Audits In Milwaukee by HUD Regarding Compliance with Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Laws

A fellow board member on the Apartment Association of SE Wisconsin forwarded the email below to me and other landlord-tenant attorneys and others in the industry. It concerns the recent audits of landlords and management companies in the city of Miwlaukee with regard to complying with the federal lead-based paint disclosure laws. I spoke with a potential client yesterday who was also being audited and had failed to give out the required disclosure forms and pamphlet. The feds seem to have turned up the heat on this issue. Please read the email below and also view my blog post on this topic at http://petriepettit.com/blog/landlord-tenant/lead-based-paint-disclosure-form-you-must-use-this-document Subject: Lead based paint warnings Ladies and gents Our benevolent government is comprised of multitudes of faceless bureaucrats with nothing to do so they dredge up projects to justify their cushy jobs, benefits and pensions. The latest of these to affect our real estate residential industry is that the Dept of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is auditing landlords to be SURE that they give the required Lead warnings to each incoming tenant. Thie would include the pamphlets and forms you received from us and are instructed to use. As our buildings were constructed before 1978 (when lead paint was officially banned - even tho nobody used it for years previous), ALL tenants MUST sign the form and get the pamphlet. For EACH failure to provide the form and pamphlet, the fine can reach $11,000. You can see this could add up to real money real fast. I urge you to check your files and be SURE the lead form is there for each tenant. Those of you who send your leases to the office usually do not send the Lead form which is usually not necessary for tenant management, but it is vital that the forms are available for one of these audits. Today the audits are in the City of Milwaukee. A friend of mine was just audited and the HUD guy was there 3 hours and made many copies of stuff. My friend has about 300 units in Milwaukee. They could audit anywhere next. We will be checking with each of you in the near future to check on this. This is serious. Do not fail. Please take heed of this and make sure you are in compliance -- the penalties are huge and can easily put a landlord out of business.