The Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Advisory Committee was asked to deliver a Lead-Safe Rental Housing Plan to the Governor and General Assembly by January 1st.
Senate Bill 9, passed this year, tasked the committee with creating recommendations on how to ensure all rental properties built before January 1, 1978 are screened for lead based paint hazards.
These screenings must take place before the rental is made available to a new tenant, and at least once before January 1, 2026.
The bill requires all lead based paint hazards to be abated or remediated promptly on discovery.
The committee approved 11 recommendations for implementing the plan, including amending the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code to create penalties for landlords that fail to provide a Lead-Safe or Lead-Free certification.
“This secondary prevention of using children to be the trip wire as to whether a house is dangerous is just the wrong approach," Committee Vice Chair Bill Bowser said, referring to Delaware’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, requiring all children be screened for lead at 12 months of age and again at 24 months of age.
“With respect to ‘it’s not our fault, we didn’t paint it in there,’ this has been a banned substance, banned poison, for 45 years. It’s time to get it done and time to get it cleaned up," he added, pushing back on concerns that some penalties are too tough on landlords.
The recommendations include a civil penalty of $500/day, as well as suspension of access to summary possession for rental units that fail to file a Lead-Safe or Lead-Free Certification.
The recommendations and proposed legislation now head to the governor and General Assembly for consideration.
