EPA Settles with Bethesda Realty Company over Lead-Paint Rules

Environmental Protection Agency, Feb 08, 2007

Allied Realty Corporation, a Bethesda, Md. real estate and property management firm, will pay a $20,000 civil penalty and has certified it is now in compliance with federal rules for disclosing information about lead-based paint to tenants.

The company agreed to this settlement with EPA which cited Allied Realty for failing to disclose information on lead-based paint to tenants in 13 rental properties in Washington, D.C. and Maryland suburbs between November 2001 and May 2004. As a part of the settlement, Allied has neither admitted nor denied liability for the violations.

“Property managers need to provide information to tenants about lead-based paint. This is especially important to families with young children who could be harmed by exposure to lead-paint. Lead poisoning is preventable and we should all do our part,” said Donald S. Welsh, EPA’s mid-Atlantic regional administrator.

Under the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992, sellers and landlords of residential housing built before 1978 - - when the sale of lead-based house paint was banned - - are required to notify purchasers and tenants about the presence of known lead-based paint or disclose their lack of knowledge of its presence. The law also requires landlords to provide prospective tenants a lead-based paint information pamphlet and a standard warning statement in the lease on the dangers of lead-based paint.