Delead or walk away after Seller discloses HUB/fair housing suit

[Lizzie Wohl]

Hi, newbie here trying to close my first two-family in Boston. While I am aware that lead is common in our old houses here, I am facing an interesting conundrum that set me on a series of google search and landed me on this forum. I searched for old posts (super informative!) but none seemed to have fair housing suit tagged with it. I am posting it here and hope that more experienced folks can enlighten me on the abatement issue:

1. The property is a two-family and currently occupied by two couples with no children (yet). Seller's counsel stated that there was a fair housing suit filed by a previous tenant holding a grudge against the Seller when the tenant was asked to move. The letter itself was from the city's Office of Fair Housing & Equity and stated that a case was simultaneously filed with HUD. The letter was dated Sep this year and had a required response window that had long passed. I have requested a copy of the Seller's response to the city's letter and a copy of the agreement reached with the previous tenant and approved by HUD, if any. I have not received any paperwork regarding the suit other than the initial letter from the city putting the Seller on notice.

2. Seller provided a copy of the lead inspection report ordered after the response window to the city was closed. The report confirmed presence of lead, mostly windows/doors, but also mentioned closets and a few other areas. The bedrooms have the older plaster ceilings that did not show up positive in the report but made me wonder once opened up could contain lead as well. 

3. Seller offers a price reduction and will not deliver the property with a lead certificate. I have not signed the P&S yet in light of the discovery of the fair housing/HUD suit, and am weighing my options here.

My understanding is that lead abatement takes time and could open a can of worms once the walls are opened (electric circuit compliance etc). It is also my understand that, to avoid MA's strict liability, I would need to delead within 90 days of taking title or obtain a letter of interim control (but ultimately would need to deal with it nevertheless). 

My intuition is to ask the Seller to complete the delead work (or whatever he promised the city in his response to the letter/HUD) before closing. I am worried that Seller might have attempted to DIY delead and that would ding the property any chance of a lead cert in the future. However, it seems that Seller is not willing to do the work (retiring?).

My second option is to delead after closing, and am waiting for a quote to gauge how expensive remediation/abatement would be. I am worried about this option as it is my understanding that I would need to complete the job within 90 days after taking title, which unfortunately would be in the freezing winter. Of course I am also worried that it may lead to discovery of further remediation/updates required that would send the thin CF into deep red. The upside of this one is I would have more control over the process to make sure it is properly done, and I might be able to apply for financial assistance from the city depending on the tenants' income level. 

My third option is to just walk away from the P&S and eat up the cost incurred so far but hopefully avoiding future headaches with lead abatement.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated, especially if you have dealt with or heard of tales of dealing with lead inspections triggered by fair housing suit. Thank you all in advance.