Windows, a Burst Pipe, and a 1923 Fourplex
A property manager oversees a 1923 fourplex. Unit 2 is rented by a family with a 4-year-old child. The owner has approved replacing 10 double-hung windows in that unit and replacing 25 square feet of exterior fascia board that has peeling paint. The maintenance company is an in-house division of the property management company and is not EPA-certified. The manager believes the window job is exempt because each window component is under 6 square feet, and that the fascia work is exempt because it is under 20 square feet. Separately, a supply pipe bursts in the shared basement, and a plumber will cut open a 3-foot section of painted plaster wall that same afternoon. The manager wants the in-house crew to handle everything to avoid delay. The family plans to remain home during the work.
1. Does the RRP Rule apply to the 10-window replacement and the 25-square-foot fascia replacement? Explain how the minor repair and maintenance exemption interacts with window replacement and exterior square footage.
Read the worked answer
Yes, the Rule applies to both activities, and neither fits the minor repair and maintenance exemption.
- The building was built before 1978, so it is target housing. Target housing coverage does not depend on whether a child under 6 lives there; the presence of the 4-year-old is not what triggers the Rule.
- Window replacement is expressly excluded from the minor repair and maintenance exemption. The manager's 'each component is under 6 square feet' theory fails because the exemption is not a per-window allowance when the activity is window replacement.
- The fascia replacement is 25 square feet of exterior surface, which exceeds the 20-square-foot exterior limit. It therefore is not minor repair and maintenance.
- The in-house maintenance division is a firm performing renovations for compensation as part of the rental business. It must be EPA-certified (or state-certified where authorized), and it must use a certified renovator; individual employee certification alone does not satisfy firm certification.
2. The burst pipe requires immediate work. Can the in-house crew use the emergency provision to proceed without firm or renovator certification? What must a certified firm do if it treats the basement repair as an emergency renovation?
Read the worked answer
No. The emergency provision does not waive firm certification or renovator certification. It addresses the timing of pre-renovation education and certain records, not the basic qualification to perform the work.
A burst supply pipe that will damage property if not immediately addressed can qualify as an emergency renovation because it is sudden and unexpected. But the work must still be done by a certified firm using a certified renovator and lead-safe work practices. The firm must still contain the work area, avoid prohibited practices, clean up properly, and perform cleaning verification. For the pamphlet and acknowledgment, the firm may delay providing the pamphlet and obtaining acknowledgment, but it must provide the pamphlet and attempt to obtain acknowledgment no later than 2 business days after the emergency renovation is completed, and it must keep records. If the in-house crew is not certified, it cannot do the basement cut; the manager must call a certified firm, even for the emergency.
3. If the building had been built in 1979, and no child under 6 lived in Unit 2, would your answer change? What if the basement common area were regularly used as a child-occupied facility?
Read the worked answer
A 1979 building would not be pre-1978 target housing, so the RRP Rule would not apply to the window, fascia, or basement work on that basis. The absence of a child under 6 in Unit 2 would not matter for target housing: pre-1978 housing is covered regardless of the occupant's age.
The child-occupied facility analysis is separate. A child-occupied facility must itself be a pre-1978 building or portion of a building visited regularly by the same child under 6, at least two days per week, at least three hours per day, six hours per week, and 60 hours per year. If the basement met that definition in a pre-1978 building, renovations in that common area would be covered even if no child under 6 lived in any unit. In a 1979 building, however, the child-occupied facility definition would not make the work covered because the pre-1978 condition would still fail.