by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Property managers take heed.
Following the rules surrounding dealing with mold, members of the Armed Forces, lead-based paint, radon gas and the fair housing law can make all the difference in the world when it comes to avoiding litigation and keeping tenants happy.
Jim Mitchell, a real estate attorney with Baker and Hostetler in Orlando, spent approximately an hour updating property managers on new laws, upcoming issues and the dos and don’ts of real estate at last month’s Northeast Florida Association of Residential Property Managers luncheon at the Homewood Suites Hotel on Baymeadows Road.
Mitchell said every year there is a different hot topic with property managers and he thinks mold will be a hot topic for a while.
“Mold is gold,” said Mitchell. “There is going to be a lot of litigation and a lot of money made off of mold whether you are a plaintiff’s attorney or in the mitigation field. I think mold is going to be a major issue.”
The remediation to get rid of mold is to go in clean it out and rebuild.
“The additional step is to create a barrier to the mold coming in,” said Mitchell. “It has something to do with air flow in and air flow out and whether you have your air conditioning on 24 hours a day or not. It’s a real problem. Pay attention to it.
“When a speaker talks about mold, take advantage of it and learn as much as you can. It is an issue that is not going to go away any time soon.”
Mitchell discussed some bills that became effective last July 1 that impact the property management industry.
“One of the provisions deals with the Armed Forces,” said Mitchell. “If you have a tenant who is a member of the Armed Forces and they receive orders to transfer 35 or more miles away, they have the privilege of being able to break the lease giving you written notice of 30 days. The notice has to include a copy of the official military orders or a written verification signed by the member’s commanding officer.”
Another provision he discussed dealt with the death of a member of the military while on active duty. He said the member’s immediate family can terminate the rental agreement in the same 30-day time frame.
“If the member of the Armed Forces who has signed a lease with you receives orders to move before they have even taken occupancy, and they get the orders 14 or more days prior to occupancy, they can walk away from the lease with no damages at all,” said Mitchell.
Other topics he discussed included lead-based paint and radon gas rules.
“The government requires that anytime you rent or sell a house that was built before 1978, you must give the new tenant or owner a copy of the lead-based paint disclosure pamphlet,” he said.
Specifically, he focused on renovations to a housing constructed prior to 1978.
“There is such a thing as the lead-based paint pre-renovation education rule,” he said. “The rules requires that anytime you do any kind of construction or renovation that will damage or disturb more than two square feet, you are required to give notice to the tenant, and possibly all the tenants in the building depending on where the renovations are taking place, and to the owner.”
This rule doesn’t only apply to property managers or owners — it also applies to general contractors who do work in private homes.
Mitchell said in order to decide if the rule is applicable to you, you have to ask yourself some questions.
“The first question is, does the job involve renovation which will disturb painted surfaces?,” he said. “If the answer is no, then it does not apply. If the answer is yes, then it would apply. The next set of questions are: Is this an emergency renovation?, Is it a lead abatement project? Does it consist of two square feet or less? Has the home already been certified as being lead free, is it a zero bedroom unit or is it a housing for the elderly? If the answer is yes to any of those, then it doesn’t apply. Those are all the exemptions to lead paint.”
If the answer is no, he said the property manager or person doing work must give the lead-based paint disclosure pamphlet to the owner and tenant.
“For an owner-occupied dwelling, you can give it one or two ways, either by mailing it seven days in advance of the renovations taking place or handing it to them before the renovation,” he said. “In a tenant occupied dwelling unit, the law requires that you give the pamphlet to the owner either by mailing it seven days in advance or giving it to them personally. You also have to give it to the tenant, by either mailing it seven days in advance or handing it to them personally. For multiple tenants, each one should receive the disclosure.”
After you give the pamphlet, the owner or tenant needs to sign a confirmation of receipt. If they refuse to sign it or are unavailable to sign it, the form has a box to check that the person was unavailable to sign and then the agent or general contractor must sign it and date it.
This rule does not apply to transient rentals or 100 days or less. Also, if an property manager gives the disclosure when a tenant takes occupancy and a week later renovations are going to occur, they must give the disclosure again.
For more information, go to www.epa.gov/lead.
Mitchell also said real estate agents and property managers are required to give radon gas disclosure pamphlet whenever leasing or selling commercial or residential property. There are no exceptions.
Mitchell went on to discuss fair housing law and gave several examples of what can happen if owners and property managers don’t adhere to the law.
One example that he shared was how a former employee of a property manager went to the Department of Justice and told them that she was told to lie to families with children about the availability of units at eight different complexes around the city. If they didn’t have children, then units would be available.
“They sent in testers who determined that this was the case and a $50,000 fine was assessed against the real estate company for the violation,” said Mitchell.
Dee Bumbarger, president of the association, said that they are changing the meeting day to every other month and will be moving the meeting location each time as well.
“We will have meetings at the beach, on Southside, Mandarin and in Orange Park. So hopefully one of the meetings will be near you,” she said.