Which New York rentals require a lead paint disclosure?

Any residential rental built before 1 January 1978, which 40 CFR 745.103 calls target housing. Units built in 1978 or later are outside the rule. The exclusions in that definition are narrow: housing for the elderly or persons with disabilities, unless a child under six resides or is expected to reside there, or any 0-bedroom dwelling. Under 40 CFR 745.103 as amended effective January 13, 2025 (89 FR 89416), the child parenthetical now sits at the end and reaches both limbs, so the 0-bedroom exclusion also drops where a child under six resides or is expected, and a pre-1978 studio with a young child is target housing. The 0-bedroom exclusion was unconditional before the 2025 amendment, and most competing pages still show it that way. Separate exemptions at 40 CFR 745.101 cover foreclosure sales, leases of certified lead-based paint free housing, short-term leases of 100 days or less where no renewal or extension can occur, and qualifying lease renewals.

Do I have to give New York tenants 10 days to inspect for lead?

No. The 10-day opportunity is a sales rule. 40 CFR 745.110(a) says that before a purchaser is obligated under any contract to purchase target housing, the seller shall permit the purchaser a 10-day period, unless the parties mutually agree in writing upon a different period of time, to conduct a risk assessment or inspection. The same scoping appears at 42 U.S.C. 4852d(a)(1)(C). The lease disclosure elements at 40 CFR 745.113(b) contain no inspection item at all; the received-or-waived statement lives at 40 CFR 745.113(a)(5), which governs the sales disclosure only. A New York landlord may offer an inspection window voluntarily as a matter of good practice, but no federal rule compels one for a lease.

Is a studio or efficiency apartment exempt from the lead paint disclosure?

Only if no child under six resides or is expected to reside there. This changed on January 13, 2025. As amended, 40 CFR 745.103 (89 FR 89416) defines target housing as housing constructed prior to 1978, except housing for the elderly or persons with disabilities or any 0-bedroom dwelling, unless any child who is less than 6 years of age resides or is expected to reside in such housing. The child parenthetical now sits at the end of the sentence and governs both excepted categories, so a pre-1978 studio with a young child is target housing and the disclosure is required. The same section defines a 0-bedroom dwelling as any residential dwelling in which the living area is not separated from the sleeping area, and says the term includes efficiencies, studio apartments, dormitory housing, military barracks, and rentals of individual rooms in residential dwellings. Before the amendment the 0-bedroom exclusion was unconditional, and most competing pages and stale charts still say a studio is categorically exempt no matter who lives there. That is no longer what the rule says.

Is the New York City trigger a child under six or under seven?

Under six, though the Housing Maintenance Code on its own says seven. Local Law 1 is written around the term child of applicable age, and N.Y.C. Admin. Code 27-2056.18 defines it: for the purposes of this article, the term applicable age shall mean under seven years of age for at least one calendar year from the effective date of this section, and upon expiration of that period the board of health may determine whether the provisions should apply to children of age six and may redefine applicable age to mean under six years of age, but no lower. The board of health exercised that power. New York City Health Code section 173.14 defines child of applicable age as a child who is less than six years of age, and HPD's own Guide to Local Law #1 of 2004 Work Practices states that as of October 1, 2006 the applicable age was changed from under age seven to under age six. So the operative New York City trigger is under six, and a landlord should cite both provisions rather than the Admin Code baseline alone.

What does a New York City lease itself have to say about lead?

Two things, on top of the federal disclosure. First, N.Y.C. Admin. Code 27-2056.4(c) requires that all leases offered to tenants or prospective tenants in such multiple dwellings must contain a notice, conspicuously set forth therein, which advises tenants of the obligations of the owner and tenant under that section, in a manner approved by the department and at a minimum in English and Spanish; the owner must also provide the pamphlet described in section 17-179(b). Second, 27-2056.4(d)(1) requires the owner to give the occupant, at the signing of a lease including a renewal lease or at commencement of occupancy where there is no lease, a notice in English and Spanish approved by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene inquiring whether a child of applicable age resides or will reside there, included in the lease or attached as a rider and completed by the occupant at signing.

What is the New York City annual lead notice cycle?

Under N.Y.C. Admin. Code 27-2056.4(e)(1), each year the owner of a multiple dwelling erected before 1 January 1960 must present each unit's occupant with a notice inquiring whether a child of applicable age resides there, no earlier than January first and no later than January sixteenth, in English and Spanish. Subdivision (e)(2) allows delivery by first class mail, by hand, enclosed with the January rent bill if that bill is delivered after December fifteenth but no later than January sixteenth, or together with the annual window guard notice required by section 17-123. Under (e)(3)(i) the occupant must deliver a written response by February fifteenth. If the owner receives no response by February fifteenth and has no actual knowledge, the owner must inspect the unit at reasonable times and on reasonable notice; and where the owner made reasonable attempts to gain access between February sixteenth and March first and could not, the owner must notify the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

What does the state registry require an owner to do?

Under 10 NYCRR 67-5.4(a), owners of covered properties in communities of concern were required to register their units no later than May 1, 2026, with all units included regardless of occupancy status; owner contact information must be updated within 30 days of any change under 67-5.4(c), a new owner must register a change of ownership within 30 days under 67-5.4(d), and registrations are not transferable under 67-5.4(e). Under 67-5.5(b), lead hazard inspection and dust wipe sampling must occur at least once every three years, and 67-5.6 requires a lead safety certification to be submitted on the same minimum three-year cycle. Public Health Law 1377(3) requires inspection certifications to be submitted for recording in the registry by October first of the year the certification is due. Whether a specific address sits in a designated community of concern is a Department of Health determination and must be checked with the department or the local health department rather than assumed.

Does the state registry create a notice duty to tenants?

Yes, and it is separate from the federal disclosure. 10 NYCRR 67-5.8(a) requires the owner to provide written notification to tenants of all eligible dwellings that their rental unit is recorded in the rental registry, along with information on the status of that unit and education regarding lead safety. Under 67-5.8(b), when lead-based paint hazards or visual lead soil hazards are identified during an inspection, the owner must give tenants of affected units a copy of the inspection results within 24 hours of receiving them. Under 67-5.8(d), once hazards are identified in a unit and that unit becomes vacant, it may not be reoccupied until a lead safety certification is issued. Under 67-5.8(h) it is unlawful for an owner to retaliate against a tenant who reports a suspected lead-based paint hazard, and the rule names rent increases, fines, and non-renewals during remediation as examples.

Does a New York landlord have to test for lead-based paint?

The federal disclosure rule does not require testing. It requires disclosure of what you actually know, so no knowledge is an honest and lawful answer where nothing has been tested and you hold no reports. What you may not do is check no knowledge while holding a report or an abatement record. New York can compel investigation through a different door, though. In New York City, 27-2056.4(a) requires an annual investigation in covered units and 27-2056.4(a-1) requires one x-ray fluorescence investigation by an independent EPA-certified inspector or risk assessor, by the earliest of 9 August 2025, one year after a child of applicable age comes to reside, or the date set by a Department of Health and Mental Hygiene order. Outside New York City, 10 NYCRR 67-5.5 imposes inspection and dust wipe sampling on registry properties.

How long must a New York landlord keep the signed disclosure?

At least three years from the start of the leasing period, under 40 CFR 745.113(c). That rule also says at 745.113(c)(2) that the recordkeeping requirement is not intended to place any limitations on civil suits under the Act, or to otherwise affect a lessee's or purchaser's rights under the civil penalty provisions of 42 U.S.C. 4852d(b)(3). New York City records run far longer: 27-2056.4(f) requires the owner to keep each investigation report for ten years from the date of the report, to make it available to the department on request, and to transfer it to the owner's successor in title.

Does the disclosure apply to lease renewals?

A new lease with a new lessee always requires a fresh disclosure. Renewals are addressed by 40 CFR 745.101(d), which exempts renewals of existing leases in target housing in which the lessor has previously disclosed all information required under 745.107 and where no new information described in 745.107 has come into the possession of the lessor. Both conditions must hold, and note the cross-reference is to 745.107, not to 745.113 as several sites print it. If you obtained a new report or learned of a hazard since the original disclosure, the exemption does not apply. In New York City the analysis is different again, because 27-2056.4(d)(1) requires the child-inquiry notice at the signing of a lease including a renewal lease, so a NYC renewal carries a city duty even where the federal renewal exemption is available.

What are the penalties for skipping the disclosure?

Two separate exposures under federal law. First, private liability: 42 U.S.C. 4852d(b)(3) makes a knowing violator jointly and severally liable to the purchaser or lessee for three times the amount of damages incurred, and 4852d(b)(4) allows the court to award court costs, reasonable attorney fees, and expert witness fees. Second, government civil money penalties, which EPA adjusts for inflation annually under 40 CFR 19.4. We do not print a dollar figure here because the figures republished across form sites are stale almost as soon as they are typed; read the current 40 CFR 19.4 table instead. In New York City, 27-2056.4(g) makes a violation of that section a misdemeanor and separately subjects the owner to a civil penalty per violation, and lead-based paint that is peeling or on a deteriorated subsurface where a child of applicable age resides is a class C immediately hazardous violation under 27-2056.6. Non-disclosure does not void or cancel the lease; EPA is explicit that the rule does not cancel leasing or sales contracts.

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Free New York Lead Paint Disclosure

Q: Does New York have its own lead paint law?

New York has no statewide lead paint disclosure statute that adds items to the federal lease disclosure. What New York has is two separate regimes that apply in different places and never to the same building. New York City Local Law 1 of 2004, codified at N.Y.C. Admin. Code 27-2056.1 and following, is a city ordinance and binds only New York City property. The New York State lead rental registry at N.Y. Pub. Health Law 1377 runs the other way: section 1377(1) says the registry shall only include qualifying residential dwellings outside a city with a population of one million people or more, which excludes New York City. Most pages describing New York lead paint law are describing New York City law without saying so.

Q: What is the New York State lead rental registry, and does it cover me?

It is a state program at N.Y. Pub. Health Law 1377, implemented by 10 NYCRR Subpart 67-5, and it is the single most-missed New York lead fact online. Section 1377(1) directs the Department of Health to develop a registry for all residential dwellings with two or more units built prior to nineteen hundred eighty that are potentially eligible for rental and are located within communities of concern as identified by the department, and states that such registry shall only include qualifying residential dwellings outside a city with a population of one million people or more. A community of concern is defined at 10 NYCRR 67-5.2(d) as an area the department has designated as having a disproportionately high prevalence of children with elevated blood lead levels under Public Health Law 1370-a(3). Note the registry uses a 1980 build date, not the federal 1978 date, and note that section 1377 carries a legislative note stating it is repealed November 3, 2028.

The federal disclosure every New York landlord must deliver before leasing housing built before 1978. Authority is 42 U.S.C. 4852d and 40 CFR Part 745 Subpart F. New York then adds two regimes that never touch the same building — Local Law 1 inside New York City, and the state lead rental registry everywhere except New York City.

Federally Required 42 U.S.C. 4852d NYC Local Law 1 PHL 1377 Registry Free PDF

Updated Q3 2026 By Tenant Screening Background Check Editorial Team Reviewed for New York ~24 min read

A New York lead paint disclosure is the federally mandated form a landlord delivers to a prospective tenant before any lease of residential property built before 1978. It carries the fixed federal lead warning statement, states the lessor’s actual knowledge of lead-based paint and hazards, lists the records being handed over, documents the tenant’s receipt of the EPA pamphlet Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home, captures any agent’s acknowledgment, and is signed and dated by every party. Authority is 42 U.S.C. 4852d (Section 1018 of Title X, the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992), implemented at 40 CFR Part 745 Subpart F (EPA) and 24 CFR Part 35 Subpart A (HUD). New York layers two more regimes on top, and the single most important thing to understand about them is that neither one covers the whole state: New York City Local Law 1 of 2004 is a city ordinance that stops at the city line, and the state lead rental registry at N.Y. Pub. Health Law 1377 expressly excludes cities of a million or more, which means it excludes New York City. Generate the form below, then read on for exactly which of the three layers is yours. For the condition-based duties disclosure does not address, see our New York habitability laws guide.

Key Takeaways

Pre-1978 is the federal trigger. Original construction before 1 January 1978 makes the unit “target housing” under 40 CFR 745.103 and the disclosure mandatory. The build date controls even if the unit was gutted and rebuilt in 1996.
Local Law 1 is a CITY law, not a New York State law. N.Y.C. Admin. Code 27-2056.1 et seq. binds New York City multiple dwellings. A landlord in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, or Yonkers owes none of it. Almost every page and AI answer describing “New York lead paint law” is quietly describing New York City law.
The state registry law excludes New York City — in its own words. PHL 1377(1): the registry “shall only include qualifying residential dwellings outside a city with a population of one million people or more.”
A pre-1978 studio with a young child is now covered. 40 CFR 745.103 as amended eff. 13 January 2025 (89 FR 89416) attaches the child-under-six condition to the 0-bedroom exclusion too, not just the elderly/disabled limb. The exclusion was unconditional before 2025, and most competing pages still say a studio is categorically exempt.
The 10-day inspection window does not apply to leases. 40 CFR 745.110(a) gives it to purchasers. The lessor elements at 40 CFR 745.113(b) contain no inspection item at all.
“Applicable age” in NYC means under six — but the Housing Maintenance Code alone says seven. N.Y.C. Admin. Code 27-2056.18 sets an under-seven baseline and lets the Board of Health narrow it to “under six years of age, but no lower”; the Board did so effective 1 October 2006, and NYC Health Code §173.14 now defines “child of applicable age” as “less than six years of age.”
Deliver before the tenant is obligated, not at move-in and not with the keys. Late delivery is the same violation as no delivery.
Retain the signed disclosure three years federally (40 CFR 745.113(c)) — but ten years for NYC investigation reports (27-2056.4(f)).

▶ Watch overview

New York lead paint disclosure overview

New York Lead Paint Disclosure at a Glance

Federal trigger

Built before 1978

Authority

42 U.S.C. 4852d

In New York City

Local Law 1 (27-2056.1+)

Outside New York City

PHL 1377 registry

Federal retention

3 years

Pamphlet

EPA, mandatory

Duty to test (federal)

10-day inspection

Sales only

The one-line answer: if your New York rental was built before 1978 and the lease runs longer than 100 days, you must hand the tenant this signed disclosure plus the EPA pamphlet before they are obligated under the lease, and keep the signed copy for three years. Then check exactly one more box: inside New York City, Local Law 1 adds lease-time notices and an annual notice cycle; outside New York City, the state registry may add registration, a three-year inspection cycle, and a tenant notification. Nothing in New York law changes the federal form itself.

What the New York lead paint disclosure does

The lead paint disclosure — often called the Section 1018 disclosure, after the 1992 statute that created it — is the formal federal notice a New York landlord delivers to a prospective tenant for any residential property built before 1978. It does four things in one document.

First, it puts the tenant on notice of potential lead exposure through the lead warning statement, a fixed federal paragraph required by 40 CFR 745.113(b)(1) that must be attached to or inserted into the lease. Second, it transmits the lessor’s actual knowledge of lead-based paint or hazards in the dwelling. Third, it lists and delivers the records and reports the lessor holds. Fourth, it documents the tenant’s receipt of the EPA pamphlet and captures the acknowledgments and signatures that make the document provable later.

What it is not is a New York form. There is no New York State lead paint disclosure statute that adds items to this document, and no New York City ordinance that changes what the federal disclosure must say. New York’s contribution sits alongside the disclosure — extra notices, an inspection regime, a registry — and we work through each of those below, with the section number for every duty, so you can tell what is actually yours.

The liftable answer

The lead paint disclosure duty in New York is entirely federal. New York adds no element to the form. It adds two geographically exclusive regimes around the form: Local Law 1 of 2004 inside New York City, and the state lead rental registry outside New York City.

Does New York have its own lead paint law?

Yes — but not the one you have been told about, and probably not the one that applies to you. This is the single most misreported question on the New York lead SERP, so it is worth being precise.

Search “New York lead law landlord” and you will get page after page describing annual notices, a February 15 deadline, turnover work, and XRF testing. Every one of those duties is real. Every one of them is New York City law. They come from Local Law 1 of 2004, codified at N.Y.C. Admin. Code 27-2056.1 and following inside the New York City Housing Maintenance Code. A landlord in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Utica, Binghamton, or Yonkers owes precisely none of it. Of the eleven ranking pages we measured for this page, eight discuss Local Law 1 and not one says plainly that it is a city ordinance.

Meanwhile the genuinely statewide lead program — the one that has actually been rolling out over the last two years — appeared on zero of those eleven pages. It is the state lead rental registry at N.Y. Pub. Health Law 1377, implemented by 10 NYCRR Subpart 67-5. And it runs in the opposite direction: it deliberately carves New York City out.

The three layers, and how to tell which are yours

Layer	Where it applies	Primary cite	What it adds
Federal disclosure	Everywhere in New York, all pre-1978 rentals	42 U.S.C. 4852d; 40 CFR Part 745 Subpart F	The disclosure form itself, the pamphlet, three-year retention
NYC Local Law 1 of 2004	New York City only — multiple dwellings	N.Y.C. Admin. Code 27-2056.1 et seq.	Lease notice + child-inquiry rider, annual notice cycle, annual investigation, XRF investigation, presumption, turnover work, ten-year records
NY State lead rental registry	Outside a city of 1,000,000+ (so not NYC), and only within designated communities of concern	N.Y. Pub. Health Law 1377; 10 NYCRR Subpart 67-5	Registration, three-year inspection + dust wipes, lead safety certification, tenant notification, anti-retaliation
Statewide baseline	Everywhere in New York	PHL Art. 13 Title 10 (1370–1377); Real Prop. Law 235-b	Leaded-paint application ban, abatement power in areas of high risk, warranty of habitability

The sentence no competitor prints

N.Y. Pub. Health Law 1377(1), in its own words, directs the Department of Health to build the registry for dwellings “located within communities of concern as identified by the department,” and then says: “Such registry shall only include qualifying residential dwellings outside a city with a population of one million people or more.” New York City is the only city in the state with a population of one million or more. The state registry therefore does not reach New York City — and Local Law 1 reaches nothing else. There is no New York building that owes both.

So the useful question is not “what is New York’