Enforce Lead Safe Certificate Law

Enforcement is the pathway to voluntary compliance

Implementing the Lead Safe Certificate program requires the voluntary cooperation of owners of an estimated 80.000 owners of rental properties built before 1978. They will be required to register with the city and submit a lead clearance test to certify that their property is lead safe

Here are some recommendations to improve enforcement of the Lead Safe Certificate Program

  • Housing Court. Continue to require landlords who are seeking to file evictions to provide evidence that they have registered their property and complied with lead clearance testing requirements...despite opposition from the Northern Ohio Apartment Association. See our editorial on from February 2022.

  • Departments of Building and Housing, Public Health, and Law Departments to create a protocol for bringing non compliant owners to Court.

  • Develop civil receivership options for abandoned properties with lead violations in order to expedite rehabilitation or demolition.

  • Departments of Building and Housing, Public Health, Law, and the Housing Court should set up a system for handling tenant complaints related to lead poisoning.

  • Provide emergency relocation assistance for tenants displaced by enforcement actions.