REINCheck

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Voiceover [00:00:06] You're listening to REINCheck with Andrea Rice, Contracts and Industry Specialist at REIN where you get the latest member news and information delivered straight from the source: REIN MLS.

Andrea Rice [00:00:23] Hello and welcome to REINCheck. I'm your host, Andrea Rice. And today we are checking in with Nick Chandley, REIN Property Managers Advisory Committee member, and we also have with us today Mike Carrithers, Junior and Senior. Both are from Hampton Roads Smoke Detector Inspectors. And today, we're going to be discussing the dangers of carbon monoxide. And the recent HUD notice on federal requirements for carbon monoxide alarms and detectors. Nick, Mike, Mike, thank you so much for taking time to be here today.

All [00:00:56] Thanks for having us.

Andrea Rice [00:00:57] Yes. And just as some background for our listeners, PMAC recently sent a notice to members informing them of a HUD-issued requirement, a carbon monoxide alarms and detectors. And that's really what prompted us to reach out to to Mike to get some additional information about the dangers of carbon monoxide and how to protect not only tenants and homeowners, but our members as well. So, Mike, either Mike, would you mind kicking things off by giving us a little bit of your background and then telling us about some of the dangers of carbon monoxide?

Mike Carrithers Sr. [00:01:35] Yes, Andrea, I'll be glad to do that. So I worked for 25 years in the Newport News Shipyard as electrical engineer before retiring and entered the smoke detector and spectrum business. I own a smoke detector inspector company, which was established in 2012.

Mike Carrithers Jr. [00:01:52] I worked for Nordstrom for ten years before transitioning into the moving industry where I worked for United and Mayflower and also Apple Moving. I'm in my second year of the smoke detector inspector business with my father and some other estimate I'm sorry, inspectors that we have. Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless and toxic gas. It can build up indoors and poison people and animals who breathed the toxic fumes. Carbon monoxide is produced by fuel burning appliances such as gas stoves, fireplaces, water heaters, furnaces, etc. According to the National Center for Environmental Health in America, an average of 400 people die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning, which are not linked to fires. And more than 20,000 visit the emergency room, resulting in 4000 being hospitalized.

Andrea Rice [00:02:48] Yes. Thank you, Mike, for all of that information. Now that we know about some of the dangers, what can our members do to protect themselves and their clients?

Mike Carrithers Jr. [00:02:57] Well, to protect ourselves and our clients, we need to use the practices and ensure carbon monoxide detectors are installed and then regularly inspected in not only our clients homes, but in our homes as well. Carbon monoxide detectors are devices that detect carbon monoxide gas and transmit an alarm signal. So when levels of carbon monoxide are detected within a home or dwelling, then the alarm signals at all to allow whoever is in there, the tenant to get out of there or to do to inspect the devices for the carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide detectors should be installed at least one per level of a home. We recommend following HUD guidelines for both installation and inspections.

Andrea Rice [00:03:42] Okay, great. A lot of good information there. And Nick, PMAC recently circulated that HUD notice to members. What can you tell us about this recent update that HUD issued?

Nick Chandley [00:03:54] Well, it's something that we just became aware of, honestly, early this year because it originally was contained in the consolidated appropriations bill of 2021. So it was part of a much larger legislative package. But ultimately guidance came out from HUD, and primarily it affects tenants who receive or landlords who receive federal subsidies. In our business, that's predominantly Section Eight tenants. And what it said was that by December 27th of this year that all units receiving federal rental assistance need to have carbon monoxide detection installed.

Andrea Rice [00:04:37] Okay, good. I think that's important to know. They, you know, any anybody getting federal assistance right they're, they're the ones that really need to pay attention to this notice.

Nick Chandley [00:04:49] Well, that's the ones that are that the law affects. You know, obviously, carbon monoxide detectors are not a bad idea in any circumstance. But we can talk more about that in just a moment.

Andrea Rice [00:05:01] Sure. And Nick, where can members go to get a copy of this notice and for additional information if they need it?

Nick Chandley [00:05:10] Well, you can go to the hud.gov website, a search for carbon monoxide or some of the terms that you might find in this informational flier that came out. Make it a little bit harder. You get a big list of stuff. So the quick way to get to it is go to HUD.gov. Search for this term: PIH 2022-01. That's the actual notice numeric code and it'll bring it right up for you. So it's pretty straightforward. And what you should remember is that smoke detectors and carbon monoxide basically are installed in much the same way. So if you've got a place that's got smoke detectors already, I think you can use dual units for these things. You can use battery operated units. The main thing is, I think the Section Eight inspectors in particular, because they come out, do annual inspections, are going to be looking for these CO detectors after the end of December. And if you don't have one, you're going to have a problem with the Section Eight folks.

Andrea Rice [00:06:14] I would like to ask, I actually have a carbon monoxide detector in my home, but it's just like one of the battery operated ones. And I'm just curious for my own information, like I have that like on an end table is is that okay?

Mike Carrithers Sr. [00:06:32] The manufacturer recommends that they're installed on the wall about eye level. Okay is close to the bedrooms so that when the alarm goes off, it wakes people up.

Andrea Rice [00:06:43] Okay. Thank you. So I've I've just recently gotten one, so I wasn't sure if I'd put it in the right place or. Or if I was doing the right thing there. But that's good information. Is there anything else that anyone would like to add before we wrap things up?

Nick Chandley [00:06:59] Well, I would say that you have to have a detector, actually interior to the bedroom if you have a combustion based form of heat or some large master bedrooms have fireplace, that kind of thing. You need to have a carbon monoxide detector in there. People, I hope they don't do it much any more. But you see people running kerosene heaters in the house. It's not a great idea, but those also produce carbon monoxide. Another thing that the membership should be aware of is that the Virginia Residential Landlord Tenant Act contains a provision whereby any tenant who requests co detector is entitled to have one installed. So you have to react to that, install the detector. Now, in the case of tenants where this isn't mandated by law, you can actually pass along the cost of that installation to them. But again, you know, as a landlord, it's a great risk reduction thing. A lot of bang for the buck there for just a modest amount of money you can put in CO detection and make sure that you don't have an issue.

Andrea Rice [00:08:01] Sure.

Mike Carrithers Sr. [00:08:02] They also require if you have an attached garage to have a CO2 or CO monitor. Just from the car in case of cars left running or something in the garage.

Nick Chandley [00:08:16] Right. So if you had all electric appliances, you're thinking to yourself, oh, there's nothing here. There's no gas. There's no oil. It's not necessarily the case if you have an attached garage which has an access door to the dwelling. I mean, if it's a detached garage, different things attached garage, you've also got to have co detection because of the possibility of carbon monoxide from vehicles.

Andrea Rice [00:08:38] Yeah, that's good to know because I think I read something recent. I don't know if it was in the notice about mentioning attached garages and I wasn't sure why that was an issue, but I guess that that is why. So thank you, Nick, for pointing that out. All right. Well, if there's nothing else, I do want to thank Nick, Mike and Mike for being here today. I really appreciate you taking time out of your schedules to keep us informed about not only the dangers of carbon monoxide, but what we can do to protect ourselves, and our members, tenants, clients, you know, keep everyone safe and also stay in compliance with that new HUD guidelines. So thank you again and to all of you listening. Thank you. I hope you enjoyed this episode of REINCheck. And if you missed any of the previous episodes, I do invite you to go to REINMLS.com to take a listen. And as always, please subscribe so that you can get new episodes directly delivered to you via email when they are released. Again, thank you and have a great rest of your day.

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