HUD Offers Technical Advice for REAC inspections

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) offers a range of REAC inspection definitional updates and clarifications at various places on its physical inspection protocol and information site.

Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) Scores are important. Improve your score! Reinspections occur less frequently the higher you score. Scores of 60 and below are referred to the Departmental Enforcement Center and can constitute a violation and/or default under the Regulatory Agreement, HAP Contract and/or Use Agreement. Receiving a repeat score of under 60 can result in a declaration of default under the mortgage, termination of the HAP Contract, and/or other serious actions.

From time to time, we will highlight certain postings of particular interest.

Recently, HUD announced that its goal is to reduce the average number of observed exigent deficiencies per property for substandard multifamily housing properties by 10 percent, and began circulating the following resources:

Fire safety hazards include:

Window security bars preventing egress
Fire extinguishers expired

(Smoke detectors are excluded from exigent health and safety or fire safety for this measure because they are covered in Indicator C.5.1.).

A significant majority of the deficiencies for multifamily housing are represented by three categories:

Locked emergency/fire exit egress,
Missing/broken electrical cover plates/switches/outlets, and
Exposed wires/missing covers.

Large point deductions have been taken recently for Building Systems, primarily due to missing/damaged/expired fire extinguishers. The inspection will receive a ZERO score if the owner does not have a key to a unit selected for inspection.

Easy Steps that Owners, Managers and On-Sites can take to improve REAC Physical Inspection Scores:

Conduct your own inspection prior to the REAC inspection.
Cite tenants for disabling smoke detectors.
Check for tenant-created problems, including tripping hazards (electrical cords), fire hazards (belongings too close to the baseboard heaters) and blocked egress (air conditioners in a room's only window). Cite any violations.
Make sure electrical boxes are locked, even if they are in a locked room.
Make sure that all missing breakers are either replaced or properly covered.
Do not store anything wet or flammable in the room with the electrical panel in it, such as a mop bucket or a gasoline lawn mower.
Check to make sure that the tags on the fire extinguishers were properly notated as inspected by the Fire Department within the past year.
Address sidewalk tripping hazards from settling (variance of more than a quarter inch).
Check for other unit tripping hazards (torn or separated carpet seams, deteriorated vinyl flooring).
Keep stairwells and hallways free of fire hazards. Cite tenants who block exits with belongings.
Replace cracked or missing light switch plate covers and outlet faceplates.
Ensure that management has a system for at least annual unit inspections to address ongoing repair needs, such as replacement of doors, windows, screens, flooring, etc.
Remove non-required, non-operational unit features. For example, pull cords that have been replaced by call-in systems must be removed, or they will be cited as non-operational, even if not in use.

Fire Sprinklers - Paint on Escutcheons

In October 2011, the REAC quality assurance division “tip of the month” about fire sprinklers clarifies that paint on escutcheons is NOT a deficiency, though paint on other components certainly can be.

This particular tip comes from a clarification that was the direct result of several members contacting LeadingAge to seek our help in constructing successful appeals after suffering significant point losses from deficiency findings about paint on certain components that fire-sprinkler professionals indicated were not important.

After engaging REAC officials in conversation, seeking the help of the National Fire Protection Association, and obtaining detailed information from fire protection experts, the following clarification was incorporated into the latest/current “compilation bulletin” – a living document used to help guide inspectors beyond the basic inspection "dictionary of definitions” (which hasn't been updated since 2000).

Q/A Question of the Month (posted Oct. 11, 2011)

Q) Why is paint on a fire sprinkler head considered to be a deficiency?

A) Paint, when observed on the heat sensitive element (glass bulb or fusible metal link), may alter the pre-determined temperature at which the fire sprinkler activates. Paint, when observed on the fire sprinkler deflector, may alter the specific spray pattern designed for that area. Paint, when applied to any other component on a fire sprinkler head (except the escutcheon plate) that has not been applied by the fire sprinkler manufacturer, is also considered to be a deficiency.

The Compilation Bulletin R2.1, on page 24, under Systems, Fire Protection, Fire Sprinkler Heads, letter “a” states:

If paint or any other obstruction is observed on the sprinkler head a deficiency will be recorded. Paint on an escutcheon plate should not be recorded as a deficiency.

The Inspection Software, V2.3.4, under Systems, Fire Protection, Missing Sprinkler Head states:

Deficiency: You see that a sprinkler head--or its components--connected to the central fire protection system is either missing, visibly disabled, painted over, blocked, or capped.
Level 3: Any sprinkler head is missing, visibly disabled, painted over, blocked, or capped.

And, further down on the REAC quality assurance page are 2 important new clarifications: one concerning smoke detectors which will be of significant interest/benefit to members with assisted living or nursing home insured under the HUD Section 232 insurance program; the other describing various types of attached or freestanding structures, and how they are to be counted and recorded.

*CLARIFIED* - Protocol for inspection of Smoke Detectors in Nursing Homes, Group Homes and Assisted Living Facilities.

In these types of facilities, the smoke detectors are often found only in the common areas and not in the client rooms (identified as “units” for the REAC inspection). These units are non-typical units because they often consist of only a sleeping area and a bathroom, unlike typical units which consist of a bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen. In nursing homes, group homes and assisted living facilities, if a smoke detector is not located within the non-typical “unit,” it is not a defect. However, if a smoke detector does exist within the non-typical “unit” it must be inspected for correct operation unless they are an integral part of the building’s fire alarm system and current inspection documentation is provided.

If the smoke detectors in these types of facilities are installed only in the common areas (hallways, offices, etc.), the inspector shall record “NA” for “Unit – Smoke Detectors” and will be required to enter a comment stating that smoke detectors are located in common areas only.

This next item about attached and freestanding structures describes commonly encountered situations is particularly important because how structures are counted, and/or individual deficiencies are attributed to various parts of the property, can have a significant impact on the overall calculation used to determine the overall score of a property.

*CLARIFIED* - Protocol for inspection of Free-Standing or Attached Structures

The Compilation Bulletin provides guidance on how to categorize building type and record defects on attached and freestanding structures (see excerpt below). Reference -REAC’s definition of a building: (Source: Compilation Bulletin – Page 9, Section A -1)

“An individual building is any structure that has a contiguous roofline, a permanent foundation, is enclosed on all sides and has at least one utility servicing it such as electric, gas, water, or sewer.”

Buildings – (Source : Compilation Bulletin – Page 10)

Free-standing or Attached Structures: Inspectors must adhere to the following guidance when determining whether and how to inspect freestanding or attached structures:

If a storage shed, garage or carport is attached to the exterior of a building and designated for the specific use of a unit, inspect it and record deficiencies in the associated building and unit as applicable.
If a storage shed, garage or carport is attached to the exterior of a building and used as common space, record deficiencies in the associated building and common area as applicable.
If a storage shed or garage is a free-standing building and designated for the use of a specific unit, inspect it and record deficiencies in the associated building and unit as applicable.
If a storage shed, garage or carport is a free-standing common building, inspect it as an individual common building and record deficiencies as applicable (see case “c.” above for an exception).
If a storage shed, garage, carport or other free-standing structure does not meet the definition of a building, do not inspect it as a building. However, if a Health and Safety deficiency is observed on the structure, it should be recorded as an H&S deficiency under Site / Health and Safety / (…).

The REAC Physical Inspection - Quality Assurance Division also maintains an archive of past tips and clarifications.

Contact: Ken Harris, kharris@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8835