Lead paint (Local Law 1)

New York's lead-paint law — Local Law 1 of 2004 and its amendments — presumes lead-based paint in older multifamily housing and obligates owners to identify and remediate hazards, with heightened duties where young children reside: inspections, safe work practices, turnover obligations at vacancy, and recordkeeping the owner must maintain and produce. Violations at the hazardous classes follow findings, and the duties are enforced through the housing-maintenance machinery.

In records, lead items carry outsized weight: they involve children's health, they trigger litigation exposure beyond the violation itself, and patterns of lead findings mark buildings where the era's obligations are not being met. The law's presumptions make 'we didn't know' structurally unavailable to owners of covered stock.