New York's Article 32 mold law, explained for homeowners
New York regulates mold work more tightly than most states, and almost no homeowner knows it. Understanding it before you hire anyone protects you from both bad work and bad paperwork.
- A "project" means more than ten square feet of mold
- Assessment and remediation must be done by separate licensed parties
- A written work plan is required before work begins
- Ask any contractor — including us — for licence numbers
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What the law is
Article 32 of the New York State Labor Law governs mold assessment, remediation and abatement, and is administered by the Department of Labor. It sets licensing requirements for contractors, defines what counts as a regulated project, and imposes a structural separation between the party who inspects and the party who does the work.
It applies to work performed for others, on both residential and commercial property. A homeowner working on their own property is generally outside it — but the moment you hire someone, the framework applies.
The ten square foot threshold
Article 32 defines a mold "project" as assessment, remediation or abatement of an area greater than ten square feet. Routine cleaning, and construction or repair work undertaken for reasons other than mold remediation, fall outside that definition.
Below ten square feet the licensing requirements do not apply, though the work should still follow professional standards — containment, HEPA filtration, removal of unsalvageable porous material, and correcting the moisture source.
Above it, the full framework applies, and that changes who can legally do what.
The separation rule, and why it exists
This is the part most homeowners have never heard and the part that protects them most.
On a project over ten square feet, the same company cannot both assess your mold and remediate it. A licensed mold assessor inspects, tests where appropriate, and writes a remediation work plan. A separate licensed mold remediation contractor carries that plan out. The assessor then performs the post-remediation verification.
The reason is straightforward: the party who profits from the work should not be the party deciding how much work is needed. Without that separation, "you need six thousand dollars of remediation" is an estimate written by the person who gets the six thousand dollars.
So if a company offers to test your mold and then remove it, on a project over the threshold, that arrangement does not meet the statute. It is worth knowing before you sign.
The written work plan
On a regulated project, the licensed assessor must produce a written remediation plan before any work starts. It should specify the rooms and areas affected, the estimated quantities of material to be removed, the containment method, the cleaning methods to be used, and the criteria for verifying the work afterwards.
The remediation contractor is expected to work to that plan and not deviate from it without the assessor's approval.
Keep your copy. Years later, at a sale or a refinance, a buyer's attorney or a lender may ask what was done. A work plan and a clearance report from an independent assessor answers that. An invoice from a contractor who inspected their own work may not.
What to ask any contractor
- Are you licensed under Article 32, and what is your licence number?
- Is this project over ten square feet, and how did you measure it?
- Who is performing the assessment, and are they independent of you?
- Can I see the written work plan before work starts?
- Who performs the post-remediation verification?
- What is being done about the moisture source?
Ask us the same questions. A contractor who is uncomfortable answering them is telling you something useful.
The part the law does not cover
Article 32 regulates who may do the work and how it is documented. It does not fix the reason you have mold.
Mold is a moisture problem wearing a costume. Remediation without correcting the water source — the leak, the grading, the crawl space with no vapour barrier, the bathroom fan venting into an attic — buys you roughly one season. The most compliant, best-documented remediation in the county will fail if the water is still arriving.
Questions, answered
Does this apply to a small patch of mold in my bathroom?
Probably not. Article 32 applies to projects greater than ten square feet, and a small patch of surface growth around a shower is usually below that and is generally a cleaning and ventilation issue rather than a remediation project. If it keeps returning, the question is where the moisture is coming from.
Can one company test and remove my mold?
Not on a project over ten square feet. The statute requires assessment and remediation to be performed by separate licensed parties, specifically so the party being paid for the work is not the party deciding how much work is needed. Below the threshold the requirement does not apply.
Do I need a mold assessment at all?
If the growth is visible and you know where the water came from, an assessment often tells you little you did not already know — and on a project under ten square feet it is not required. It earns its cost when growth is suspected but not visible, when documentation is needed for a sale or dispute, or when someone in the household is unwell and a physician needs information.
What happens if a contractor is not licensed?
You are exposed in ways that surface later rather than immediately. The work may not meet the standard, the documentation may not be accepted by an insurer, a lender or a buyer's attorney, and you have limited recourse. Ask for the licence number and keep it on file — it costs you nothing.
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