Report them. It sounds like they knowingly put you at risk (didn't give you the disclosure firms) and that you've been the ideal tenants because you haven't created any issues/drama. I don't think this is a moment to keep your "gold star" status. I think they knowingly hid a problem and will knowingly rent to others with kids again.

22:15 there isn't this type of anonymous forum that is as readily used by people. I am just trying to get a general opinion of how others would handle the situation.

Discrimination because under the fair housing law they can't kick us out bc we have children (which they knew about from day 1) Once they know the house has failed the inspection they have to deal with it in some way, not just kick us out and hope the next person won't care about the lead.

OP here, they leave for FL for the winter on Wednesday and have a feeling they have no intention of dealing with this by that point. As I said the 77 yr old is a big do it yourselfer and I am sure they just assume we will move, he will cover it with a shitty coat of paint that will eventually chip and hope that the next tenant won't notice. We are pretty clear that is what they think is going to happen. If they don't comply and get the proper lead remodelers in there to take care of the problems within the timeline they will have to appear in court and be reported to the housing authories. Once that happens the inspector says they are screwed. The whole thing seems crazy. I get it they don't want to put money into the house and like to do it themselves but this isn't something to mess with.

Just move on, and report them. In any event, you will have to move because they show no intention to delead the house and you are not willing to live there under those circumstances. However, I think your inspector is off base.... how is it discrimination that they don't want to delead their house? Stupid I know, but discrimination?

Why are you posting on DCUM if you are in MA? Shouldn't you be posting in an equivalent forum in MA so that proper state laws can be cited? DC/MD/VA lawyers can not help you in MA. You realize that, right?

Anonymous wrote:OP again the most ridiculous was when I told them I was getting the inspector and they told me to move bc it was going to fail they honestly acted as if they were doing me a favor. That I was that stupid not to look into my rights, they are very old and naive and I honestly don't think they believe anything will come of this. If they just complied and had the place deleaded for around 20k they would make of easy. If we pursue this it's going to be a much larger problem for them.

Just tell them what you said here. Explain what will happen (with the inspector reporting them - mandatory for him) and tell them to comply before it gets worse.

Anonymous wrote:Every old house has lead. If you aren't eating lead chips and the paint isn't flaking it isn't the end of the world.

Do you have kids?

OP already said her kids' numbers are increasing!

Realistically, what are you hoping they will do? Remediate fullt, or just repaint or do some smaller fix that will make things safer until you are ready to move on your own timetable? If the latter, seems like you have plenty of leverage to get them d o do this and let you stay.

OP again the most ridiculous was when I told them I was getting the inspector and they told me to move bc it was going to fail they honestly acted as if they were doing me a favor. That I was that stupid not to look into my rights, they are very old and naive and I honestly don't think they believe anything will come of this. If they just complied and had the place deleaded for around 20k they would make of easy. If we pursue this it's going to be a much larger problem for them.

They lied to your family about something that has the potential to seriously injure your children. And now they want to punish YOU for "catching" them in that lie. I understand you think they are decent people, but, come on, a decent person would never have treated your family so poorly to begin with. The decent thing to do would be to let them know before you report them and report them.

Every old house has lead. If you aren't eating lead chips and the paint isn't flaking it isn't the end of the world.

If we report them the housing authority can look into all their past lease records up till 2000 when the EPA put this law into effect and fine them $16,000 per violation (it was $11,000 up until June 2011) They are elderly and I know this would ruin their lives so I am hesitant to do it but the alternative is me rolling over losing my own money for a problem I didn't create after they rented to us under false pretenses.

I'd definitely report them. You're not doing it to ruin their lives. You're doing it because they didn't respect you. It's your right!

I posted last week about a lead issue in our MA house rental. Fast forward to today, we have had a wonderful relationship with out landlords to date. Prior to moving in we asked if the house was deleaded because we had children and obviously knew about the dangers of lead paint and the strict lead laws in MA. We were assured the house was lead free and were never given any Lead Disclosure contract to sign (which further assured us the property was safe). Fast forward to 3 weeks ago we find there is lead in our 1 yr old DD system (not high levels but were told to find the source). Landlord assured again the house was taken care of when we approached them to say we were going to treat painted surfaces with TSP. They say it might be the water so we get Poland Spring that day and they have the water tested. Friday we find out it's not the water and I begin testing painted wood surfaces like a crazy woman. Found lead paint immediately and the 77 yr old do it yourself landlord begins tearing down boards (which I no know should never have been done) and when he leaves 2 hrs later I find there is still lead there. We have cordoned off these areas from the children since then and in order to maintain our good relationship with them approached the situation rationally. I called to get estimates for lead inspectors and let them know I would be having someone in to check the house the response was "Well go ahead and do that but I am sure the house will fail and we won't be deleading it so we have decided it's probably best if you move. We have loved having you but it's time for you to go" So inspector comes, they fail the inspection and they have 20 days to comply, which we are sure will not be happening bc they don't want to spend the money

Up until this week our plan was to wait until DH bonus in Feb and stay in the house 6 months till we had a sufficient down payment and savings to move. The levels aren't so high that they are killing us slowly but the inspector has indicated that the landlords have broken many laws and should be reported to the proper people. They failed to provide the EPA lead disclosure therefore renting to us under false pretenses, failing to comply once the inspector told them about the problem, discrimination housing practices trying to evict us bc we have children. The inspector believes that if I open this can of worms and have the state housing inspector in there will be further issues for them beyond the lead, plus they another rental unit on the street and haven't been providing the lead disclosure form since it came about in 2000.

How would you proceed? We are not trying to ruin their lives but we can't roll over on this and let them continue to rent without dealing with it. If we do nothing and move out the inspector says it's his responsibility to report them anyway. We have heard day for close to two years that we are the perfect tenants and were thrilled to have us and now to cut costs they want to kick us out. The inspector (who deals with this daily) said we should not pay next months rent and place the check in a new escro account so if this is taken to court we can easily show, this wasn't about money, if they complied we would have paid on the first as we have done every month since we moved in.