New York residents be prepared to receive a Lead Liability Exclusion endorsement to your property insurance policy (homeowners, income properties, secondary, vacation homes, etc).  New York insurance carriers are quickly mobilizing against lead paint claims.  Lead can cause serious mental and physical harm especially if exposure happens at an early age.  So carriers are ridding themselves of this liability obligation.

These endorsements are carrier specific.  So I cannot tell you exactly what is excluded, how it is excluded, and the when the exclusion becomes effective.  However, I will try to list out generic details to give you an understanding of what is to come.  I implore you to contact your Insurance Professional (if you don’t have one call a quality independent agent, like Me!) and ask how your specific carrier is handling this issue.

Generally Speaking: Lead Liability Exclusions

Effective later this summer, (in most cases), insurance carriers in new york state will be adding a lead liability exclusion to all Property related policies, including Personal Umbrella.

This endorsement will apply to all buildings built prior to 1980 (different for each carrier I have also seen 1976) that contain residential units that are owner-occupied and/or rented to others and/or contain a commercial exposure such as day-care.

Your carrier will no longer cover bodily injury, property damage, or personal injury liability loss, including defense costs, for exposures related to lead, lead pigment, lead compounds, or lead in any form.

UNLESS: The property undergoes Lead Abatement by a certified Lead Abatement specialist who can produce an inspected letter of lead abatement treatment.

I am currently doing research on the Lead Abatement Process including the costs, time, and who is certified to handle such a process.  I will have more information on this soon or if anyone has insight please share in the comments.

The Rub

For anyone reading this who lives in the state of New York I’m sure you’re fully aware of just how many buildings we have that were built before 1980… Try the entire city of Albany, Troy, Schenectady, Saratoga, Buffalo, Syracuse… You get the point, A Lot!

As a home and/or property owner of a building built before 1980 you really have two options at this point.  Find and call a lead abatement specialist and have them cleanse the building of lead or understand and deal with NOT having coverage for this type of loss.  Remember, it may take years and years for the effects of Lead Poisoning to be diagnosed.  So tenants you had 10 years ago could be coming back to sue for the lead they were exposed to way back when.