By Adam Leitman Bailey

Q. I know that the city’s lead-based paint law requires me to keep the lead-based paint notices I get back from tenants for 10 years. But what about the window guard notices returned by tenants. Am I legally required to keep those returned window guard notices and, if so, for how long?

A. The window guard law doesn’t require you to keep the notices that tenants return to you, confirms Manhattan attorney Adam Leitman Bailey. But it’s still a good idea to keep them in your tenants’ files, he says. You can use them to defend yourself if you get a violation for not installing window guards (for example, by showing that the tenant’s returned notice states that no children age 10 or younger live in the apartment) or if you’re sued because a child fell out of a window without a window guard (again, by showing that the tenant’s returned notice states that no children age 10 or younger live in the apartment).

How long should you keep these notices? Ideally, forever, says Bailey. But short of that, he recommends keeping them for at least 10 years.

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Keeping Window Guard Notices