What does Local Law 55 actually require?

Who it applies to

Owners of multiple dwellings, meaning buildings with three or more apartments. The subject of the law is indoor allergen hazards, defined to cover indoor mold hazards and infestations of cockroaches, mice and rats.

The obligations below apply whether or not your building currently has a problem, and several of them are paperwork rather than pest work.

The obligations

• Inspect annually Inspect each occupied dwelling unit and the common areas for indoor allergen hazards at least once a year. HPD's current owner guidance does not specify a pest control credential for performing the annual investigation. Source Administrative Code §27-2017 et seq.; HPD Indoor Allergen Hazards
• Inspect again when something signals a problem HPD's own guide puts it plainly: owners must inspect at least once a year, and more often if necessary, when an owner knows or should have known of a condition that causes a pest infestation. Owners are also required to inspect or eliminate the presence of pests when a tenant notifies them of an infestation, or requests an inspection of a condition likely to cause one. Source HPD Guide to Local Law 55 Integrated Pest Management Practices
• Remediate using integrated pest management The required work practices are specific, physical and set out in the code and rules. They are covered in full on their own page. Source Administrative Code §27-2017.8; 28 RCNY §54-04(a)
• Use a licensed applicator for any pesticide Any pesticide applied must be applied by a pest professional licensed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Source Administrative Code §27-2017.8; 28 RCNY §54-04(a)(4)
• Give tenants the required notices Every lease offered to a tenant or prospective tenant must contain a prominently displayed notice of owner and tenant obligations, in a form that does not materially deviate from the one HPD publishes, in English and the covered languages. The Department of Health pamphlet on indoor allergens goes with it, at lease signing and renewal. Source 28 RCNY §54-02
• Remediate at turnover Before a new tenant occupies a vacant unit, fix all visible mold and pest infestations and any underlying defects, and certify it in writing to the incoming occupant. Covered below. Source Administrative Code §27-2017.5

What remediation means

This is the part of Local Law 55 that surprises owners, and it is the reason the rest of this library exists. Remediation is defined in terms of eradicating pests, and the work practices are physical.

Remove pest nests, waste and debris. Seal holes, gaps and cracks in walls, ceilings, floors, molding, baseboards, around pipes and conduits, and around and within cabinets. Fit door sweeps reducing gaps to no more than one-quarter inch. Repair drains, faucets and plumbing that accumulate water or leak, and replace saturated materials.

And then the sentence that reframes the whole thing:

HPD's own one-page guide goes further, instructing owners to use pesticides sparingly and stating that pesticide use cannot and does not replace integrated pest management practices. The full work practices are here.

The turnover obligation

Before a new tenant occupies a vacant unit in a multiple dwelling, the owner must remediate all visible mold and pest infestations and any underlying defects in that unit, consistent with the same work practices, and thoroughly clean and vacuum any carpeting and furniture the owner provides to the incoming occupant. The owner then certifies in writing to the incoming tenant that this was done.

Turnover is a discrete compliance event with a signed document attached, not simply a convenient moment to do exclusion work. It is also the only time you have complete access to the unit, which is the practical argument for doing the sealing then.

The monthly extermination question

Monthly service is a reasonable thing for a building to buy. It maintains a building already under control, catches a new problem early, and covers the unit calls that come in. It is not what the statute requires, and it does not by itself satisfy the statute, because the required remediation work is largely physical repair rather than pesticide application.

The useful way to think about it: the law tells you what condition the building has to be in, and what work has to happen when it is not. A service schedule is one input to that, and not the whole of it.

What is and isn't Local Law 55

Some conditions get folded into this law that belong somewhere else, and the difference changes the answer for a building.

The distinction that costs the most is the first one. A violation for cockroaches, mice or rats is immediately hazardous with a twenty-one day correction date. A violation for other pests, ordered under the same section, is hazardous, and hazardous violations carry thirty days from date of service. Reading one deadline off the other is the kind of error this library exists to prevent.

The common mistake

Treating the obligation as complaint-driven. The trigger is broader than a tenant saying the word roaches. It includes conditions the owner knows or should know are reasonably foreseeable to cause an indoor allergen hazard, an occupant complaint or inspection request concerning such a condition, and an HPD violation or correction order for a condition likely to cause one. And the annual inspection and the notices are requirements in a building with no pest problem at all.