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Baltimore Apartment Owner Agrees to Pay Fine for Lead-Paint Disclosure Violations

Release Date: 3/30/2000
Contact Information: Ruth Podems (215) 814-5540

Ruth Podems, 215-814-5540

Baltimore - The owner of two apartment buildings in Baltimore agreed to pay a $10,000 penalty and spend another $16,400 to remove lead-based paint from his 31 rental properties throughout the city.

Jeb Stuart Fries signed a consent agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to settle violations of the lead disclosure rule, which requires landlords of housing built before 1978 (the year lead-based paint was banned) to disclose to tenants lead-based paint hazards in their rental properties and provide a pamphlet on the potential dangers of lead. Fries violated the rule by not providing the disclosure or pamphlet to his tenants upon renting his two properties at 1405 East Eager Street and 2506 Francis Street in Baltimore.

The EPA requires these statements to protect tenants from exposure to lead-paint dust, which poses serious health effects for babies and young children up to six years of age, and pregnant or nursing mothers. Pregnant women exposed to high levels of lead can transfer the lead to their unborn babies. Severe lead poisoning in children can result in coma, convulsions, retardation, seizures, and even death. At lower levels, the ill effects to children include learning disabilities, decreased growth, hyperactivity, impaired hearing, and even brain damage.

Fries has agreed to pay the penalty and survey all 31 of his rental properties to evaluate the lead-based paint hazards. He has also agreed to spend up to $16,400 to remove lead-based paint from the properties.


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