switch on, and you are back on a remediation clock. Owners who file the exemption, lose focus on the issue, and then miss a new-occupancy trigger are exactly the profile HPD audits find.

As an appointee to the New York State Governor’s Advisory Board for Lead Poisoning Prevention, McLellan has watched the rules tighten from the policy side. The owners who get caught are rarely the ones who never tested. They are the ones who tested once, filed for the exemption, and stopped tracking who moves in. Treat the exemption as a status you maintain, not a finish line you cross once.

Local Laws 111, 122, 123, and 127: how they stack with LL31

Local Law 31 does not operate alone. Four companion laws from 2023 shape how HPD enforces it. The table below is a starting map, not legal advice, and specifics turn on your building’s facts.

*Peeling lead paint in a common area where a child of applicable age resides is a class C violation under Local Law 111 of 2023.

What to do if lead is found, and how exemptions work

If a surface tests positive and a child under six lives in the unit, your duties depend on condition. Peeling or damaged paint requires remediation. Intact paint must be monitored and maintained. Where a child under six resided as of January 1, 2025, Local Law 123 of 2023 requires abating lead paint on door and window friction surfaces and making floors, window sills, and wells smooth and cleanable by July 2027. If a child under six moves in after January 1, 2025, the clock is three years from the move-in date.

If every surface tests below 0.5 mg/cm², file for the lead-based paint exemption through HPD for both units and common areas, keep the testing records on file, and remember the maintenance point above. A DIY swab cannot establish any of this; understanding why is the difference between a defensible file and a violation.

Deadlines at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

Which buildings does Local Law 31 apply to?

Multiple dwellings built before 1960, and buildings built between 1960 and 1978 where lead-based paint is known or suspected.

Can I test for lead paint myself?

No. Only an EPA-certified inspector or risk assessor using an XRF device can perform compliant testing under Local Law 31.

I already did testing in the past. Am I covered?

Only if you have valid documentation and your common areas were also tested, which Local Law 111 of 2023 required by August 9, 2025. Confirm both the records and the common-area scope before assuming you are clear.

What happens if I missed the August 2025 deadline?

You are non-compliant as of now. A building that has not completed XRF testing faces violations, civil penalties, and a higher chance of an HPD audit, and any hazard or turnover violation starts a 45-day record-submission clock under Local Law 122 of 2023. The practical move is to complete the testing and assemble your records before an audit or turnover forces the issue, rather than waiting for a notice to arrive. The cost of testing now is far below the cost of a class C violation plus a mandatory abatement order later.

Does a negative result mean I never have to think about this again?

No. A negative result supports an exemption filing, but if a child under six later resides in a unit with presumed or confirmed lead-based paint, Local Law 123 obligations and a new remediation deadline apply.

About the Author

This article was written by Andrew McLellan, President and Founder of Environmental Education Associates (EEA), an EPA-accredited environmental training provider he started in 1992. McLellan directs EEA’s accredited lead, asbestos, mold, and hazardous materials programs. He serves as an appointee to the New York State Governor’s Advisory Board for Lead Poisoning Prevention and sits on the board of the national Lead & Environmental Hazards Association (LEHA), and he has helped secure more than $8 million in public and private funding for lead hazard control and healthy homes across New York State. Learn more about Andrew and the EEA team here.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Lead-based paint obligations turn on your building’s specific facts. Confirm current requirements with NYC HPD and qualified counsel before acting.