Federal law requires contractors performing renovations on homes built before 1978 to be certified in working with lead paint to prevent contamination. Despite disclosure rules being in place for over a decade, the EPA continues to find many property owners and managers violating these laws and are pursuing aggressive enforcement. As lead paint affects young children, some states and cities have enacted further inspection and abatement laws that will increase property owner responsibilities and costs, and reduce the desirability of rental property ownership. This is an ongoing issue with increased liability for owners and managers.

1. Be Aware: Lead Based Paint Legislation
by Kelly Gontarski
StarPointTenantScreening.com
Realtors and property managers should make themselves aware of the requirements in the Lead
Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule. Despite the fact that the Disclosure Rule was issued more
than a decade ago, the EPA continues to find widespread violations by residential property owners and
property management companies, and EPA has responded with aggressive enforcement
Beginning April 22, 2010, federal law requires that contractors performing renovation, repair and
painting projects that disturb more than six square feet of paint in homes, child care facilities, and
schools built before 1978 must be certified and trained to follow specific work practices to prevent lead
contamination.
Following the adoption of the Lead Based Paint Disclosure requirements for housing constructed prior to
1978 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1996, we have seen increasing pressures for state
and local governments to enact new laws for pre‐1978 housing that would do one or more of the
following:
• Mandate lead paint inspection of all housing built prior to 1978.
• Certification of lead free status at each change of tenancy or ownership.
• Abatement, encapsulation and/or removal of all lead paint hazards.
• Tenant relocation and other expenses.
• Assign legal liability for discovered lead poisoning in children to the owner of the property
where the child resides without determination of where the lead poisoning occurred.
Currently a number of states, such as Maryland, and some local governments, such as San Francisco and
Los Angeles, have already enacted lead paint laws imposing inspection and/or abatement requirements.
As of late 1997, the EPA has started an enforcement program for the disclosure requirements, with
significant penalties for violations, and has published a 2000 page manual dealing with lead paint. Any
new legislation will increase property manager responsibilities and costs, and will certainly make
ownership of rental property less desirable as an investment. Lead paint health problems primarily
affect children under age 6 residing in older, often inner city properties, making this a more difficult
issue to deal with responsibly. A major anticipated effect is a substantial increase in liability for both
owners and property managers.
Learn more http://www.multihousingnews.com/2010/03/11/guest‐column‐ongoing‐enforcement‐
initiative‐is‐targeting‐landlords‐violating‐lead‐based‐paint‐disclosure‐rule/
Happy renting from StarPoint Tenant Screening!