Lead paint regulations cover all owners of rental properties Law aims to provide increased awareness

Dear Mr. Gisriel:

I own several rental real estate properties in the Baltimore metropolitan area. My question is: What is the current status of the federal and state "Lead Paint Registration" laws? Also, where can I get more information?

Alan Walsh

Baltimore

Dear Mr. Walsh:

Your question is a timely one. On the federal level, after Dec. 6, 1996, all owners of rental properties -- both owners of more than four properties and owners of less than four properties -- are covered by the federal lead paint regulations.

To put it another way, since Dec. 6, the average owner of a single-family house, who has the house up for sale, is subject to the Federal Residential Lead Based Hazard Reduction Act (commonly referred to as "Title X" (ten).

Title X provides a method of ensuring increased public %o awareness of the hazards of lead. Section 1018 of Title X requires the disclosure of known lead hazards on every sale or lease transaction involving housing built before 1978.

Not subject to disclosure are those owners of houses subject to short-term leases of less than 100 days, such as summer rental property, and also those properties that have been or are certified "lead-free" by an inspector certified by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Owners of properties built after 1978 do not have to provide any lead disclosure.

According to Vince Curran, director of the environmental risk services division of R. S. Wilson & Associates Ltd. in Timonium, the federal Title X legislation requires the seller/lessor of property constructed before 1978 to do three things of equal importance:

Provide a pamphlet to the buyer/lessee on the hazards of lead. This pamphlet has been developed by the EPA and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and can be obtained from any real estate professional.

Disclose to the buyer/lessee the presence of any known lead-based paint or known lead-based paint hazards on the property.

Give the buyer/lessee a 10-day opportunity to conduct a risk assessment or inspection of the property for the presence of lead-based paint hazards. The buyer, as a result of the risk assessment or inspection, is allowed to withdraw from the contract without penalty.

The legislation also requires that every contract for sale of property constructed before 1978 contain language allowing for the buyer to acknowledge receiving the hazard information booklet, reading the lead-warning statement, and having had the 10-day inspection/assessment opportunity.

Language for the lead-warning statement is provided for in the law. The implications of this legislation are many, and far-reaching.

Traditional real estate transactions will be affected by the 10-day inspection opportunity that must be afforded to any potential buyer. In effect, depending on the results of the inspection, it gives the buyer a way out of a sales contract.

Many property owners may not know that there has been an inspection for lead. This is especially true in cases of owners of multifamily properties. A resident leasing agent may not know that the property has been inspected for lead.

If the resident agent does not know of an inspection's positive results and fails to disclose the inspection to a potential tenant, the law would still impose a penalty if a person becomes poisoned as a result of living in that property.

For more information, call the National Lead Information Center at (800) 424-LEAD. For Maryland's lead poisoning prevention program, call [phone].

Questions?

Michael Gisriel is senior vice president of Fountainhead Title Group of Columbia and host of the weekly radio show "All About Real Estate" on WCBM from noon to 1 p.m. on Sundays.

Send real estate questions to Michael Gisriel, c/o Mailbag, Real Estate Section, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore 21278.

You can also leave questions on Sundial, The Baltimore Sun's telephone information service, by calling [phone] and entering the code 6170.

Pub Date: 1/12/97