I'm trying to change house insurance companies and The Hartford (the new company) says I need to have my rental unit tested for lead paint by a qualified lead inspector and then send the insurance company a copy of the official inspection report.
So? Why is this a problem? It's like a preexisting illness. The company doesn't want to be pay claims by any of your tenants if the place turns out to be contaminated. Sounds like a normal business concern to me.
insurance will likely put a non covered for existing lead hazards in your new policy.....
The only local yellow pages listing is an inspector who uses nondestructive testing and it would cost $400-$450 (because of the fancy nuclear equipment)!? Jim's specialty at B&W is nondestructive testing so he will check into possible options with a colleague of his. I also have a call in to the Health Dept...environmental section and to the DEQ...no responses so far...but I need to give it more time. Maybe it's too soon to run it past the gurus!? But maybe you know stuff about testing for lead paint to determine that they are above or below HUD toxic levels. Oh, the joys of home ownership:-\\
we have heard of this liability concern that comes up as you describe on rental units constructed in the lead paint years. you may be better off staying with your present insurer while you investigate lead. NY state requires lead disclosure be provided to tenants and purchasers of property. i would not be surprised in the future to see radon testing, carbon monoxide testing of heating units, mold testing, soil testing for contaminants, and safe well water testing.
Last time I was at Home Depot, I saw they had kits for testing for lead in paint...they were on the paint counter...I think it was a 'nondestructive' type test. You could pick up one or two and test the paint to see if you even want a 'qualified' inspector to test it.
Lev> I'm trying to change house insurance companies and The Hartford (the
I'd want that done too. OK if it is your family, but with a rental and the potential for lawsuits, any insurance company would want some evidence of lead free. How old is the house? If it is pre-1978 it may have lead, if it is pre 1960 it most likely has or had lead. If it is pre 1950, you can bet it did. If it was professionally abated, a certificate may be all that is needed.
I own a Section 8 rental unit, and the only thing they ever said, was that the paint can't be flaking.
If you buy a house (at least here - Rochester NY) that's over a certain age, it might have lead paint under several coats of newer paint, so you get a disclosure statement that you have to sign, indicating that you understand the situation. Doesn't matter if you have children who might eat paint chips. The seller can sell the house and the buyer can buy the house. There's no guarantee that the buyer who has little kids will do anything to remedy the situation, or that their kids will be properly supervised so they don't gnaw on the window sills. Rentals are assumed to be a different situation. Either the landlord might be a cheap bastard who doesn't fix the situation, or that tenants' kids are more likely to be unsupervised, or hungry enough to eat paint chips.
Why not just prohibit renting to families with kids, if the building is as risky as some private homes?
I grew up in a big city with plenty of houses that had lead paint. None of us had lead poisoning. Now that lead had been banned for 30 years and had fallen from use before that anyway, lead poisoning seems to be very high. Older houses have often been renovated and lead removed making the incidence even less likely, but kids are still getting it. What is going on? Do we not feed the kids the right foods and so they chew on paint? I can sort of understand a toddler chewing on his crib, but a windowsill?
PS: we also ate peanut butter and did not have allergies and were not ADD or whatever is so popular today.
Lead paint can contaminate even with no peeling paint from windows that have been painted. Every time a window goes up and down old lead paint on the chain-rope and tracks is released. There is a program in Chicago from CIC where half your cost of window replacement is free if you qualify. I know a building I own was cited with high levels and there is no peeling paint. We just put in 110 new windows because of lead issues.
For the renter stay with your company, any issue will be lead in your blood which can be tested for.
There are still a lot of homes that have copper pipes with lead solder.
.....and 38 feet of ancient electrical tape wrapped around each connection. I can't tell you how many time I considered arson as a solution in my previous house. :-)
My last house still had the lead supply line from the street. None of us ever got lead poisoning from it. Thousands of houses were built with lead supply in the 1940's.
Actually it is a Federal law for pre 1978 construction. Or at least an EPA regulation.
Any known hazards must be disclosed. If you have never tested the property you must disclose that. You must also give them a little pamphlet and they must sign off on all of the above.
Stupid little booklets cost 50 cents each.
Colbyt
Not such a bad idea. Young, first time homeowners can be pretty clueless. Paint *does* turn into chips sometimes. Kids *do* sometimes nibble on whatever they see. Why should the kids pay for their parents' ignorance?
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