On Aug 10, 10:12*pm, rile wrote:
We are selling a house to a buyer using an FHA mortgage. *There is a
rule, because of lead paint, that any house built before 1978 cannot
have any "peeling, checking or flaking paint". *The property has no
lead paint....all buildings have been repainted since the late 80's.
An inspector came out, rejected it for that reason. *My son and I
scraped, power washed, scraped again, and painted. *They guy has come
back two more times and still rejected it. All he does is walk around,
take pictures and make a recommendation. *He doesn't touch the paint,
scrape it or anything. *All of the paint is tight. *The worst is, the
buyers don't want us to do the painting...they want to repaint it a
different color.
Any ideas....we are at the ends of our wits.

Your problem varies, depending on the state you are in. Some license
lead inspectors and others don't. Until recently, one required
licensed inspectors but didn't have an inspection licensing process in
place and couldn't issue licenses but did accept licenses from other
states (go figure).

In general, licensing has a couple of levels: one being a sampling
technician and the other being a risk assessor. There are also
clearance techs but that's an unlikely cred for someone doing an
inspection.

So here are your issues: First, the house was scraped and painted in
the 1980s. Fine. But it's unlikely that you used interim controls
and there is probably lead in the soil. If he identified that on his
first visit and doesn't see any changes when he returns, he'll fail
you before he gets out of the car. That's issue #1. BTW, visible
paint chips on the ground is an immediate failure.

Any chipping paint on "mouthable surfaces" is an immediate failure,
but "chipping" has a wide definition. It can also be any wear on
friction surfaces such as hallways or stairs. Alligatoring is also a
no-no. Therefore, windows are your biggest problem.

Your best bet might be to get your own risk assessment. That'll run
you $500 to $1000, depending on where you live. Then you have a
baseline. It also means that if there is lead poisoning later, you
have some baseline documentation of the risk.

As for comments about all paint must be removed, etc. That is wrong.
In almost all situation, interim controls are fine and abatement would
be very rare. Groups I work with rehab 300 to 400 homes a year using
Federal money and there hasn't been a single abatement job that I know
of.

As for what he's looking at, I believe (but am not entirely sure) that
you have a legal right to a risk assessment and/or lead paint report
done on your premise.

BTW, once you have knowledge of LBP (whether is it there or not), you
are legally required to report that information to all tenants and all
buyers. So if you know you removed lead in the 1980s, you're required
to tell them that.