Rhode Island Landlords Hit for Lead Paint Violations

BOSTON, Massachusetts, May 10, 2004 (ENS) - Three large Rhode Island property owners are accused of violating federal lead paint disclosure rules involving dozens of houses and apartments in Providence, Pawtucket, Woonsocket and several other Rhode Island communities.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) New England Office is pursuing eight enforcement actions, and is seeking up to $730,000 in civil penalties.

The complaints, many of which were initiated at the request of the Rhode Island Department of Health and the state Attorney General’s Office, include alleged violations between 1997 and 2003.

Nearly all of the violations took place in low income and minority neighborhoods and many involved buildings occupied by families with young children.

Infants and young children are most vulnerable to lead paint exposure, which can cause learning disabilities, adverse neurological development, decreased growth, hyperactivity, impaired hearing, and brain damage, the EPA said.

The complaints, filed late in April, involve Topik Enterprises LLC and Lead and Asbestos Encasement Designs (LAED) LLC, companies owned by Woonsocket landlord Roy Topik. These companies are charged with renting apartments in Woonsocket without informing tenants of potential lead paint hazards.

LAED owns or formerly owned 42 rental units in Woonsocket. LAED faces a proposed penalty of $152,460 for failing to provide 19 tenants with the EPA approved lead hazard information pamphlet. LAED is also cited for failing to provide written warnings about the known presence of lead paint hazards in one apartment and records and reports regarding those hazards to a tenant.

Topik Enterprises owns or formerly owned 71 rental units in Woonsocket. Topik faces a proposed penalty of $90,200 for failing to provide EPA’s lead hazard pamphlet to 19 prospective tenants.

The EPA initiated the investigations against these two companies after the state Health Department issued notices of violation and the Attorney General’s Office filed suit and obtained consent orders directing the two companies to clean up four of their properties after finding lead paint hazards.

Four abatement orders came after the Rhode Island Health Department inspected the properties after receiving reports of significantly lead poisoned children at the properties.

Real estate investors Patrick Conley and Norman Reisch are accused of selling homes in Providence, Pawtucket and several other communities without required warnings of potential lead paint hazards in the buildings.

Conley and three of his companies - Options Realty LLC, Skybox Realty RIPG and Sedona Associates - are accused in four civil complaints of violating the federal lead disclosure rule in the sale of six residential properties in Central Falls, Providence and Narragansett between 2000 and 2002. The total proposed penalty against the four entities is up to $157,520.

Authorities say Conley and his companies failed to provide purchasers with lead warning statements and lead hazard information pamphlets and failed to disclose whether they had knowledge and records or reports pertaining to potential lead based paint hazards.

Norman Reisch and two of his companies in Cranston - Juris Realty Associates and the 146 Corp. - are accused in three civil complaints of violating the federal lead disclosure rule in five transactions involving properties in Providence, Warwick and Pawtucket between 1999 and 2000.

Two of the transactions involved children between the ages of six and 18 and one involved a child under six. In at least one instance, Reisch had knowledge of an outstanding lead abatement order and failed to disclose the related lead based paint records to a family with three small children. Reisch and the companies face proposed penalties of up to $330,100.

The federal lead disclosure rule requires that property owners and realtors provide prospective tenants and buyers – before they buy or rent a property – with an EPA approved lead hazard information pamphlet, "Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home."

The pamphlet provides important information about lead exposure from paint, dust and soil. It highlights health risks that can be caused by lead exposure and it offers suggestions to guard against exposure and potential lead poisoning.

The law makes clear that property managers, agents, lessors and sellers are all responsible for complying with this rule. They must keep documentation of the disclosure actions for at least three years.

For more information on the federal lead-based paint disclosure rule, visit the agency’s website at: http://www.epa.gov/ne/enforcement/leadpaint/index.html