All News Releases By Date

EPA Settles with Bethesda Realty Company over Lead-Paint Rules

Release Date: 02/07/2007
Contact Information: Bonnie Smith (215) 814-5543

PHILADELPHIA – Allied Realty Corporation, a Bethesda, Md. real estate and property management firm, will pay a $20,000 civil penalty and has certified it is now in compliance with federal rules for disclosing information about lead-based paint to tenants.

The company agreed to this settlement with EPA which cited Allied Realty for failing to disclose information on lead-based paint to tenants in 13 rental properties in Washington, D.C. and Maryland suburbs between November 2001 and May 2004. As a part of the settlement, Allied has neither admitted nor denied liability for the violations.

“Property managers need to provide information to tenants about lead-based paint. This is especially important to families with young children who could be harmed by exposure to lead-paint. Lead poisoning is preventable and we should all do our part,” said Donald S. Welsh, EPA’s mid-Atlantic regional administrator.

Under the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992, sellers and landlords of residential housing built before 1978 - - when the sale of lead-based house paint was banned - - are required to notify purchasers and tenants about the presence of known lead-based paint or disclose their lack of knowledge of its presence. The law also requires landlords to provide prospective tenants a lead-based paint information pamphlet and a standard warning statement in the lease on the dangers of lead-based paint.

EPA is collaborating with other federal, state and local agencies to protect tenants and homeowners from the health risks of lead-based paint. High blood-lead levels can cause permanent damage to the nervous system and health problems, including reduced intelligence and attention span, hearing loss, stunted growth, reading and learning problems and behavioral difficulties. Young children are most vulnerable because their nervous systems are still developing. For more information about environmental, health and legal issues involving lead, please visit https://www.epa.gov/lead/index.html.

#