Any experience with DC apartment rentals & lead paint laws?
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Anonymous
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My husband and I rent an apartment in Washington, DC. I am newly pregnant and we are planning on staying in the apartment during the pregnancy and after the baby is born.
I am researching how to approach our management company about the issue of lead paint. Fortunately DC law does provide protection for tenants (http://green.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ddoe/publication/attachments/TENANT_RIGHTS_6-24-11.pdf is one resource I found so far). I wanted to see if anyone has any personal experience with dealing with this as a tenant - if there are any insights of how best to approach it or potential difficulties to be aware of. |
Anonymous
| What do you want them to do? |
Anonymous
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FYI the only thing guaranteed to increase your baby's exposure is to disturb all that old paint.
I have a rental unit in DC and have been a tenant in DC myself. The only rule I'm aware of is that you have to give the tenant a fact sheet/disclosure form stating that all properties built before a certain date have lead. And there can be no flaking peeling paint. |
Anonymous
| When was your apartment built? Just don't strip the paint from the windowsills and you'll be fine. Seriously, fine. |
Anonymous
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What are you hoping to approach them about? Unless you're sanding, stripping, or otherwise disturbing paint, it shouldn't be a problem. If the paint is chipping or peeling somewhere, you might have a problem. If you're chewing on window sills that are painted, that could also be a problem. If your neighbors or landlords are doing any of these things improperly, it could be a problem. Otherwise, there's really nothing to do.
Most paint that is lead-based is probably covered by several more layers of paint that isn't lead-based, particularly if you're in a typical leased property. They should have given you a disclosure form when you signed your lease, but they have to do that for all older properties. I forget the date but I want to say 1969? Lots of things to worry about when you're pregnant, but I suspect this isn't one of them. |
Anonymous
| Approach them to do what? If your apartment has flaking/peeling paint, then yes, you should approach them to deal with it, but otherwise, it's not clear what you want. |
Anonymous
This isn't necessarily true. If there is lead paint on the windows, just opening and closing the windows can produce lead dust. Which you can then track through the rest of the living space just by walking around. I don't want to alarm the OP, but lead and lead paint are nothing to fool with. Depending on when the OP's apartment was built, OP might consider paying for a lead assessment of the apartment. DC has a list of accredited consultants here: http://green.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ddoe/publication/attachments/DC%20Certified%20Lead-Based%20Paint%20Consultant%20Companies%20as%20of%2010-31-13.pdf |
Anonymous
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Buy a lead dust sample kit or two (about $20 each + $25 lab fee)from Home Depot/Lowes/any hardware store. Follow the directions to measure an area (12"x12"), run the sampling cloth over the area, and mail the cloth into the lab. The lab will tell you how many parts of lead per million your house dust has. Every home has some level of lead, so don't be freaked out by 5 parts per million or something like that. You can find acceptable levels of lead dust online.
If you have a significant lead dust, then start talking to your landlord and try to figure out where it's coming from and get a full lead assessment. Disturbing lead paint is likely to cause problems, especially if it's not done very carefully with obsessive clean-up. As an adult, as long as you wash your hands before you eat, don't touch the floor and then stick your hands in your mouth, and don't stick toys from the floor in your mouth, you're not going to ingest much household dust. 6 months-2 years are the times when kids are most in danger of lead poisoning because they're mobile and stick their hands and toys in their mouths. |
Anonymous
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OP here: yes, there is chipping paint and the building is maybe 80 years old.
I am going to contact the management company to obtain a clearance test, which will involve an inspection of the apartment by someone OKed by DC to do such inspections. I am wondering if anyone has personal experience doing this with a DC management company. |
Anonymous
If the building is 80 years old and the apartment is being rented out it's likely that it is already been tested. The management company should have that documentation. |
Anonymous
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Get yourself tested for lead to see if you have it in your blood. Easy peasy. I was living in a 1910 house with tons of peeling paint and my blood showed my lead level was zero.
I think with pregnancy and young kids, you are supposed to make sure there is zero peeling and chipping (they should just paint over it). I think they can also cover somehow the window sills etc but then you may have weird plastic fume exposure. Or maybe they can box the radiators? Not sure. Something like that. |
Anonymous
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With an infant be careful of toys that may chip door jams.
My kids loved the doorway bouncer - but I realized quickly that we were contributing to lead paint issues. Or if you have a push toy that they push into molding or door frames. |
Anonymous
| OP, I don't have experience with this, but suggest you contact DC DOE and talk with someone in their Lead-safe and healthy homes division (http://green.dc.gov/leadsafehealthyhomes). They take lead very seriously in DC. |
Anonymous
I totally disagree with this. I own a 100+ year old house as well. I had myself tested when pregnant and was also at a zero, so I didn't think we had a problem. Later on, at about 9 months old my son had elevated levels that required the city to get involved. If there is peeling and chipping paint, you are not supposed to paint over it, as it will continue to chip and peel - in that case you would have to have it removed or encapsulated (think paneling on a wall or something like that). OP, if the management company is not fully cooperative, for your peace of mind you could pay to have a certified lead inspection company come in to do an inspection ($200-300) - they will tell you if there is lead paint under previous coats of paint (they can check through ~20 coats of paint), which is not necessarily a problem if the paint is in good condition. They will also do dust samples, which is what would indicate whether or not there's a danger to your child. Depending on those results, you could take them to the management company, which they would be required to address within ~30 days... The city's DDOE would probably be helpful if it came to that point. |
Anonymous
| Original poster here. If others rent apartments in DC there is a law that requires the management company to address this and provide a clearance report. I was afraid I would have issues working with our management company on this, but they were great and a company specializing in lead abatement repainted our apartment. |