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Region 1: EPA New England

Rhode Island Landlords Should Check On Lead Paint Compliance

Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.

By Robert Varney
June 14, 2002

Rhode Island has made dramatic progress curbing childhood lead poisoning, but it is still a major public health problem. Last year alone, state health officials determined that more than 2,800 children under the age of six had elevated lead levels in their blood, with the vast majority of them living in cities such as Providence, Woonsocket, Pawtucket and Central Falls.

Researchers have determined that children are especially susceptible to lead poisoning, both because of a higher probability of ingestion of lead paint particles (including lead contaminated dust) and because of a higher degree of vulnerability. Elevated lead levels can trigger learning disabilities, decreased growth, hyperactivity, impaired hearing and even brain damage.

Eliminating this threat is a top priority at EPA’s New England Office and one of our biggest targets is making sure landlords and their property management agents are complying with federal laws, which require them to notify tenants of potential lead-paint hazards in their homes.

EPA and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have undertaken dozens of inspections across New England, including site visits in Rhode Island, to ensure that property owners are meeting their disclosure obligations. Our enforcement activities in Rhode Island are being coordinated with the state Attorney General’s office and the R.I. Department of Health.

One such inspection in New Hampshire resulted in a property manager and his company pleading guilty last December in federal court to forging lead hazard disclosure documents. The criminal case stemmed from the lead poisoning death of a two-year-old girl in Manchester in April 2000. It was the first case in New England in which federal officials have prosecuted a corporation criminally for failing to comply with federal residential lead-based paint disclosure laws.

Rules established under the 1992 Federal Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act require property owners to inform renters and home buyers that a residence built before 1978 may contain lead-based paint and/or lead-based paint hazards. Additionally, any specific information pertaining to lead paint in the residence must be provided to the home buyer or tenant. The law makes clear that property managers, agents, lessors and sellers are all responsible for complying with this rule. They also must keep documentation of the disclosure actions for at least three years.

EPA and HUD are using every tool at their disposal to improve compliance with the disclosure rules and prevent harm from lead-based paint. In addition to the inspections, we are offering outreach and education for landlords, including workshops and planning meetings in the coming months across New England. Even if tenants do not have written leases, written lead disclosure documents are still required from landlords. EPA’s Disclosure Rule is based on the idea that someone exposed to risks has the right to know about them.

Property owners who violate federal law are also violating Rhode Island’s disclosure laws. The state Attorney General’s office has been involved with over 220 cases of landlords who have failed to abate lead hazards after a child has been poisoned. Their experience has shown that a landlord’s failure to abate often goes hand-in-hand with a failure to disclose. By coordinating our enforcement efforts, including inspections, the agencies believe we will better prevent further poisonings in houses with known lead-paint hazards.

It is important for owners, managers, and agents to be familiar with the fine points of the federal rule, because in some instances compliance with the state lead rules is not enough. For example: when property owners renew a lease, unless they can show that disclosure has been provided previously and there is no new relevant information, the disclosure responsibility is triggered again. (For more information, see EPA’s Interpretive Guidance at: www.epa.gov/lead/leadbase.htm

Landlords and property owners should make sure that home buyers and tenants are given every bit of pertinent information that they have, even if it is a report of de-leading operations. This is particularly important if a residence or residential unit has only been partially de-leaded.

It is important to know that a large percentage of lead exposure is estimated to occur when residential units are renovated. Do-it-yourselfers should become aware of “lead-smart” renovation techniques for containing and cleaning up lead dust created by renovation activities, and those performing renovation for compensation should become familiar with the new Pre-Renovation Lead Information Rule. The rule applies to any entity performing renovation for compensation, when more than two square feet of lead-based paint is to be disturbed. As with the disclosure rule, the law creates a right to know about potential lead exposure, so that those at risk can take precautions. The rule makes the compensated renovator responsible for distributing the government’s lead hazard information pamphlet before commencing work.

For clarification on these and other lead-related rules, please call EPA’s New England office at 1-888-372-7341. EPA New England has dedicated significant staff resources to assistance and enforcement of this law because we believe that everyone - every tenant, every purchaser, every parent, every pregnant woman - has a right to know about actual and potential lead hazards in the homes where they live.

Robert W. Varney is regional administrator of EPA's New England Office.

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