As New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development ramps up enforcement of Local Law 31, property owners planning renovation work in pre-war buildings face a regulatory landscape that did not exist three years ago.
Melani General Contractor, a licensed general contracting firm based in Park Slope, Brooklyn, holds active EPA Lead-Safe certification, a federal credential that governs how contractors handle lead paint disturbance during renovation, repair and painting work in older residential properties.
Local Law 31 of 2020 required owners of pre-1960 residential buildings to complete XRF lead paint testing of all dwelling units by August 9, 2025. That deadline has passed and HPD has shifted from an education-focused approach to active enforcement, issuing violations and conducting audits on buildings that lack compliant testing records. Companion legislation enacted in 2023, including Local Laws 111, 122 and 123, expanded those obligations to common areas, established 45-day record-submission timelines and mandated proactive abatement of lead hazards on friction surfaces in units where children under six reside.
For property owners initiating renovation projects, the implications are immediate. Any work that disturbs painted surfaces in buildings constructed before 1978 triggers the EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, which requires that a certified firm supervise containment, work practices and post-renovation cleaning procedures. Since November 2022, NYC’s Department of Buildings has required contractors filing for permits involving lead paint disturbance to provide an EPA lead firm certificate number and attest to compliance with applicable lead safety regulations on the PW2 form.
Melani General Contractor holds EPA Lead-Safe certification under firm number NAT-F277952-1, valid through December 2029. The firm’s 10-person crew, which includes specialists in plumbing, electrical, finish carpentry, tile work and painting, follows EPA-mandated containment and cleaning verification protocols when performing demolition and surface preparation in pre-war apartments, brownstones and townhouses across all five boroughs.
“Approximately 76 percent of buildings in New York City were constructed before 1960, according to NYC housing data, which means the majority of renovation projects our crew walks into involve lead paint at some layer,” said Mike Melani, owner of Melani General Contractor in Brooklyn, NY. “We carry the EPA certification because it is not optional, it is how we protect the families living in these buildings and keep projects moving through DOB without permit holds or compliance flags.”
The firm’s experience navigating lead-related regulatory requirements extends across property types that make up the bulk of NYC’s residential renovation market: pre-war co-ops with original plaster walls and cast iron plumbing, brownstone rowhouses with multiple layers of historic paint finishes and postwar apartment buildings where surface coatings in common areas now fall under expanded testing mandates. Over 22 years of operations from its Brooklyn headquarters, Melani General Contractor has completed thousands of residential renovation projects throughout Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island.
With HPD’s enforcement activity intensifying and cross-agency coordination between HPD, DOB and the Environmental Control Board now flagging non-compliant renovations across multiple city departments simultaneously, property owners are increasingly seeking contractors whose credentials satisfy both federal EPA requirements and the city’s evolving local law framework before work begins.
