Lead Paint Violations in NYC Apartments by Year and Borough

HPD issued 24,199 lead-based paint violations from 2025 inspections, almost exactly double the 12,117 it issued in 2016. They were spread across 4,081 buildings. As of 2026-10-12, 41.8% were still open. The Bronx had the most, and HPD created 3,506 emergency lead repair orders worth $9.4M in 2025 for owners who didn't fix the hazard themselves.

How we counted lead violations

NYC's lead paint law, Local Law 1 of 2004, is written into the Housing Maintenance Code as § 27-2056. Each lead violation we sampled cites that section, so we counted violations whose description includes it. A simpler search for the word "lead" doesn't work: it also picks up thousands of unrelated violations about a "door leading to" a yard or stairway. We then sorted the lead violations into three groups by HPD order number:

• Peeling paint hazards (orders 616, 617, 624): paint that tested positive for lead, is presumed to be lead paint, or tested inconclusive, and is peeling or on a deteriorated surface.
• Vacancy and turnover work (orders 614, 621, 622, 623, 625): failure to certify the lead work required when an apartment turns over.
• Notices, records and testing (orders 618, 619, 620, 626): failure to notify tenants, investigate, test, or hand records to HPD.

HPD says Local Law 1 covers apartments in buildings built before 1960 (and 1960–1978 buildings where the owner knows there is lead paint) when a child under six routinely spends 10 or more hours a week there. See lead paint rights for NYC tenants for the full rules.

The trend: a jump after 2020

From 2016 to 2018 HPD issued about 12,000 lead violations a year, almost all of them for peeling paint. The total climbed to 14,146 in 2019, then rose sharply to 20,223 in 2021 and peaked at 27,441 in 2024. In 2025 it fell 12% to 24,199.

Part of the rise is new violation types. Only orders 616, 617 and 618 appear in 2016–2018; the others first show up between 2019 and 2022. In 2025 those newer orders accounted for 8,245 violations, 34% of the total. The original peeling-paint orders (616 and 617) grew too, from 12,023 in 2016 to 15,595 in 2025, 30% more.

Where they are: boroughs and ZIPs

The Bronx had 9,600 lead violations from 2025 inspections, 40% of the city total. Brooklyn had 7,896. Every borough had more in 2025 than in 2016, but the growth was uneven: Queens went from 734 to 2,829, almost four times as many, while the Bronx rose 78%.

By ZIP, Brooklyn's 11226 and the Bronx's 10458 led the city, each with more than 1,300 lead violations from 2025 inspections. 10 of the top 20 ZIPs are in the Bronx, and four upper Manhattan ZIPs (10040, 10031, 10032, 10033) also appear.

When HPD does the repair itself

HPD lists a 21-day correction period for Class C lead-based paint violations. When owners don't, HPD can send its own contractors through the Emergency Repair Program and bill the property through the Department of Finance; past-due, unpaid charges become a tax lien on the property. In the OMO charges dataset these jobs are labeled "DELEAD."

HPD created 3,506 DELEAD orders at 1,917 buildings in 2025, with $9.4M in contract awards. The number of orders is only modestly above 2016 (3,003), but the dollars have roughly quadrupled, with the biggest step between 2021 ($3.4M) and 2022 ($8.3M). Of the 2025 orders, 2,698 were closed as completed and 431 were closed for no access or refused access.

Limits of this data

• Violations follow inspections. Local Law 1 duties center on homes where a child under six lives or routinely spends time, so counts reflect where HPD inspected and cited, not how much lead paint exists.
• One apartment can generate several violations, one for each room or surface cited.
• New violation types break the trend line. The peeling-paint series is more comparable across years than the total, though it too gained one order (624, paint that tested inconclusive and is presumed lead) starting in 2021.
• Repair dollars are awards, not collections. The OMO amount is what HPD awarded the contractor; it isn't what was billed or paid back by owners, and some orders closed without work being done.
• Status is a snapshot. Open and closed counts are as of 2026-10-12.