Cleveland Lead Safe

The plan is in response to the city's dismal lead-safe compliance numbers from small landlords.

Cleveland home inspectors say they will begin to survey nearly 170,000 properties for possible lead contamination this weekend, the city announced Friday.

Cleveland has begun certifying rental properties under the lead-safe housing law passed in 2019, as advocates seek federal dollars to help landlords afford to remediate the toxic paint that’s found in many Northeast Ohio homes.

Cleveland City Council passed new lead paint requirements for landlords Wednesday, giving Mayor Frank Jackson’s administration 18 months to develop a citywide program to reduce childhood lead poisoning. The law requires owners of rentals built before 1978 to have their properties inspected for lead hazards every two years. Cleveland’s Building and Housing Department will start enforcing the new rules in March 2021 and require all rentals to be certified as lead safe by 2023. The legislation also doubles the rental registration fee, raising it from $35 to $70.

A proposed ordinance would set a timetable for lead inspections and cleanup in all Cleveland rental units built before 1978. Every rental unit in the city would have to be inspected beginning March 1, 2021, under newly introduced Under Ord. 747-2019, and all units would have to be certified as lead safe by 2023. Violations would carry civil and criminal penalties. Councilman Blaine Griffin co-sponsored the legislation, along with Council President Kevin Kelley and Councilman Kerry McCormack.

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