Local Law 61 adds a prevailing-wage mandate to your building's security contract.

On January 29, 2026, the New York City Council overrode Mayor Adams's veto and enacted Local Law 61 of 2026, also called the Aland Etienne Safety and Security Act. Starting January 1, 2027, every private security company with a contract worth more than $1,500 must pay guards at least the wage rates that city-contracted security guards earn. For co-op and condo boards, the math flows through the security contract and into the common charge. The official rate floor will be published by the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection no later than September 1, 2026.

What the law requires.

Local Law 61, codified at NYC Admin Code §20-1602, covers any "private security employer" holding contracts exceeding $1,500 anywhere in New York City. Most co-op and condo buildings do not employ security guards directly. They hire a security firm under a service contract. Under LL 61, the obligation to pay prevailing wages falls on that firm. The cost difference moves from the firm to the building through higher contract prices, and from the building to unit owners through common charges.

The law was introduced as Int 1391-2025 by a 43-member sponsor coalition in the City Council. The Council passed it in December 2025. Mayor Adams vetoed it on December 31. The Council overrode the veto on January 29, 2026, the same session that overrode his veto of Local Law 58, the co-op application timeline law. The two laws were enacted in a single evening.

Enforcement is assigned to the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP). The penalty for a first violation is $500 per incident. Guards who are underpaid have a private right of action against the security employer, and that right carries triple damages: a $5,000 wage shortfall becomes a $15,000 judgment plus liquidated damages and legal fees. Buildings that work through a contracted security firm do not bear primary exposure under the statute, but they sit inside the vendor-risk chain through contract disputes and replacement-vendor costs when a firm falls out of compliance.

The three-phase implementation schedule.

Compliance arrives in stages across three calendar years. Phase 1 wage rates are anchored to the prevailing rates currently paid to security guards on NYC government contracts, which the DCWP will publish on its website by September 1, 2026. Based on the current NY State DOL prevailing wage schedule for security guards, District 10, effective May 1, 2026, Phase 1 rates are $18.02 per hour for unarmed guards with under two years of experience, $21.20 per hour for unarmed guards with two or more years of experience, and $32.70 per hour for armed guards. Supplemental benefits, which range from $8.12 to $8.47 per hour, phase in with the benefit package in 2029.

Collective bargaining agreements entered into on or before October 30, 2025 follow the expiration schedule of those agreements rather than the January 2027 date. Security companies already paying at or above city-contract rates will see no wage adjustment. Buildings whose security firms have historically paid below those rates should expect Phase 1 to surface as a contract price increase when the new terms are negotiated.

Which co-op and condo buildings are in scope.

The coverage threshold is $1,500 per contract. Any contract for private security services worth more than that amount falls within the law. For a building with a single overnight guard at $25 per hour working eight-hour shifts, the threshold is crossed in under a week. That low dollar figure means nearly every co-op or condo with any paid security personnel is covered, whether the arrangement is a full-time lobby concierge, a part-time overnight guard, or a rotating shift of unarmed guards at a larger property.

Buildings that directly employ security guards are covered as employers under the statute. Buildings using a contracted security firm are covered through the firm: the wage obligation falls on the firm, and the firm's costs move through the contract to the building. The financial landing zone is the same in both structures.

One category of building may fall outside the law's scope: properties that do not have a security contract at all, or that employ door attendants for whom security is incidental to a broader building-staff role. Whether a particular staffing arrangement falls inside or outside the $1,500 contract definition is a fact-specific question. Buildings in that category should confirm with counsel before assuming they are excluded.

The person managing this compliance needs no license.

In practice, the security contract is managed by the building's managing agent. That means the managing agent is the person reviewing whether the current contract's rates will meet the Phase 1 floor, renegotiating terms where they fall short, tracking Phase 2 and Phase 3 timelines through future contract renewals, and confirming after September 1, 2026 that the DCWP's published rate matches what the building is actually paying.

New York has no managing agent licensure requirement. Senate Bill S.71 (Kavanagh) would require managing agents to register with the Department of State and meet baseline competency standards. It did not advance in the 2025-2026 legislative session and has not received a floor vote in at least eight consecutive sessions. Local Law 58 of 2026 made managing agents direct defendants in HPD enforcement actions for co-op timeline violations but created no credential requirement. The pattern is consistent: New York City and State create new compliance obligations for buildings, assign implementation to managing agents, and leave the question of managing-agent qualifications unresolved. The managing agent licensure gap issue page on this site documents the full statutory history.

The exposure profile under LL 61 is different from Local Law 58. LL 61's primary enforcement risk falls on the security firm, not on the managing agent or the building. But a managing agent who fails to identify a wage-deficient contract, misses a renegotiation window, or misreads the DCWP rate schedule creates problems the board inherits. Replacement contracts cost money. Wage disputes disrupt service. Neither outcome appears in any managing agent's licensing file because no such file exists.

What your board needs to do before September 1.

The September 1, 2026 DCWP publication date is the first concrete data point for Phase 1 budgeting. Between now and then, three steps give boards a starting position.

• Get your current security contract and find the guard wage rates. Most contracts specify only the building's price, not what guards are paid. Request the current hourly wage rates in writing from the security firm. The firm may not volunteer this information, but the request creates a paper record for any future compliance review.
• Check your contract renewal date. If the renewal falls before January 1, 2027, negotiate the Phase 1 wage floor into the new contract term now, before the DCWP publishes the official rate on September 1. If the renewal falls after January 2027, the firm should adjust rates at renewal as a matter of law, but confirm that expectation in writing rather than assuming it.
• Ask your managing agent for a written LL 61 compliance review by October 1, 2026. The DCWP will have published the official rate floor by September 1. One month is enough time for the agent to compare your current contract against the published standard and recommend any changes needed before Phase 1 takes effect.

Bottom line.

Local Law 61 of 2026 adds another compliance layer to the stack of mandates co-op and condo boards pay to operate a building. The policy rationale is defensible: private security guards in New York City have historically been paid less than guards on city government contracts for the same work, and the gap creates quality and retention problems at buildings. Closing that gap costs money, and the cost lands on common charges. The extraction stack post on this site traces how that pattern repeats across every major NYC local law.

What makes LL 61 consistent with the structural gap CCNYC tracks is this: the person at your building responsible for LL 61 compliance holds no state credential, passed no examination, and carries no license at risk if the implementation goes wrong. September 1, 2026 is the date boards get their first usable number. Use the time between now and then to find out what your security contract actually says.

Primary sources: NYC Admin Code §20-1602 (as amended by Local Law 61 of 2026); NY DOL Prevailing Wage Schedule, District 10 — Security Guards, effective May 1, 2026; NYC Council passage press release, December 18, 2025.

Companion resources: The NYC local law extraction stack · Local Law 58: managing agents liable, still unlicensed · S.71 and the managing-agent licensure gap · Managing agent licensure gap issue page · Write to your representative