Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Dec 3rd - Free Landlord Workshop


Last chance to register. Don't miss out.

You and your guest are invited to Landlord/Business workshop.

We are thrilled to open the registration process for our December 3rd workshop. This seminar will be held in the Community Room in Manchester NH and it is free.

WHEN
Monday December 3th
7:00pm-9:00pm

WHERE
Community Room
50 Queen City Ave.
Manchester, NH 03103

MORE INFO
Call 603-232-9195

Doors open at 6:40 so you can meet other people with your same interest. 

This event will be covering:
  • Developing your business plan.
  • Having and getting a management philosophy to being profitable.
  • Learning how to manage time so you can have a balanced life.
Early Bird Registration Open  
Please forward this invitation to someone you know that is interested in learning more about being a Landlord or business owner.

Looking forward to seeing you there!
Thanks
Rick Blais

Monday, November 26, 2012

New Hampshire Contractors Fined


For immediate release:

Manchester, November 21, 2012.

For more information, contact:
Kate Kirkwood.
Kate@KKirkwood.com
603-781-4304

New Hampshire contractors fined

The EPA/HUD lead safety rule (renovate, repair and paint) has been in effect since April of 2010.  However, we have just recently seen significant enforcement resulting in FINES in New Hampshire and surrounding States.

Recently two NH contractors have been fined:  Exterior Images of Derry,  and  Kindred Painting, LLC of Dover
  
Hundreds of children are lead poisoned every year in New Hampshire, and currently there are approximately 10,000 lead poisoned children in our schools. The damage from this disease can be permanent, and includes brain disorders, learning disabilities, and decreased IQ.

Negative economic impacts in New Hampshire associated with lost future income, special education costs, and juvenile justice service costs linked to childhood lead poisoning have been estimated at between $141.1 and $345.7 million dollars annually
  
Lead poisoning is a serious problem in NH, and particularly in Manchester, where an estimated 14,000 homes still contain lead paint. As a "universal screening community” All children in the city of Manchester should be tested for lead at ages one and two. The same is true in any community, where a child  lives in a home that was built before 1978, and there has been renovation, or there is a chipping, peeling paint. Approximately 1/3 of children who are lead poisoned in New Hampshire, live in a home  that was renovated within the past six months.

New England housing stock is the oldest in the nation; over 138,000 homes and apartments in New Hampshire communities were built before 1950 and thus may contain lead paint hazards.

Anyone who disturbs lead paint in a home, or child occupied facility built before 1978, must take an eight hour training course, and be able to show proof of that certification. The regulation is written so that you must assume the paint in a pre-78 building is lead paint unless you can prove it is not.

The course teaches you how to test the paint to determine whether or not it is lead, to notify the property owner and tenants of the existence of the lead paint, to work safely around the toxic paint, and to clean up the lead paint chips and dust when the job is completed.

Contractors who do not follow the rules risk fines up to $37,500 per violation.  Recently two NH contractors have been fined:  Exterior Images of Derry,  and  Kindred Painting, LLC of Dover

For more information about Lead Paint Safety Certification, getting your child tested, or other lead paint or healthy homes concerns, contact:
Ben Kirkwood, ben@kkirkwood.com, 603-716-2901 or visit www.lead-edu.info


Thursday, November 15, 2012

November 2012 Landlord News


Free Lead Paint Safety Classes in December
NOTE: Self-employed and Small Businesses with less than 5 employees only

Dates: December 7th and December 15th
Where: Rochester NH

Certain restrictions apply, so you must call to register. The participants can get the full EPA/HUD required 5 year training with certification in just one 8-hour class and will leave there with their certification in hand.

Contact Ben Kirkwood at 603-716-2901 or 603-203-6430 (cell)
251 Pine St.
Manchester, NH 03103
K.Kirkwood Consulting, LLC
ben@kkirkwood.com
New England Health and Housing Lead-Edu
____________________________________________________________________

EPA Fines 16 Firms Nationwide for Violations of the Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced 16 enforcement actions for violations of the lead-based paint Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule (RRP). A priority for EPA’s enforcement program is to protect children, and others, from exposure to lead dust that can cause lead poisoning by ensuring that renovators follow the RRP and other lead rules. Lead exposure can cause a range of adverse health effects, from behavioral disorders and learning disabilities to seizures and death, putting young children at the greatest risk because their nervous systems are still developing.  Story continues here

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October 31. 2012 5:45PM
Landlord guilty of faking de-leaded properties

By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com

WORCESTER �  A Leicester landlord was placed on probation yesterday after pleading guilty to charges of falsely representing that his property was in compliance with lead paint laws.

Jaroslaw Pianka, 42, of 5 Dolge Court, Charlton, pleaded guilty Thursday in Worcester Superior Court to two counts each of uttering a false document and single counts of larceny and reckless endangerment of a child. The charges related to properties Mr. Pianka owns on Dale Court in Leicester and allegations that he submitted fraudulent certificates of compliance and falsely represented to tenants that his properties were fully de-leaded.

Prosecutors from the office of state Attorney General Martha Coakley charged that Michael and Heather Bennett and their three children, two of them under age 6, rented one of the properties in February 2007, after being told by Mr. Pianka that it had been de-leaded. The family later conducted a home lead test, which revealed the presence of lead.

An inspection prompted by a complaint to the local Board of Health revealed several areas of the property that contained lead and Mr. Pianka was ordered to take remedial action.

In April 2009, Mr. Pianka gave the family and the health board a copy of a letter of full de-leading compliance, according to prosecutors. He also gave the family a copy of the Massachusetts Tenant Lead Law Notification and Certification Form, which the law requires landlords to provide to tenants before renting them properties built before 1978, prosecutors said.

Officials from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Child Lead Poisoning Prevention program later determined the documentation to be fraudulent, according to the attorney general's office.

Prosecutors also alleged that a letter of full de-leading compliance for a second property Mr. Pianka owned on Dale Court in Leicester contained the name and license number of an inspector who did not exist.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew A. Rainer recommended to Judge Richard T. Tucker yesterday that Mr. Pianka be sentenced to 18 months in the House of Correction with 59 days to be served and the balance of the sentence suspended for three years with probation.

The prosecutor further recommended that Mr. Pianka be ordered to pay $9,825 in restitution to the Bennetts, to perform 50 hours of community service entailing "actual physical work" to clean up the environment, and to have all of his properties inspected for lead paint and, if necessary, de-leaded.

Mr. Pianka's lawyer, Michael G. Cashman, urged the judge to spare his client from a jail sentence and place him on probation.

Judge Tucker placed Mr. Pianka on probation for three years. As conditions of probation, Mr. Pianka was ordered to provide a list of real properties he owns and their usages to the Department of Public Health and the Probation Department, to report any changes in ownership or usage to both agencies and to follow the health department's instructions concerning inspections and any de-leading.

The judge also ordered Mr. Pianka to perform a total of 300 hours of community service in the area of environmental concerns