@Matt Davis I know this deal is dead for you, but you were correct to be concerned... and most of the advice you got on this thread is terrifying. I'm really glad to see that you're aware of the laws. In MA you cannot rent to a family with kids under 6 unless you have a lead cert on file with the state. Period. That landlord is already breaking the law and I'm sure that's why he hasn't raised the rent on the tenant because she'll report him if he does.
To Answer @Maurice D.'s question, had he bought the property, he would have 90 days to get the deleading process going in order to avoid liability (Also Maurice, you can't evict a tenant because of lead paint, MA requires you to get them a hotel and delead the unit. That applies even if you legally rent a unit that's not deleaded to a couple and they get pregnant. You have to get a lead cert.) IF you bought it and didn't have a deleading contract from a deleader in hand by 90 days after closing, you're on the hook for any and all past tenants that might have had their kids poisoned there. It's MA's way of getting the rental units deleaded. They have attached the liability to the building instead of the owner so that it passes through to the new owner. They then give the 90 day deadline to get out from under that liability so that the new owner will get it done.
@Matthew Irish-Jones being lead certified doesn't allow you to do any lead abatement work. You might want to never put that in writing again. Every contractor in the country is supposed to be RRP certified, even electricians and plumbers. That's a federal law and different from doing lead abatement work. MA actually has 3 levels of lead abatement licenses, low risk, moderate risk, and high risk. The different levels mean you can do different abatement methods. I have a moderate risk license so I have to replace the door (or trim, or whatever component has the lead) where a person with a high risk license could scrape the paint up to the 5' level. They create dust when scraping, which is a higher risk method than just replacing the whole thing. Also, the x-ray gun the inspectors use to test show down to the wood. Just having layers of paint over it doesn't stop it from being seen.
@John Underwood you sir, fail at Google.
@Nathan Gesner In MA there are very strict laws about lead paint that go way beyond the lead paint disclosure form that the Feds require you to give. Laws are state specific and often even differ city by city within a state. You should know the laws for wherever you do business. Also MA is a very tenant friendly state, it can take 6 months to evict and once you do get them out, you have to pay for a storage facility for them for a year. Evicting a tenant in MA is EXTREMELY costly if they know the laws and fight you.
@Theresa Harris Good thoughts, but no. You cannot have the tenant sign a waiver, that's illegal. MA is also a very friendly state and it's very expensive to evict someone if they know the laws, and I'm betting this tenant does and that's why she's living there and the landlord is $1000 below market on her unit. She'd sue and she'd win. I personally know a landlord that lost the building to a tenant for renting to her with kids. The tenant knew the laws, the landlord didn't, tenant sued and won, landlord didn't have the money to pay and the tenant settled for the deed to the property.
@Scott M. In MA the report from 20 years ago is not meaningless at all. In MA you cannot rent to a family with a child under 6 unless you have a lead certificate on file with the state. This property doesn't, it has a report showing there was lead and that it wasn't abated. This means that you are NOT ALLOWED to even renovate that unit without getting it deleaded first. You would be required to get it reinspected then hire a licensed deleader to fix the issues. You can't just paint over it, that's not encapsulation. Encapsulate is like a liquid rubber that licensed deleaders can use on certain surfaces (not on walls) and we need to test the surface first for adhesion, file special paperwork with the state, and keep the test results and paperwork on file for 7 years.
@Colleen F. Most of what you said is close, but you can't renovate a unit after there has been a lead inspection or it will get flagged for unauthorized deleading (UD) and you'd get fined and the unit would never be able to get a lead certificate. You would have to have it professionally fixed sand they'd issue a "Letter of Environmental Protection" basically saying you did illegal lead remediation and got caught and had to fix it. The same would apply if you renovated a unit BEFORE lead inspection and replaced things up to the 5' mark. That's obviously UD and not renovating. Replace it all or don't touch it.
