Hello REALTORS®,
Last week, the SC Association of REALTORS® (SCR) reported that the EPA is in South Carolina again looking for violations of the federal Lead Paint Rule.
Enforcement of the Lead Paint Rule in South Carolina is led by the EPA’s Atlanta office. However, the SC Department of Environmental Services also has enforcement responsibility for the lead paint rule under the SC Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention and Control Act.
Why is the Lead Paint Rule Important?
Exposure to lead is harmful to humans, especially young children. Lead paint was banned for residential use in 1978. But prior to that, and especially prior to 1970, lead could be found in many products, including gasoline. While lead paint hasn’t been used for decades, homes built before 1978 could still have lead paint in them, often below several layers of modern paint—waiting to surface if scraped or if the paint begins to peel.
That is why the federal government requires contractors and others involved in remodeling older homes to be certified to properly manage their work when lead is found.
Property Managers and the Lead Paint Rule
The Lead Paint Rule doesn’t just apply to contractors; it also applies to property managers who manage older properties. This is because property managers are almost always involved in facilitating remodeling and repairs, which includes painting.
If you are a property manager:
- Managing housing that was built before 1978.
- Managing any property built before 1978 that is occupied by a child (like a childcare center).
- Performing or contracting to perform regulated construction activity that disturbs lead paint at the property.
Your property management company employees handling those repairs must have an individual certification as a certified Lead Safe Renovator and YOUR COMPANY must complete a Lead Safe Firm certification.
Even if your company subcontracts renovation and repair work, your firm and employees must be certified by the EPA. In addition, you must use a certified renovator if the work disturbs lead paint. These certifications have an expiration date, so it is important that those certifications are kept up to date.
You can learn more about complying with these new rules by visiting this EPA webpage on lead paint.
Anderson County Update: Subdivisions
Anderson County Council is considering an ordinance that, if enacted, would mean the county will no longer accept streets in new subdivisions into the county maintenance program. This will be a serious future problem for homeowners when their streets require routine maintenance like repairing potholes.
RPAC is Important
If real estate is your profession, advocacy is your business. And these advocacy results highlight the importance of supporting your association’s advocacy program. RPAC is an important element of that advocacy program.
About one-third of our members support RPAC, including some who do more—a lot more.
One member who has done a lot more is Lorraine Harding of Lorraine Harding Real Estate in Seneca. Lorraine is a Major Investor, which means she contributes to RPAC at the $1,000 level each year. Lorraine is also a member of the NAR RPAC Hall of Fame, having contributed more than $25,000 to RPAC during her career in real estate. Thank you, Lorraine, for your leadership in supporting RPAC.
I encourage all Realtors to support RPAC, and we make it easy to do so. We include a voluntary $25 RPAC contribution ($100 for brokers) on your annual dues renewal. Simply pay it and you have supported RPAC. If you want to do more, that’s easy too.
Michael Dey, Director of Government Affairs