HPD Releases FY 2025 Regulatory Agenda

Expect new rules on lead-based paint, natural gas detection devices, and digital signage.

The NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) has released its 2025 regulatory agenda, identifying rules it plans to issue and amend in the upcoming fiscal year. Under the City Administrative Procedure Act, city agencies must publish annual regulatory agendas with information such as a summary of each anticipated rule, its objectives, and legal basis and a description of the individuals and organizations that will likely be subject to the rule.

While there are many significant areas of focus in HPD’s regulatory agenda, we’ll highlight three agenda items that are particularly important for owners. These include updates on lead-based paint regulations, new options for digital signage as required by the Housing Maintenance Code, and the installation of natural gas detection devices.

Lead-Based Paint

According to the agenda, HPD will make “clarifications for programmatic changes” and amend the rules to implement policy and legislative changes to the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act of 2003. Additional clarifications will be helpful as many legislatively imposed changes to lead-based paint regulations are coming online soon.

Local 111 of 2023 (XRF Testing). This law requires x-ray fluorescence (XRF) inspections for lead-based paint hazards in common areas of residential buildings built before 1960 (or between 1960 and 1978 and known to have lead paint). The XRF inspections must be conducted by a certified lead inspector or risk assessor and completed by August 2025. Records of this testing must be maintained and submitted to HPD upon request.

Local Law 111 of 2023 now adds common areas to the list of required inspections to be performed by August 2025. Previously, Local Law 31 of 2020 required building owners to conduct XRF inspections in all residential dwelling units within five years, or within one year of a child under 6 residing in the unit. In other words, under Local Law 31, all residential building owners must have all apartments inspected for lead paint by Aug. 9, 2025. HPD recommends that owners apply for an exemption for all apartments and common areas that test negative or for which the property owner abates all lead-based paint surfaces.

Local Law 122 of 2023 (Record Submission). This law strengthens HPD’s enforcement of lead-based paint documentation and ensures compliance with mandatory XRF testing.

Under this law, owners must now submit annual notice and investigation records to HPD within 45 days whenever a lead-based paint hazard or turnover violation is issued. These records must cover the prior year’s notices and investigations. And starting in August 2025, owners are also required to submit records of XRF testing for apartments and common areas as mandated by Local Laws 31 and 111.

If a violation is issued for failing to maintain required documentation such as keeping annual notices and investigation records for 10 years, owners can request dismissal by submitting documentation for at least three consecutive years and paying $1,000 for each missing year of the 10-year period.

Local Law 123 of 2023 (Lead Paint Remediation Requirements). This law is effective Jan. 1, 2025, and introduces lead remediation requirements that must be completed during turnover or when a child under 6 resides in a unit with presumed lead-based paint. Under Local Law 123 of 2023, owners must take specific actions in these instances. These actions include:

• Remediating all lead-based paint hazards;
• Ensuring floors, windows, and window wells are smooth and cleanable; and
• Removing or abating lead-based paint on friction surfaces of doors and windows.

Remediation must be completed upon unit turnover. If a child under 6 is living in the unit on Jan. 1, 2025, the work must be finished by July 2027 or if a child under 6 begins residing in the unit after Jan. 1, 2025, the remediation must be completed within three years from that date. Failure to comply results in a class C violation, which is considered immediately hazardous. If HPD finds a presumed failure to comply through audits or record requests, this will result in a class B violation and may incur a civil penalty of up to $1,500.

Local Law 127 of 2023 (Audits). With this law, effective in September 2024, HPD will now use turnover violations as a criterion for selecting buildings for audit. Also, as part of the selection criteria for audits, HPD will consider the number of violations and data on the prevalence of elevated blood lead levels in certain geographic areas identified by the NYC Department of Health.

Digital Signage

HPD intends to amend rules governing the placement of required signs to allow owners the option of using a digital sign rather than a paper sign. HPD says the amendments will describe the digital option and the required specifications for a digital sign.

Not including required signage from the DOB, here’s a list of the potential signs required by HPD that may be affected with this digital signage option.

• Safe Construction Bill of Rights Notice—Required for work permits not constituting minor alterations or repairs and posted until the completion of the permitted work.
• Gas Leak Notice—Must be provided to all tenants and posted in common areas.
• Fire Safety Notice—Posted inside all apartment entrance doors and in lobby/common areas. There are specific notices for fireproof and non-fireproof buildings.
• “Shut the Door” Signs—Posted in conspicuous locations to instruct occupants to close doors behind them when escaping a fire.
• Certificate of Inspection Visits
• Garbage Collection Sign—The hours and method of garbage collection if no 24-hour dumbwaiter service exists.
• Boiler Room Key Notice—Posted in the lobby and on the boiler room door, indicating the person with the key to the boiler room.
• Janitor Name and Address—Owner must post the janitor’s or housekeeper’s name, address, and contact information at the building entrance.
• Smoke Detecting Devices Notice—Required notice for Class A multiple dwellings, posted near mailboxes. This can be combined with carbon monoxide and gas leak notices.
• Carbon Monoxide Detecting Device Notice—Posted in a common area.
• Housing Information Guide—A notice about the availability of the “ABCs of Housing” guide. This is to be posted in a conspicuous place near the mail area.
• Notice of Interruption of Services—Posted before any planned service interruptions lasting two or more hours.
• Disaster Response Signage—Required in residential dwellings prior to weather emergencies, after natural disasters, or when utility outages will last more than 24 hours.
• Bedbug Annual Filing Receipt—Posted or distributed to tenants upon a new lease or renewal, including a Stop Bed Bugs Safely brochure.
• Serial Number Signage—Owners must post a sign with the building’s serial number, street address, and superintendent information in the entrance hall.

Natural Gas Detection Device Installation

The City Council passed Local Law 157, the natural gas detector law, after two fatal gas explosions in 2014 and 2015. The law requires all residences in NYC to have natural gas detection once a national standard for the gas detectors had been established. That national standard was published in 2022 as NFPA 715 by the National Fire Protection Association.

HPD intends to amend existing rules to cover the new requirement regarding the installation of natural gas detecting devices. HPD anticipates the rules to cover owners' requirements regarding notice, installation, maintenance, and replacement of natural gas detecting devices.

Most likely, HPD will issue its rules regarding the installation of the natural gas detection device before the end of the fiscal year because the law requires owners to comply by May 1, 2025. The law specifies that a compliant plug-in, hard-wired, or battery-powered natural gas detector must be installed between 3 and 10 feet from any gas-powered appliance such as stoves and dryers.