Two Wareham landlords recently settled discrimination allegations with state Attorney General Martha Coakley's office, which accused the men of refusing to rent to families with children because of the presence of lead paint on their properties.

Landlords Gregory Howell and Scott Michels, who together own four rental properties in Wareham, Bourne, and Fairhaven, had posted a "discriminatory advertisement" for a Wareham property on Craigslist.org, according to a June 6 statement issued by Coakley's office.

"The advertisement specifically stated that certain families with young children were not eligible to rent the advertised property because the property had not been deleaded," the statement says.

Under state law, it is illegal to discriminate against housing applicants because they have children or because the rental would require the landlord to clean up lead, according to Coakley's office.

"The Commonwealth's lead paint law protects children from the damaging effects of lead, which include impaired development, learning difficulties, and behavior problems," Coakley said in the statement. "By enforcing this law, our office works to ensure that families with children are able to find lead-safe housing within the Commonwealth."

Howell and Michels agreed to delead the property, attend "fair housing" training, and pay a $3,000 penalty to the state.