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Federal Lead Dust Rules About to Take Effect

March 28th, 2010 · 1 Comment

On April 22nd, a new federal regulation to protect children from lead poisoning is scheduled to be implemented. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandate will require “contractors who work in older homes…to become certified by a government-approved trainer and follow certain precautions, such as covering floors with plastic sheeting and dressing workers in protective clothing,” according to a recent, Wall Street Journal article.

A big problem is that the EPA has estimated 212,000 companies and 236,000 contractors need to be certified. As of last month, only 135 firms and fewer than 14,000 individuals had been certified. For this reason, industry organizations, as well as businesses such as Home Depot and Lowe’s, want to delay implementation.

Environmental rules are an important part of Realtor disclosures during real estate transactions. I expect to hear much more about this at upcoming meetings of the National Association of Realtors in May and the California Association of Realtors in June.

For more information, see “New Lead Dust Paint Law Affects Home Repairs.”

Tags: Environment · General Information · Going Green · Real Estate · Real Estate in the News

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