Deleading strategy, Massachusetts

[Patrik Kisucky]

Hope everyone is well! I purchased a 3 family property in Ma, with tenants, and there is children under age 6, in two units. The property lead status is unknown, there was no inspection done, but the house is built in 1910, so I figure what that means. As far as I know, as a new owner, I have 90 days to delead the place, before I'll become liable. So I'm contemplating different strategies to get it done. A friend, investor would empty the property (get the tenants out) and would renovate/delead the house, then bring in new tenants. I kinda feel bad for the tenants to do that and also hoping to find financially friendlier solution. 

So here is my plan - idea:

Talk to all of the units and let them know, that I want to renovate the house, and ask if they would be willing to move out. I may offer some incentives here. I will talk to each unit separately, and my goal is to get one unit empty, so that I could renovate/delead the unit. After the reno is done, I would move one of the remaining tenants, into the renovated unit, and proceed with reno/deleading of the other unit. And finally repeat that again, to get the whole house done. There is a flaw in this strategy and it is that I need to know, what do I need to delead specifically. Assume that I know.

What do you all think about it, or can you share what worked for you? TY!

[Robert Loiselle]

Hey Patrik, 

I'm a licensed lead paint inspector in MA and also a landlord.  You are correct that you have 90 days to bring the property into compliance before the strict liability that the State of MA has kicks in.  

The first step in the whole process is to get the property tested by a licensed inspector.  You can do however many units you want at a time, but it typically makes sense to get the whole property tested in one go.  

One you get the property tested, you will know exactly what lead hazards are present and how they need to be abated.  You can actually have quite a bit of lead paint in properties in MA and it's completely safe, as long as the condition of the paint is maintained.  There's only a small list of surfaces that it cannot be present on.  

The most expensive areas to abate are old leaded wooden windows and lead painted siding that's in poor condition.  This is less and less common these days since most places have been covered in vinyl siding and have vinyl replacement windows.  

If you have vinyl windows and vinyl siding, in my experience, it would likely be cheaper and faster to just get the all the work done at once by a licensed deleading contractor.  They do the work very fast and cleanly (which is crucial).  Yes, you would have to put the tenants up in a hotel for the duration of the work (likely 2-3 days if they don't have another place to stay).  But compared to the cost and headache of trying to get a unit freed up to move people in and out of...it would be a wash at best.  Also, you might be able to get the work done within your 90 day window depending on when that clock started.  

That's just my 2 cents.  Feel free to send me a message and I'd be happy to chat more about it.  Each case of testing/deleading a property can be very different and has a few different things you need to weigh.  

Cheers, 

Rob