This page is general information for New York City owners, tenants and landlords. It is not legal advice. The agencies named here decide how the rules apply to your building.
Price ranges on this page are national figures published by HomeGuide for 2026. They are not our quotes. Manhattan labor rates, building rules, access and the state of your walls move the number up or down. Last checked October 2026.
My home was built before 1978: do I need to worry about lead paint?
Yes. Lead paint was banned for homes in the United States in 1978, and New York City banned it for residential use in 1960. Any Manhattan building older than that should be treated as having lead paint somewhere until a test shows it does not.
Lead paint in good condition under newer coats is not the main risk. The danger is dust and chips, which come from peeling paint, from windows and doors that rub, and from sanding or scraping during work. Children under six and pregnant women are most at risk.
How do I know if old paint contains lead?
You cannot tell by looking. A test shows whether old paint contains lead: either an inspection with an XRF analyzer, which reads through the layers, or paint chips sent to a lab.
Nationally, a lead inspection costs $300 to $700 and a risk assessment $500 to $1,500. DIY kits cost $20 to $30 but are less reliable. If you rent, ask the owner. The city's housing agency, HPD, says owners of buildings built before 1960 were required to have all painted surfaces in apartments and common areas tested once by August 2025.
Can you paint over lead paint or must it be removed?
Lead paint that is intact can usually be painted over, and often that is the safer choice. It does not have to be removed in an owner-occupied home just because it is there.
Ordinary paint is not a lead treatment, though. Encapsulation uses a special coating made to seal lead paint. Damaged lead paint has to be repaired with lead-safe methods, and New York City requires owners of rental units to remove lead paint from door and window surfaces in some cases, described below.
What certification does a painter need for pre-1978 homes?
Under the federal Renovation, Repair and Painting rule, a contractor paid to work in a pre-1978 home must be an EPA certified firm when the job disturbs more than six square feet of painted surface inside, or more than 20 square feet outside.
New York is not one of the states that run their own program, so the EPA administers the rule here directly. Ask any painter, us included, to show their EPA firm certificate before work starts on older paint, and ask how dust will be contained and cleaned up.
What does New York City's Local Law 1 require?
Local Law 1 of 2004 makes owners of older rental housing find and fix lead paint hazards. HPD says it covers buildings built before 1960, and those built from 1960 to 1978 if the owner knows there is lead paint.
- It applies to rental apartments where a child under six lives or regularly spends 10 or more hours a week.
- Co-op and condo units are covered when they are rented out and not occupied by the owner or the owner's family.
- Owners must send an annual notice and inspect those apartments and the common areas each year.
- When an apartment becomes vacant, the owner must remove lead paint from doors and windows.
- Work that disturbs more than two square feet of lead paint, or paint of unknown lead content, must follow safe work practices and be done by certified firms.
- Records must be kept for at least 10 years.
Peeling paint in a covered building is presumed to be a lead hazard unless testing shows less than 0.5 milligrams of lead per square centimeter.
Do lead rules change the price?
Yes. Lead-safe work adds to the price, because it adds plastic containment, slower methods, special cleaning and paperwork. How much depends on how much old paint is disturbed.
A repaint over sound walls disturbs very little. Scraping peeling windows disturbs a lot. For full lead work, the national figures are $6 to $10 per square foot for encapsulation and $10 to $17 for removal. Those are abatement prices, not painting prices.
Who is responsible for lead paint disclosure on a rental?
The landlord is. Federal law requires landlords and sellers of housing built before 1978 to disclose any known lead paint and give the tenant or buyer the EPA lead pamphlet before a lease or sale is signed.
In New York City, owners of covered buildings must also send tenants a yearly notice asking whether a child under six lives in the apartment. Tenants can report peeling paint to the city through 311.
Does a landlord have to repaint a New York City apartment?
Yes. The city's Housing Maintenance Code, section 27-2013, requires the owner of a multiple dwelling to repaint occupied apartments every three years, and to paint public areas as needed.
The code allows the owner and tenant to agree to put it off for up to two more years, and has exceptions for some long-wearing finishes. HPD enforces it.
Do I need a permit to paint the outside of my building?
No. The New York City Department of Buildings lists painting and plastering among the work that does not need a permit. That applies inside and out.
Two things around the painting can need approval. Scaffolds and sidewalk sheds have their own Department of Buildings rules. And on a landmarked building, the color itself may need sign-off, as explained below.
Do I need co-op, condo or HOA approval to paint, and can the board fine me?
Inside your own apartment, you rarely need approval for the color. You often need the building's permission for the work. A co-op or condo board does the job an HOA does elsewhere.
Many buildings require a certificate of insurance from the painter, set work hours and may ask for an alteration agreement when the job goes beyond decorating. Exterior surfaces, terraces, windows and hallway doors usually belong to the building and cannot be changed without consent. What a board can charge or fine is set by your proprietary lease, bylaws and house rules. Read them, or ask the managing agent, before work starts.
Are there paint rules in a historic district?
Yes. In a historic district or on an individual landmark, the Landmarks Preservation Commission controls exterior work. Its permit guidebook says repainting a facade or feature in the existing color does not need a permit. Changing colors does.
The guidebook also says staff cannot approve painting masonry that was never painted. Large parts of Greenwich Village, the Upper West Side, the Upper East Side, Tribeca and Harlem are in historic districts. Interior painting of an ordinary apartment is not the commission's concern.
Do I need a permit to paint a storefront or commercial building?
Not from the Department of Buildings, for painting alone. A storefront in a historic district needs Landmarks approval to change color.
Signs, awnings and new storefront construction are separate matters with their own rules. If you lease the space, your lease may also require the landlord's consent for changes to the front. We check the landmark status of the address before quoting exterior work.
Sources: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, NYC Department of Buildings, NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission and the NYC Administrative Code. Checked October 2026.