Lead paint law is one of the two hottest, favorite, most endlessly discussed topics for real estate agents and brokers. If you want to know what the other topic is, I’ll tell you if you send me an email!
Case in point: last week, my office, Keller Williams Boston-Metro, (now a recognized teaching center, BTW!) had the fabulous speaker, Anita Hill — the other Anita Hill, as she always says — deliver a two-hour seminar on Lead Paint Law in Massachusetts. An hour in, she had covered about 5 minutes of her planned material because you just can’t mention lead paint to a roomful of Boston Realtors without getting a barrage of questions (usually very helpful) and a boatload of “I once sold a house that…(less helpful but it’s always fun to vent).
For agents, the rules are simple:
- Know how to follow the directions on and how to fill out the Massachusetts Lead Paint Property Transfer Notification Certification (I’m not making this up) form. Know how your clients and customers are supposed to fill out that form. And know that any errors on this form caught during an audit will cost you $11,000 EACH!!
- If you’re not sure about your obligations regarding lead paint disclosure or how to fill out this form, ask your boss, as an error can lead not only to the steep fines mentioned above, but can be the difference between you and/or your clients and customers winning or losing a lawsuit.
For property owners and agents involved in rentals, there are 3 Big Truths:
- When children under the age of 6 are living in a rental property, the property must be deleaded, with paperwork, as required by current regulations. Read up on the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program for info and tons of legalese. I also recommend reading through information on Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control.
- When a pregnant person is living in a rental property, whether or not she was pregnant when she moved in, the owner must delead AND the property owner must pay for temporary housing for her and her family during the deleading process.
- When a prospective tenant with children under 6 applies to rent a property, the property owner may not discriminate against them because of the presence of lead paint in the property, and, as an agent or broker involved in such a situation, you may not discriminate either, regardless of what the property owner instructs you to do. The only exemption is “when dwellings containing three apartments or less, one of which apartments is occupied by an elderly or infirm person for whom the presence of children would constitute a hardship. For purposes of this subsection, an ‘elderly person’ shall mean a person sixty-five years of age or over, and an ‘infirm person’ shall mean a person who is disabled or suffering from a chronic illness.” (M.G.L .Chapter XXI, Sec. 151B). So, put that in your pipe, and good luck!
Know that the info here is but the tiniest tip of the lead iceberg. As an agent working with rental properties, your broker and the Internet will give you enough info about lead to keep you safe from lawsuits and, more importantly, to keep the little tykes safe from lead poisoning!
Next week: What Sellers and Buyers need to know about the Lead Paint Laws.
Linda Burnett
Jamaica Plain/Roslindale Real Estate Maven
Keller-Williams Boston-Metro Real Estate
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