Lead Paint and Joan and Jack Knowles of 110 Beverly Pl., GSO, NC

Joan and Jack Knowles of 110 Beverly Place Greensboro N.C , rented out a property 306 Woodbine Court. A lead inspection showed that lead levels in the house were thousands of time the EPA safe limit.

They broke the law:

• They did not provide a lead hazard disclosure statement.
  
• They did not disclose information about lead based paint.
• They did not have certification to do renovations on a pre - 1978 house. They installed a small air conditioner unit next to a crib. They scraped the lead based paint and did not protect a 9 month old baby's crib. Essentially, they rained lead paint and dust down on an infant's crib. They did not protect the crib with plastic, let alone use lead safe work practices.
• They did not provide a pamplet called "Protect your family from lead based paint".

Also

• They did not apologize for their behavior which seriously harmed a small baby, potentially for life.
• When informed of the harm they had done they said "...do you know how much money this will cost us ..."
• They snuck into the property without warning, to try to "fix" certain areas. They gave no notice that they would come in, or even notice that they had come in. Presumably they did not want to give warning, so no pictures of the dangerous areas could be taken. They left dangerous lead paint chips on the floor...
• After receiving a report showing that the house was Dangerous for Children, immediately paraded 3 families with young children though the house, intending to rent to them immediately.
• Upon receiving the report about lead hazards in the house, threatened eviction (they did not use the term eviction but rather 'you will have to leave in 3 days' ) upon refusal to sign an 'addendum to the lease' . The addendum was in fact a portion of the lease they should have originally supplied, and had language in it intended to disclose to tenants the hazards of lead. Not intended to be used when tenants inform the Landlords that the house is dangerous and they are therefore leaving.
• Only decided (or so it appears from the timing of their behaviour) to do something about the house when the public health department was informed because of an elevated blood lead level of a 9 month old girl.

Their behavior was not only illegal but just WRONG.

Do decent people, threaten to throw a family out on the street - two young children - whom they have potentially harmed with their negligence ? Do decent people threaten a mother who wants to leave a house that has harmed her children??

Flocke does not think so.

For unsuspecting tenants - consider checking references of your landlords before signing a lease ... ?

And if you have young children, learn about Lead based paint hazards. Do not count on your landlords to do the right thing.

See:

• Document which explains the responsibility of landlords and sellers regarding lead based paint in a home.
• Document which describes how to keep your family safe from lead.

Flocke will not forgive such unethical behavior ...