Lead Paint Issues and the Market

[David K.]

In the North East, and really any older Amercian town or city, the majority of rental buildings are lead painted. 

For the most part, Government has turned a blind eye towards helping rental owners in spite of the truely astronomical costs to fully remove the lead. Some loans are available and some grants are available but the grants are full of red tape and difficult to obtain. I suspect no help is coming either - you are on your own. 

Renting to children in these buildings is a scary proposition. In many states young children recieve lead tests with very low limits. In MA, a child with lead poisoning can sue until they are 21. You can not refuse children so the only solution is to dump the building of renters and abate - or see how lucky you are. Smart investors don't gamble and they will abate. 

An owner of a building can choose the cheaper route of encapsulating the paint but this is often a tempory fix. All it takes is a tenant to scrap your encapsulant off and you are back to square one with lead dust in the house. Some times you can cover the paint with a permanant wall. The best solution is to remove it and the extreme liability that comes with it. 

I am looking at large unit building. I can't bear the thought of renting to children in a non-abated apartment. As such, I have decided, IF I can purchase reasonably,  I have to fully abate the building - a whopper of a bill $200,000. 

In the future, I can see many of these buildings going into forclosure due the astromical costs of abating. I can also see owners having to take a bath on them in a sale when the word gets out and the government starts acting on many of the new lead testing possitive in children. 

Maybe many of you bought buildings before lead issues came out. Most landlords certainly are not responsible for putting it there in the first place - since it was used well over 40 years ago. No one wants to see kids poisoned. Landlords truely want as little risk as possible. But the cost...... absolutely astronomical.