Having a small child and renting an apartment WITH lead - landlord discrimination? (Boston: leasing)

[mephie]

Hello,

I found a great place that is walkable to where I work and I’d like to get the place. The landlord told me what the rent would be, and that he had to talk with his lawyer to update the application and that he would send it to me very soon. In the interim, I saw the building manager, who lives in the triplex, and she showed me both floors that were available.

I told the landlord from the start that my wife is pregnant, due in late October. The apartment is available for September 1st. He knew that deleading would have to take place in some of the rooms. He seemed open to this.

I have the feeling that he is no longer interested in renting to us, as he found out how much deleading would cost him. I have emailed him once this week, as he was supposed to respond by Tuesday with an update, and he hasn’t written back.

Do I have any rights? This is a perfect apartment for us and we want it!

If I continue looking for a new place to live, should I just not tell landlords that I'm having a child, so they can't discriminate before we move in?

[Beachcomber4]

Go right ahead, be dishonest then maybe you will be stuck there, with lead and your child will get lead poisoning and you can sue the landlord. How does that sound? Or maybe your child will be fine but you still force the landlord to delead and you and your family will be displaced during the process. Not fun with an infant or toddler but if it works for you.

The problem is, one fleck of paint and then the property is out of compliance again. Maybe the landlord can't afford the deleading? This doesn't sound like discrimination to me but rather a landlord that needs to take care of himself and maybe his family and the cost of getting his apartment ready for your family is too expensive. If you want to spin it as discrimination and file a complaint, go for it. But karma is....well you know.

[mephie]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber4

Go right ahead, be dishonest then maybe you will be stuck there, with lead and your child will get lead poisoning and you can sue the landlord. How does that sound? Or maybe your child will be fine but you still force the landlord to delead and you and your family will be displaced during the process. Not fun with an infant or toddler but if it works for you.

The problem is, one fleck of paint and then the property is out of compliance again. Maybe the landlord can't afford the deleading? This doesn't sound like discrimination to me but rather a landlord that needs to take care of himself and maybe his family and the cost of getting his apartment ready for your family is too expensive. If you want to spin it as discrimination and file a complaint, go for it. But karma is....well you know.

So, what do you suggest? Seems like it is very hard to find a landlord to rent to anyone in the city.

Also, if that's the case, why won't the landlord call me and tell me that? Why would he ignore me? If it isn't discrimination, why won't he tell me that he can't afford the deleading?

[kmann-sherborn]

Yes, you have rights. Contact the Department of Public Health Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program and explain the situation. Landlords are not allowed to discriminate against you because you're tenants that would require the home to be deleaded. I believe the only instance where someone can do that is if they live in a home and are renting out an apartment at the same home.

[mephie]

Originally Posted by kmann-sherborn

Yes, you have rights. Contact the Department of Public Health Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program and explain the situation. Landlords are not allowed to discriminate against you because you're tenants that would require the home to be deleaded. I believe the only instance where someone can do that is if they live in a home and are renting out an apartment at the same home.

Thanks. So the fact that I haven't signed a lease with the landlord shouldn't be an issue? Do you have any suggestions for finding a place to live - if for whatever reason this one does not work out - in the Cambridge area, that is deleaded, or able to be deleaded?

[kmann-sherborn]

I believe so. I'd find a phone number at that state site I mentioned that deals with lead paint issues. I just contacted them recently for an article I was writing about homeowners leasing their homes and what they needed to do re: lead paint and they were very helpful.

If that doesn't work out, you might consider looking for places that either are newer (built after 1978 when lead paint was banned) or are certified deleaded.

Best of luck!

[miu]

If you are able to force this landlord to rent this apartment to you, I hope that he will be able to increase the rent in order to help cover his costs of deleading the apartment.

Otherwise, just look for a younger apartment (after 1978 construction) to rent.

[WWWWWWW]

Landlords have a duty to their tenants, who include children, and should be burdened by the obligation to furnish safe homes, as they are benefited by the tenants who live in them. If the law and landlords do not care for the children, they should be forced to furnish safe places, or run out of business, which they have no desire to perform in a responsible manner. They MA legislature needs to act on this. For more than five years now children have been left by the legislature to the nefarious ways of landlords who care more for bread in their jar than the health of our children.

[AbrasaxEos]

Having recently been through something similar, I can say that it is tough. If you haven't signed the lease I don't actually know that you have tons of recourse unless you prove that the LL blatantly discriminated against you. Most likely, if you pushed him on it, he would claim something like income guidelines or just that another person applied for the apartment and "it was a tough choice, but I decided to go with them." He wouldn't tell you this because then you would have a pretty clear case of the discrimination that you could easily take him to court over.

It is a LL market in Boston as there are lots of applications for every apartment, so they really have their choice of tenant. So if it is between you, for whom he knows that he will have to spend 10k on deleading in the next year and another equally good tenant who he won't, he'll probably just choose the latter. You could take him to court on it and make your case, but without a lease or some other form of written agreement it will basically be your word against his. It will probably take a few months, and cost some money for a lawyer - so such is the reason why most of the time, no one bothers.

Overall, because of the old housing stock in the area, a deleaded place is hard to find. You may have a chance here though in that you don't currently have a child in tow - if you move in and have a child under a lease, I think the LL has to delead. You have far more recourse in this case as well against unreasonable rent increase. So, I would not mention it if it is not yet obvious. My own saga of finding a lead-free place was somewhat difficult, but I managed to do so in Watertown. The housing stock here is slightly newer, and with more families around, LLs may be more likely to delead to get a longer-term, more stable tenant. Plus, even if you do find a place, there are lots of other people who are also going to be vying for it for just this reason. Many of these people may have a lot more money than you do, and as a result a LL may simply choose them based on that fact that someone who makes 200k a year is probably going to have less trouble paying rent than one making even 75k! Best of luck and be vigilant about looking - you may need to find a agent as they will be able to find you places that are deleaded, or work with a LL who may be on the fence about it. I think in this case, it is worth the fee that you will have to pay.