The New Lead-Paint Law in Effect:
Weaker Controls, Creaky Enforcement
by Jenny Laurie

"Tell him to stop sucking his thumb." This was the advice the inspector gave Anne G., mother of a two-year-old boy, who had called the city Health Department's newly created Lead Safe Abatement Unit after her landlord had knocked holes in every wall of her apartment.

"The landlord said he needed to do some simple wiring work which I took to mean that he was going to replace outlets," Anne G. says. "Instead, we come home to the apartment and we literally can't breathe because the air is so thick with dust."

City inspectors who came to the apartment did nothing to solve the immediate problem that was putting her son at risk of lead poisoning. Instead, they offered Anne G. two pieces of advice: Tell her son to stop sucking his thumb, and buy a HEPA vacuum cleaner (a $100 special vacuum cleaner that the landlord should have used after the work was completed). The inspectors took dust wipes to test for lead, but told Anne G. that the results wouldn't be available for weeks.

The city's new lead law, which went into effect last November despite vigorous opposition from Met Council and other tenant and child-health advocates, requires landlords to send a questionnaire to tenants asking if there are children under six living in the apartment. This notice is sent when a tenant moves in, when the lease is renewed, and once a year with the window-guards questionnaire. Once the landlord has been notified that a child lives in the apartment, they must inspect the apartment once a year for peeling lead paint, correct peeling paint and deteriorating surfaces, and use safe work practices while correcting the problems. In addition, landlords are required to adjust painted doors and windows so they work smoothly.

But the law and the new regulations used by the city's health and housing departments have no penalties for landlords who do not send these notices. In addition, they don't describe landlords' responsibilities when other work is done, such as the electrical wiring in Anne G.'s apartment. The only recourse tenants have when the work being done by the landlord is messy is to call the Lead Safe Abatement Unit. According to various advocates, the unit is not very effective: Calls there during the first week of February revealed a number that didn't work. (Until the Health Department corrects the phone problem, tenants can call (212) BAN-LEAD or 226-5323.)

According to Andrew Goldberg, a lawyer working on lead-poisoning prevention at the New York Public Interest Research Group, "the new law creates important obligations for tenants as much as landlords." If tenants don't respond properly to the notices sent out by landlords, he says, "their rights are severely jeopardized."

Tenants should use the inspection as an opportunity to show the landlord all the problems in the apartment. This is especially important when they have had trouble getting landlords to make repairs. According to Goldberg, "the inspection puts the landlord on notice of all the problems in the apartment including leaks, heat problems, and anything else. If the tenant then takes the landlord to court, the landlord will have a hard time claiming that he didn't fix the problems because he didn't know about them. He'll have to admit in court that he did the lead inspection, which required him to look at painted surfaces throughout the apartment."

Tenants who have not received the questionnaire should write a letter to the landlord explaining that there are children under six in the apartment, and use the opportunity to describe any peeling paint, leaks in walls or ceilings, or rubbing windows or doors. (As in all correspondence with the landlord, keep a copy and send the original by certified mail, return receipt requested.)

While the law requires landlords to use safe work practices when fixing peeling paint and deteriorating surfaces, there is no effective enforcement of these rules. Called "interim controls" rather than lead abatement (carefully worded by City Council and landlord lawyers to avoid stricter federal rules), the safe-work rules are too inadequate and vague to prevent lead poisoning. Additionally, there is the problem faced by tenants like Anne G.: The landlord wasn't repairing peeling paint or deteriorating surfaces, he was doing electrical work. Do the lead law's work rules apply? Advocates expect that landlords' legal responsibilities will only be clarified when more tenants with lead-poisoned children, or children at risk of lead poisoning, go to court under the new law.

New York City's New Lead Paint Law

Which Buildings Are Covered?

• Only buildings built before 1960 with 3 or more apartments.

The Landlord Must:

• Ask if a child under age 6 resides in your home when you sign or renew a lease or move into the apartment.
• Send a notice once a year (like the one you receive for window guards) asking if a child under age 6 resides in the apartment.
• If the landlord knows about the child under age 6, the landlord must: (1) Visually inspect an apartment once a year for peeling lead paint. (2) Correct all peeling lead paint and deteriorating surfaces. (3) Use safe work practices. (4) Adjust all painted doors and windows to work smoothly.

The Tenant Must:

• Answer all notices sent by the landlord.
• Tell the landlord when a child under age 6 resides or moves into an apartment.
• Let the landlord into the apartment to inspect and make repairs.
• If you see peeling paint: (1) Immediately notify the landlord in writing. (2) Immediately call HPD to report peeling lead paint. {HPD must inspect the apartment within 10-15 days.} (3) Have children tested for lead poisoning regularly.

If you need repairs, call HPD at 212-824-4328.

If you think the landlord is removing lead paint unsafely, call the Department of Health at 212-676-6355.

This is not a complete list of the landlord's responsibilities and the tenant's rights. If you have children under 6, ask a medical or housing advocate for more information and help.

Coalition to End Lead Poisoning P.O. Box 670818 Van Cott Station, Bronx, New York 10467 E-mail: NYCCELP@aol.com