Starting Sept. 6, owners of more than four residential dwelling units must comply with Federal regulations requiring disclosure of known lead-based paint hazards in dwellings.

Most people associate lead-based paint hazards with inner-city housing and apartment buildings.

In fact, Ms. Robins said, some common misconceptions about lead-based paint hazards might lead otherwise safety-conscious individuals to ignore potentially hazardous situations.

The new bill would hold the city responsible for eliminating lead paint hazards when landlords fail to do so.

In 1996 a federal law took effect requiring that owners of all residential property disclose known lead-based paint hazards to prospective purchasers or tenants.

Now, with politicians and cameras gone, the seven-story building had returned to its natural state of lead-based paint hazards, of ceiling leaks and vermin, of everyday despair.

As many as 24 million households have lead-based paint hazards.

The inspector conducts a risk assessment, identifies lead-based paint hazards and writes legally binding work orders to reduce lead hazards that property owners must comply with.

If the inspection reveals lead paint hazards, he said, the co-op can require the unit owner to correct the conditions.

He dramatized lead paint hazards, won release of a man wrongly convicted of murder and broke several major municipal corruption stories.