Massachusetts Lead question?

Question

Hi Mass BP community,

My boss has a SFR (built 1920) that he recently rented to a single guy. Shortly after moving in the tenant mentioned that he has 2 children stay with him 2 days each week (split custody) and their ages are 2 and 4. I'm pretty sure the property has lead and has not been de-leaded. The tenant did sign a lead disclosure form but I would like to get ahead of this if it is going to be a problem. Does anyone have any thoughts on this being an issue if the children only stay there 2 nights a week and it is not their primary residence?

Charlie MacPherson · Answer

@Ann Bellamy is exactly right.  Lead is nothing to mess around with.

Neither are the penalties: http://massrealestatelawblog.com/2013/03/16/boston...

Ann Bellamy · Answer

I don't think it matters.  They "live" there 2 days a week.

http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/gov/departments/dph/programs/environmental-health/exposure-topics/lead/lead/massachusetts-lead-law-requirement.html

Bonnie McCullough · Answer

Massachusetts still has lead in older homes and apartments. It is not an ideal situation, but I don't think you NEED to do anything unless one of the kids tests positive for lead. If there is no chipping paint and he does not let the kids suck on the woodwork it may not be a problem. The expense comes in IF they test high for lead, and even still there would likely be a delay looking at their primary home first.

We had a problem a few years ago when a couple who had lived at our unit had a child who tested high, and even then they needed to retest them 2 months later to be sure it was not a false positive. So we had a few months to figure out what the child might have gotten into and fix the situation in the meantime before the state stepped in. We were able to offer the family another apartment in a newer building in the meantime as well, just in case the second test was also high. But as it turned out the second test came way down because of all of the remediation we had done after the problem was first discovered.

We now have that unit 'lead encapsulated' which is much cheaper than remediation. Our 2 kids grew up in our unit (where only half of the lead has been eliminated) without any issues. Long story short, do not panic, the kids are not there that often. If he knew that there was lead in the unit prior to moving in I do not believe you have to be lead compliant UNLESS there is a problem with his kids testing high unless things have changed in the last 5 years.

Stephanie Sellers · Answer

Thank you Charlie for your feedback. I hope that we can remediate with the kids not there and that the dad will be willing to work with us.

Charlie MacPherson · Answer

Next step is to remediate the lead ASAP.

That's going to involve a lot of expense and inconvenience, but as the court case I referenced indicated, the landlord was spared from even more crippling penalties because has acted to remediate as soon as he learned of the problem.

I would ask your attorney whether you could temporarily exclude the kids from the residence while it's being remediated.  You have to be careful about illegal discrimination, but you might have a way to do it if the tenant didn't list the kids as residents on the lease.

Stephanie Sellers · Answer

So next steps? Try to get a compliance while they are not there the 5 days? Can it be done that quickly? Or we have to re-locate them? Or other options??

Massachusetts Lead question?

Most Popular Reply