Info Pack - Renting and Lead, NSW

By Elizabeth O'Brien, BSc, Grad Dip in Educational Studies (Health Educ'n), Manager, Global Lead Advice & Support Service (GLASS) run by The LEAD Group Inc. Australia

Enviro Check, SESA and New Environment [a subsidiary of HEGGIES] are three lead assessors we know of in NSW. Please see their entries at www.lead.org.au/clp/assessorsnsw.html if you wish to contact them or you can pass their details on if you wish to request that your real estate agent organise a home lead assessment (sampling for laboratory analysis, report-writing) after the peeling paint cleanup. Alternatively, your real estate agent could arrange to bring Martin Bagnall of Sampling Technologies and his X-Ray Fluorescence machine for on-the-spot lead assessment by XRF and a print-out of the results. See www.sampletech.com.au

Mentioning the expensive home lead assessment by a lead assessor is often a good preparatory move to then suggesting the use of a DIY-sampling lead assessment kit which is half to quarter the cost of a lead assessor. See www.lead.org.au/fs/DIY_sampling_lead_analysis_kits_flyer_20111214.pdf - the samples can be sent in two batches if preferred so that you have both pre- and post-repainting dust wipe and soil results to check on whether the painting contractor has done a lead-safe job and finally whether the home and yard is lead-safe for a child or pet. Mentioning the DIY-sampling kit ($250 for LEAD Group members or $275 for non-members) is a good preparatory move to then discussing the option that, at the very least, they reimburse you for the cost of testing the flaking paint and paint dust with the spot test kit (eg Lead Check). Note that if the colour on the tip of the tester turned pink when you used it on paint dust, then the dust must contain at least 0.5% lead, which is equivalent to 5000 parts per million (ppm) lead - a very high figure indeed!

When dealing with your agent or landlord, put everything in writing! That's the key.

In addition to the factsheet "Lead paint & ceiling dust management - how to do it lead-safely [Info Pack 3]" at www.lead.org.au/fs/fst38.html, please find our info pack for tenants below and follow the links.

Unfortunately the NSW Department of Environment & Climate Change has, for no good reason, taken the part of the Lead Safe Renovator's Guide that they did web-publish, off their website, so you need to go to the Google Archive to find it: Part of A Renovator's Guide to the Dangers of Lead is available on-line at http://web.archive.org/web/20070830233627/www.epa.nsw.gov.au/leadsafe/leadinf4.htm

The full version is available on our website at www.lead.org.au/fs/lead_safe/A_Renovator_Guide_To_The_Dangers_Of_Lead_Lead_Safe.pdf

Please find in a recent newsletter at www.lead.org.au/lanv9n4/LEAD_Action_News_vol_9_no_4.pdf, a letter to a real estate agent, written by a tenant who had to move his family out of a lead-contaminated home but who was later compensated for various costs and refunded his rent.

I hope this helps but please re-contact if you have any further questions.

No 1 - Residential Tenancies Act - Tenants Rights Fact sheet - Your Rights Under The Residential Tenancies Act Tenants Advice And Advocacy Service http://intranet.tenants.org.au/print/fs01-2010.pdf

No 6 - Repairs and Maintenance - Tenants Rights Fact sheet - Your Rights Under The Residential Tenancies Act Tenants Advice And Advocacy Service http://intranet.tenants.org.au/print/fs06-2010.pdf

No 9 - You Want To Leave - Tenants Rights Factsheet - Your Rights Under The Residential Tenancies Act Tenants Advice And Advocacy Service http://intranet.tenants.org.au/print/fs09-2010.pdf

No 11 - Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal - Tenants Rights Fact sheet - Your Rights Under The Residential Tenancies Act Tenants Advice And Advocacy Service http://intranet.tenants.org.au/print/fs11.pdf

AS 4361.2 Lead - Guide To Lead Paint Management - Preventing Lead Poisoning In Australia Specifier Vol 7 Issue 2 www.lead.org.au/clp/AS4361.2.html

No 26 - Asbestos and Lead - Tenants Rights Factsheet - Your Rights Under The Residential Tenancies Act, Tenants Advice And Advocacy Service http://intranet.tenants.org.au/print/fs26-2010.pdf

Lead Alert - The Six Step Guide To Painting Your Home - Third Edition Environment Australia www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/e9ddd00e-8914-4d57-8279-19b3d2616dee/files/leadpaint.pdf

Lead Safe Fact Sheet - Lead in Ceiling Dust LRC Publication Code LDE www.lead.org.au/fs/fst37.html

Lead Safe Fact Sheet - Lead, Your Health and the Environment LRC Publication (see the Info Pack - Lead Poisoning Prevention, NSW in this newsletter).

Parents Of Lead-Poisoned Children & Tenants [Case Studies from LEADLINE (previous name for Global Lead Advice and Support Service)] LANv3n4 Spring 1995 www.lead.org.au/lanv3n4/lanv3n4-7.html ; www.lead.org.au/lanv3n4/lanv3n4-8.html

Residential Tribunal Lead Paint Case: Fitness for Habitation - Reasons For Decision [EXTRACTS published in LEAD Action News vol 7 no 3, 1999] The LEAD Group www.lead.org.au/Lanv7n3/L73-17.html

Do-It-Yourself Lead Safe Test Kits The LEAD Group www.lead.org.au/clp/products/Do_It_Yourself_Lead_Safe_Test_Kits_Ad.html

Developer Contaminates Neighbour's Property Lead Aware Times Vol 1 No 1 ISSN 1440-4966 www.lead.org.au/lat/lat005.html

Exempt, Complying and Integrated Developments" in "LEAD SAFETY TOOL KIT FOR [NEW SOUTH WALES] COUNCILS: A Tool Kit for making your community safe from lead" The LEAD Group Inc page 41 of 64 [PDF p 47 of 70] at www.lead.org.au/clp/toolkit.pdf

GUIDANCE NOTE FOR CEILING DUSTS CONTAINING LEAD WorkCover Authority NSW www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/formspublications/publications/
Documents/ceiling_dust_containing_lead_guidance_note_4955.pdf