Rental inspections are here!
Both the City of Buffalo and Erie County are conducting mandatory healthy housing and lead inspections for rental units located in the City of Buffalo. Property owners will be contacted via US mail notifying them of their inspection dates.
Get ahead of citations by getting trained in lead-safe work practices, or hiring certified contractors, and making lead-safe repairs to your unit so it passes inspection. City inspectors will also be looking for smoke detectors, fire hazards, and other basic health and safety concerns.
City Proactive Rental Inspections (PRI)
In 2020, the City of Buffalo enacted the City’s Proactive Rental Inspections Law, which requires rental inspection of all non-owner occupied single and double rental units every three years. Inspectors will look for health and safety hazards, including lead-based paint. Once a property passes inspection, it will be issued a Certificate of Rental Compliance (CRC). Owners who refuse an inspection or do not pass inspection to get their CRC may not lawfully rent their units.
Rental property in buildings with three units or more is also subject to an inspection to obtain a Certificate of Occupancy.
The City of Buffalo will reach out to property owners and tenants when it’s time for that unit’s inspection. Either the tenant or the landlord can schedule the inspection. Most inspections take under 30 minutes. If a unit has violations, the owner is given time to make repairs before referral to Housing Court or the City’s Bureau of Administrative Adjudication.
For more information and to schedule your inspection, visit https://www.buffalony.gov/1372/Proactive-Rental-Inspections.
County Lead Rental Registry & Inspections (LRR)
The goal of this program is to reduce childhood lead poisoning by identifying and remediating lead hazards in high-risk areas. Rental units built prior to 1980, along with unit-specific lead safety certifications and responsible party information, will be required to be entered into and maintained in a central database in 2026.
The NYS Lead Rental Registry applies to rental units in 2+ family dwellings that reside within the “Community of Concern”, designated by the Commissioner of Health. In Buffalo and Erie County, those zip codes are: 14201, 14204, 14206, 14207, 14208, 14210, 14211, 14212, 14213, 14214, 14215, & 14225 (only properties west of the I-90).
What is required?
- Inspection and certification of rental units every 3 years to ensure there are not conditions conducive to lead poisoning.
- Each unit must pass a lead clearance inspection which includes visual checks for deteriorated paint and soil conditions, along with dust wipe sampling.
What can landlords subject to the new regulation do?
- Evaluate rental units for lead hazards
- Lead-safe certification is federally mandated for all projects that disturb paint in pre-1980 rental units. Hire a contractor certified in Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) – or become certified and do it yourself!
- Contact the Erie County Department of Health with questions and for potential reduced-cost RRP course offerings and grant programs available to make units lead-safe.
More Information
For more information, visit the City of Buffalo’s Proactive Rental Inspection website and the New York State Department of Health’s Lead Rental Registry website.
Lead Dust Wipes
County rental inspections will require all covered units to pass a lead dust wipe clearance. County technicians, or a third party retained by the property owners, will wipe specific surfaces with a swab, which will then be analyzed by the laboratory. These tests are very sensitive, so if the unit was remediated (i.e. windows or baseboards were not replaced) without property containment and cleaning, the wipe is likely to come back as “hot” (failed) because there is residual lead dust.
Get it right the first time and hire a certified contractor! Or if you’d like to do the work yourself, federal law mandates that you get trained in RRP (renovate, repair, and paint) rules.
To find a certified contractor, check out https://leadconnections.org/.
The County Department of Health offers RRP classes. Learn more at: https://www3.erie.gov/envhealth/home-renovationrepairpainting-rrp-and-trainings.