Mold and water damage help in New Rochelle, a Westchester city
New Rochelle is a Westchester city with its own building bureau, not an extension of the Bronx. Say what you are dealing with and we connect you with the firm the job calls for.
Which side of the city line
Inside New York City: the Bronx
Past the line: Yonkers, Mount Vernon, Pelham, New Rochelle
The ten-unit bar is a city law, so it stops at the line. Each of these places has its own building department, and the state's two-license rule still applies over ten square feet. Section 933's exemptions still apply here, among them an owner working on their own home, and an owner or managing agent using full-time staff on a building of more than four units, unless they do mold work for the public.
Common questions
Is New Rochelle inside the city rules that cover the Bronx?
No. New Rochelle is a Westchester city. Its Bureau of Buildings applies the state codes and the city's own municipal code.
Which mold rules are the same on both sides of the line?
The licensing law in Article 32 is statewide: it covers licenses, the ten square foot threshold, the two-company rule for hired work and the section 933 exemptions. Local code enforcement is what differs.
The four jobs in New Rochelle
Begin with whichever describes your situation: cleanup under a plan, a paper trail on moisture, drying after water, or a code notice from the city.
Local notes for New Rochelle
Old and new buildings sit side by side here. Of 32,792 housing units, 10,661 (32.5 percent) were built in 1939 or earlier, while 1,329 went up between 2010 and 2019 and 1,021 in 2020 or later. The median construction year is 1955, 46.3 percent of occupied homes are rented, and 45.9 percent of units are in buildings of five or more apartments. Prewar masonry and recent mid-rise construction fail in different ways, and a plan should say which you have.
Water is the other half of the picture. The county's hazard plan records 286 repetitive loss properties in New Rochelle, the largest figure of the four Westchester places this site covers, and names Beechmont Drive, the Pelham Road area, and Portman and Fifth Avenues as low spots that flood in heavy rain.
The city's Bureau of Buildings enforces the state and local codes. Complaints go to that bureau, and not to any New York City agency.
- Median year built
- 1955
- Old buildings
- 32.5 percent of housing units built in 1939 or earlier
- Renters
- 46.3 percent of occupied units are renter occupied
- Larger buildings
- 45.9 percent of units are in buildings of five or more units
Source: American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 5-year estimates, US Census Bureau
Who handles it here
In New Rochelle the city's Bureau of Buildings enforces the state and local building codes and the municipal housing standards, and housing or heating complaints are filed with it by phone rather than with New York City's HPD. Source: City of New Rochelle Bureau of Buildings
What makes buildings wet
The county hazard plan records 286 repetitive loss properties in New Rochelle, names Beechmont Drive, the Pelham Road area, Portman and Fifth Avenues and the Hutchinson River as flooding locations, and says insufficient storm drain capacity floods the low lying spots. Source: City of New Rochelle annex, Westchester County Hazard Mitigation Plan