Anonymous wrote: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.

Why would you rent without the lead disclosure form? Why do you want to stay in the unit? Mass has a data base of lead inspected homes so just look up each potential property for yourself:
http://webapps.ehs.state.ma.us/Leadsafehomes/default.aspx

The landlord could do everything properly for lead abatement but you still shouldn't be in the unit and I believe you still pay rent during that period only they have to find a reasonable place for you. The EPA has national regs on lead abatement.
http://www.homeconstructionimprovement.com/new-lead-paint-law-effective-april-22-2010/

So why pay them any more rent? What security deposit do they have? Let the govt inspectors do their jobs. Just be glad you don't own the property. One reason we bought our current house was the build date.

Anonymous wrote:^^^ If This goes to jury and I was one of them I would not give minimal damaged (like 2 months of rent) but I would NEVER award you the past rent money since any reasonable person would have demanded to see the papers comprising the deleading had been done properly.

God luck op.

Attorney here. BS nobody would demand to see the report on a rental . And this would be a bench trial. Ugh.

Ok. Killing you slowly or not this crap is dangerous. They have endangered your child and told you to piss off. Not only would I move I would sue them for all the additional costs and try figure out damages... That's your down payment. But really YIKES! You cannot put a price on your health safety or your kids health. Not saying theses guys deserve to have their lives "ruined" but they may be the cause of lead in your kid's system. F them!

Anonymous wrote: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.

OP, you asked the landlord about lead paint and he told you everything was fine. However, you did not ask to see the inspection report; you knew it was an old house and you did not have your own inspection done. Maybe it's contributory negligence on your part. The time and money you will spend isn't worth it. Also, he isn't discriminating against you because you have kids, he simply doesn't want to put out that much money to fix the problem. Just move and get on with your life.

Anything built before 1970 has lead paint. The safest is to have all paint fresh, no peeling, etc. Deleading is a messy job and can do more harm initially then good. It is best to just slab on thick fresh, paint. No sanding, etc.
We lived in a 1880 rowhouse in Georgetown when I was pregnant and had a toddler. I was neurotic about the water and 'dust'. I was continually advised by the medical community that we would have to be eating huge amounts of paint chips for any harm. Kids and I were repeatedly tested for lead levels (our blood levels were always nearly non-existent for lead...well below what would statistically be normal). when we did do minor renovations I moved in with my mom for a week and had dh neurotically clean, wet mop, etc. We also had vents covered.

Be worried about old carpeting that could harbor lead dust from earlier renovations. We had newly sanded wood floors so no harm there.

As a landlord- i know I have safely lived in the house as a pregnant woman and with babies. Fortunately--the past 7 years we have rented to a single bachelor and one family that go pregnant and had a baby there. I did advise the pregnant woman about DC water and to filter, filter, filter or buy bottled.

It sounds like no matter what you do, the inspector is going to report them. You have no control over how your landlord handles the fallout from that and it's not your responsibility anyway. Just focus on getting your family a safer place to live.

Just a note of caution here -- if the paint isn't peeling or chipping, it may not be the cause of your child's elevated lead levels. If the paint is on windows or doors so that it is regularly abraded, then intact paint can be a problem, but paint on a wall, say, probably isn't. It could be some pottery or even china; it could be lead-contaminated soil.

Move, by all means; you'd have to move out anyway for the lead abatement work to be done. I don't know what to say about dealing with the landlord -- it's much more important to protect the children.

Just move. To delead, what ever that means, you really need an empty house that can be completely sealed up. No furniture or personal effects. We removed all our trim due to our concern for lead, mostly pre-child. Basically you have two options - clean and paint but it is still there or replace everything that has lead on it. With painting, surfaces can get scuffed/exposed. We choose to replace but they needed to be done anyway. If you KNOW your child is being medically impacted and the long term impact can be serious, get out! Its not worth the hassle or financial savings and the fix really can't be done with you in the house.

OP, your landlord should not be renting property if he can't follow the law.

11:44 if you read the first two pages of this thread you would see that I was trying to avoid reporting them. Even if we move out and they don't comply the lead inspector will report them. So really I don't even need to do anything. Furthermore, it has nothing to do with being bitter, again if you read the thread I was trying to avoid any problems for them and save them from large fines to the EPA.

Don't report these people...just move. You sound just horrible. I understand the lead issue--it could be abated with a coat of paint. You sound like the typical bitter tenant who is basically angry that they don't themselves own the property. You will be ruining these people's lives. Old houses in MA are full of lead. EVERYONE KNOWS THIS. The argument will be made that you consented to the rental of the property w/o a lead certificate. You might lose. And then you will have to pay their attorney fees.

And btw, to the PP who mentioned how he would vote on a jury; there is no jury in a landlord/tenant cases--just a potentially ornery judge.

Typos IPhone.... Sorry

Just get out OP - why are you talking about waiting until Feb? And I wouldn't put too much stock in getting "damages" - I don't know the law in MA but every real estate/contractor/etc I've ever dealt with has advised that you must presume there is lead paint somewhere in a home constructed before 1980. Unless the landlord gave you something in writing falsely attesting to lead abatement, you've got a he-said-she-said situation, and it's unlikely the landlord will be forced to repay your rent.

^^^ If This goes to jury and I was one of them I would not give minimal damaged (like 2 months of rent) but I would NEVER award you the past rent money since any reasonable person would have demanded to see the papers comprising the deleading had been done properly.

God luck op.

I am pretty clear on what we are going to do. We will start to look for a place today, notify them of our intent to go forward with reporting them and most likely look for damages on this because it's going to be a cost we weren't looking to incur. After talking to a lawyer, they could be liable for rent we have ever paid them after renting to us under false pretenses. Many of you are right, I was trying not to put these old people up shits creak but their naivety and laziness have lead me no other choice but to report them for others safety.