By now I'm sure most of you have heard about the Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) legislation that was signed into law by our President and took effect on April 22nd. This is a federal regulatory program affecting anyone who disturbs painted surfaces where lead may be present.
Anyone, including any owner or property manager, or any contractor, including renovators, electricians, HVAC specialists, plumbers, painters and maintenance staff, who disrupts more that 6 square feet of lead paint in a pre-1978 home now must be EPA Lead-Safe Certified.
Want to do your own painting on a rental house that you own? Take the proper courses and apply for your license from the EPA. Just a couple more additional expenses. Failure to do so can result in fines upwards of $30,000 plus civil liability.
Hire someone to paint that's not certified? The liability falls back on you.
Want to bore yourself to tears reading all the fine print of this? Here's a link:
http://epa.gov/lead/pubs/renovation.htm
Now, here's where it gets confusing.
According to the CDC stats, it appears that the # of confirmed elevated blood lead levels (EBLL's) cases has dropped from 7.5% in 1997 to approx. 1.0% in 2006 nationally. In Georgia the drop has been 2.0% in 1998 to 0.29% in 2006. This is great news! Now why the expensive regulations to homeowners?
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/data/State_Confirmed_ByYear_1997_2007Total.pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/data/StateConfirmedByYear_1997_2007Web.htm Georgia
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/data/state/2006/GA_CaseRate2006.JPG by county
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/data/state/2006/GA_CountyLevelSummary_2006.xls
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/data/PbNationalData.htm#Georgia
Thanks Uncle Sam. The real estate industry and homeowners really need your heavy handed tactics now.
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