Burnside Enterprises, LLC

If you either own or manage housing that is rented with government subsidized rental funds, you should be familiar with the requirements to maintain certain housing standards.  These standards, for the most part, are uniform across all the states.  Most public housing subsidies are funded with federal monies and should comply with federal statutes and guidelines.  However, many times the requirements are enforced sporadically or not enforced at all.  There have been many cases where the housing authority does not attempt to enforce the guidelines until a tenant complains of substandard conditions or you as the owner make someone at the housing authority angry.  At this point, you had best be ready to be held accountable for all those contract requirements contained in the fine print.  Yes, those clauses that you really didn't take seriously when you entered into the agreement to rent out your property as a "Section 8" property are coming back to haunt you.

General Info for Housing Inspections

The following general information will give you, the owner/manager, a resource as to the expectations for your public housing.  For dealing with paint issues on pre-1978 housing, refer to the column to the right.

This link, Preparing for a REAC Inspection, is a good resource from the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) portal.

HUD has published a list of everything they will be looking at during their inspection.  This list is called the Uniform Physical Condition Standards and is found at the bottom of this linked page to the HUD website.

HUD has also compiled a list of the top 25 noted deficiencies in their public housing inspections.  The list can be viewed just past the middle of the page of this link.  Scroll down just past the middle of the page.  

Note that of the 25 categories, 6 refer to surface damage and paint conditions.  Of course surfaces are going to be damaged in public housing.  The tenants for the most part are not held accountable for their actions; therefore, lots of things get broken or otherwise damaged.

You, as the owner/manager, will be held accountable for the paint and surface conditions.  You will need to either get the surface areas repaired before the inspection or have the Housing Authority manage you after the inspection while you are repairing the surfaces.

 Paint Considerations in Public Housing 

 If your property was constructed before 1978, you will need to consider the possiblity that your property contains lead-based paint (LBP).  You may be required to comply with the EPA regulations and also HUD regulations on any painting and/or repair of finished surfaces. Refer to our "Links" page for links to these guidelines.

We usually recommend our customers have their pre-1978 properties tested for LBP.  You can assume that all surfaces contain LBP without testing but you will then be required to have a clearance inspection performed by a state or EPA certified inspector each time you disturb more than 2 SF in any interior room or 20 SF on the exterior.  These clearance inspections can be costly and will be required many times over the life of the property.  The clearance inspection on interior rooms will require dust wipes to be taken on the floors & window sills.  Exterior clearance inspections can be a visual clearance only, depending on the work performed.  Both clearances will fail if any visible paint chips or debris are in the work area.  A detailed explanation of what a clearance inspection is can be found in Chapter 15 of the HUD Guidelines found here.

A LBP Inspection may cost more upfront than one clearance inspection.  However, if the LBP Inspection shows there is no LBP on the property, you will not have to comply with the EPA & HUD regulations regarding LBP.  In the event there is LBP, only the surfaces that test positive will require the EPA & HUD regulations be followed for work performed on those surfaces.

It's imperative that you be prepared for a LBP clearance inspection before you call an inspector out.  Have all the deteriorated surfaces painted and follow the procedures outlined in Chapter 14 of the HUD guidelines, "Cleaning".  Properties will NOT pass a clearance inspection by accident.  It will take effort.

If you have a pre-1978 Section 8 / Public Housing property in Oklahoma or Colorado, feel free to contact us via our Contacts page to discuss you LBP concerns.  We may be able to help you address many of the LBP concerns on your property.