I am pregnant, no lead was discussed... after 30 days, not lead paperwork was

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given to us? I am pregnant, and will be having a baby next year. I also live in Massachusetts, and was researching a bit about our apartment. It's a house that was converted into a 2 family. Our landlord did not tell us anything about lead when we first moved in, which is a Massachusetts state law. I researched on the health and safety website and found out this house has multiple lead violations. I wrote a letter to my landlord, which she had received on Friday, and I have not heard anything back. I asked her for a copy of the lead report, and told her that in Massachusetts it's the law to have a de-leaded apartment if a child under the age of 6 will be living in it.

The next thing is, we are not allowed in the basement downstairs... and I have a feeling we are paying for the electricity. She has a washer and dryer downstairs that we aren't allowed to us, and our electricity bill for the first 3 days was outrageous! it was 20 bucks, which is strange because we hadn't used any electricity. My mom has over a 2000sq foot home and she pays at most 80 bucks a month in electricity.

I do not want to live here anymore, but we have a year lease. I feel like we are being chipped on a lot of stuff, and I feel my landlord isn't very knowledgeable of the tenant/landlord rules. Further more, I do not want my child exposed to lead. Please help!
 
Contact a local real estate or landlord-tenant attorney. Call you county bar association for a referral. You don't want to be dragged into court for breaking your lease.

In the meantime, send a *certified* letter to your landlord reminding her that (1) you asked for a report once before and have not received it and (2) the electric bill is off.

If it helps, you probably don't have to worry about lead until the baby is old enough to crawl (and hence eat paint chips.)
 
That law was brought out in the 1970s, and it says you must not rent to families with children under 6 years old. Well you have not got any children, so no law was broken in renting to you. When you have your baby it is up to you if you stay or not. If the apartment has been rented before, my guess is that it was de-leaded years ago. You can check yourself very easily, if you look in the phone book you will see companies that do lead checks, if you cannot find one ,call a rental office, they will have somebody on file, If you feel that your landlord has violated his side of the lease you can get the lease voided, just dont pay the rent for the month you are moving out and when you are gone tell him about the lead. I have to tell you that in a case like this, dont think for one moment that the heavens are going to open up in your favor because they will not. Your best bet is to get another apartment. It will be cheaper and easier for you in the long run. Time is on his side. I have seen this sort of thing in south Boston more times than I can count. I tell all my clients that come to me with this complaint, move. It is the cheapest and easiest way out for you.
 
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