Phoenix’s Pro Properties fails to comply with lead disclosure laws / Property management company fined for not informing tenants about lead hazards

-

SAN FRANCISCO – March 10, 2009 – (RealEstateRama) — Pro Properties, Inc., one of Phoenix’s largest property management companies, was fined $7,500 for violating federal lead-based paint disclosure requirements at numerous apartment buildings in the Phoenix area.

Pro Properties, Inc. failed to provide federally-required lead warning statements to rental apartment tenants. The company also failed to disclose whether it had information or reports on lead-based paint or lead hazards at these locations prior to tenants signing leasing agreements.

“This information is the key to renters and buyers knowing whether there are potential lead-based paint hazards in their homes,” said Kathy Taylor, the EPA’s associate director of the Communities and Ecosystems Division for the Pacific Southwest Region. “All landlords and home sellers have a responsibility to warn tenants and home buyers that their homes may contain lead hazards.”

The Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act helps prevent exposure — especially of children — to hazards from lead-based paint by requiring disclosure and notification when selling or leasing housing.

Children under six years of age are among the most vulnerable to the harmful effects from lead-based paint and lead hazards, such as dust and contaminated soil. Recent studies indicate that almost one million children nationwide have blood-lead levels above safe limits. Lead poisoning in children can have serious, long-term consequences, including intelligence deficiencies, learning disabilities, hearing impairment, hyperactivity and/or behavioral problems.

More than half of the U.S. housing stock built before 1978 has significant lead-based paint hazards.

The Lead Disclosure Rule requires that landlords or sellers of housing constructed prior to 1978 provide each purchaser or tenant with a lead hazard information pamphlet, any information and/or reports concerning lead-based paint hazards at the property and a Lead Warning Statement to be signed by the parties. Additionally, sellers are required to provide purchasers with an opportunity to conduct a lead-based paint evaluation.

For additional information on lead in paint, dust and soil, visit: http://www.epa.gov/lead/

For more information on lead poisoning call the Arizona Department of Health Services at 1-800-367-6412. If you want your child’s blood lead levels tested, please contact your healthcare provider.

Contact Information: Margot Perez-Sullivan, 415.947.4149 Perezsullivan.margot (at) epa (dot) gov

SHARE
Avatar

Arizona RealEstateRama is an Internet based Real Estate News and Press Release distributor chanel of RealEstateRama for Arizona Real Estate publishing community.

RealEstateRama staff editor manage to selection and verify the real estate news for State of Arizona.

Contact:

Previous articleSAHBA magazine goes ‘green’
Next articleArizona Builders Use Wind Power to Print Magazine