New Baby/Mass. Lead Law - Landlord Forum thread 342823

New Baby/Mass. Lead Law by Anonymous (MA) on February 5, 2016 @21:35

I just learned today that my tenants, who did not even tell me they were expecting, just had a baby. I was having the driveway plowed and rang the bell for them to move their car, and the woman's mother answered the door and told me she had just become a grandmother. My tenants appear to go out of their way to avoid me, and are generally a bit rude when I need access to the apartment for repairs, even though I have never done anything wrong. Because they avoid me, and she appears to be working at home, I actually never saw her while she was pregnant, but I was suspicious, since I saw baby-related packages delivered to the front door (the house is an owner-occupied two-family). Some time ago, they told me they were looking for a house, and recently put in a bid, but it fell through, so they are still looking. I recently painted the entire apartment, sided the house, and replaced the windows. However, the house was built in 1939 and is not deleaded, so I am really nervous about the Mass. lead law. I don't want to say a thing because they will be moving, but I don't know when. Their lease expires at the end of March, and we mutually agreed to a tenancy-at-will in mid-January, since they plan to move. I did provide a lead disclosure statement, as required by law, which said I had no knowledge of any lead hazards, when they moved in (they had no children at the time). Should I just lay low until they move?

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Re: New Baby/Mass. Lead Law by Garry (Iowa) on February 6, 2016 @00:00	[ Reply ]

First, lead is bad for everyone, not just children. Just look at the problems they are having with the water in Flint, Michigan right now. But, you do not have to "delead" the place, meaning you don't have to tear out all the old plaster walls, and put back new sheet rock. You are allowed to "encapsilate" it, which is exactly what you did. You encapsilated the outside of the home by siding over the old lead-based paint. And you did the same thing inside, by repainting all the walls. You are allowed to scrape, and then repaint any lead-based paint problems you find. When you replaced the windows, that took care of the lead-based paint where the windows slid up and down, which created lead dust that someone could get on their fingers, and put into their mouths. As for your tenants, you could be a really nice LL, and send them a baby gift of some sort, which may ease any tensions there may be between you and the T. Then, don't bother them until they contact you, either about them moving out, or if they need something fixed. Just let them to be first-time parents, and enjoy their child with out interruptions. Remember, there now may be the possibility that with added expenses of a new baby, they may not be looking to move right away, so they could be there for awhile. Then, this summer, you could call and ask them if you could come in to look for any chipped or pealing paint. It sounds as though you have done everything right in trying to protect everyone from any possible lead-based pain problems on your property. If you want confirmation of that, contact your city or county health dept. about it.

Re: New Baby/Mass. Lead Law