Lead Paint...uh oh

[Robert P.]

Say someone has been renting an apartment to a family with 2 kids under 6 for the past 9 months or so. We are a day away from giving them their 14 day notice to quit for non-payment (in Massachusetts that is what you do). In the past couple of weeks the board of health has been there for very minor violations (that were all fixed) but now inspector is talking about lead paint testing.

Questions:

1. If test comes back positive from inspector, how does that change (if at all) my eviction for non-payment?

2. Would the landlord be required to de-lead the unit even though they are being evicted?

3. Any lawsuits, etc involved since they have been living there for 9 months with potential lead in unit?

Of course, this is all if the test comes back positive, so all hypothetical questions. Just trying to be prepared for what could possibly happen. I know lead paint is a huge issue in MA, so I would appreciate any and all feedback regarding this. 

[Derreck Wells]

PM me the address and I'll check if there's ever been a lead inspection there. 

As far as the eviction goes, if the test comes back positive the tenants will be notified and they'll try to use it against you. However, the children have to be tested for elevated lead levels. Those levels will dictate if they have a serious claim against you or not.

MA law states that you cannot rent to a family with children under 7 unless you have a lead cert on file. So basically, since you can't discriminate against families with small children, they made it so any rental property has to have a lead cert on file, so yes, you need to delead the unit to comply with the law, or you need to discriminate and violate the equal housing law. 

Section 8, CTI, and any other state or Fed agency now requires a current lead cert to place a tenant there, so if you ever want that money, you need to do it too.

The state has special financing where they will loan you the money to delead with a deferred payment until you sell the building, so you pay them back out of the money from the sale. The also offer a $1500 per unit tax credit when you delead. They want the units deleaded, so they're trying to make it as easy as possible.

Talk to your lawyer. At this point, your best course of action is probably to get the lead cert. quickly. If the children's lead levels are not elevated, nothing should come from you not already having it. Maybe a small fine if someone wants to be a hard ***. 

On the flip side, he may suggest evicting these tenants as quickly as possible before a lead test can be done and give them something to use against you. I'm not a lawer, so I can't advise you on that. I do know that MA evictions can take 6 months or more, so in that time, these people could feed their kids lead paint chips so they can sue and take your house, so getting the cert quick is probably the way to go.

I can also give you the contact info of a lead inspector I like to work with, he's fair and doesn't try to fail something so he can charge you to come back and reinspect.