Family with children, FORCED to delead the house...

[Christopher Johanson]

I'm buying a duplex this week, which happens to be a killer deal. Lots of square feet, little cost... good cashflow projections etc. The duplex is floor by floor (as opposed to side by side). The first floor unit is lead-compliant by MA standards. There is however, some lead paint in the upstairs unit that makes it non-lead-compliant. 
According to the MA states laws for lead paint, a landlord must delead the property if a family with children under the age of six want to rent the unit. There's also a law that says you cannot discriminate when choosing renters by the fact that they have children. 

Basically what it looks like is that if I want to rent out that unit publicly, then as soon as a family comes along I'll be FORCED to delead the unit. Because I can't say no, and I can't let them live there.
This seems pretty ridiculous to me. Any solutions? I can't believe MA is so strict, such that any random family could pretty much force you to spend thousands of dollars, at any random time...

Thoughts?

[Dan Mackin]

How are the numbers if you just take care of it now? If they still make sense then just take care of it. It will keep you from ending up in the gray area of people claiming you were discriminating. Every state has their laws regarding lead and some are more hard line than others. It's just something you've got to work with.