Originally posted by @Justin Pierce:
Steve,
I might be confused here. So you rented a home out to someone and now they're suing because they're claiming the home has lead based paint in it?
Did you provide lead based paint disclosures?
Yes Justin, the property was rented to someone between 1999 and 2004. At that time the property was what was considered lead safe. This is achieved by having an inspector do visual and dust swipes every two years or every turn over. A copy of the cert along with disclosures were given to the renter who was in a subsidized housing program. Now, it has recently come to light that those lead safe certs don't hold any merit in the courts here in Baltimore, Md.
A lead free cert is the only paper that the courts are willing to recognize. There's a difference between lead safe and lead free. At one time, talk of lead free certs was like speaking of evil when you asked inspectors about it, they would say it cost so much money that you would just have the lead safe swipes done. So, I was spending around three hundred dollars every two years or during every turn over. Meaning that this gave those inspectors repeat business and me no protection from high lead paint level claims.
It's all about the money, that's why inspectors have to re certify their credentials every two years, so they can continue to charge unsuspecting landlords and stay working. And as part of my trade, I have lead paint supervisor for maintenance and repair. I do Industrial and Bridge painting for a living and can recognize that I have been asking the right questions just not to the right people.
Justin, just remember Lead safe certs and disclosures mean nothing in courts, Lead free, now that's a different ball game. Lead free certs are received when your property passes a stringent xray test throughout and as long as there is less than .07mg per deciliter you'll be fine. .08 and up is action level status and it must go!
