Lead Disclosure Legal Requirements - US

In 1992, a law was passed that requires sellers and landlords of certain pre 1978 housing to make certain disclosures about known lead dangers in the home they are selling or renting. Basically, people selling or renting a home built in 1977 or earlier must tell you if they know that there is lead based paint in the home. They must also provide you with the pamphlet titled "Protecting Your Family from Lead in Your Home" and any available written reports.   Home buyers also have to be given a 10 day period to conduct a lead assessment at their own expense.

There are several types of housing exempt from this requirement:

• Efficiencies, lofts, and dormitories
• Housing for the elderly (unless children live there)
• Housing for the handicapped (unless children live there)
• Leases for less than 100 days (short term and vacation rentals)
• Rental housing that has been inspected by a certified Lead paint inspector and found to be lead free
• Foreclosure sales (including HUD REO sales where the seller is Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Rural Housing Services, other state, local, or Federal agencies.)

The law does not require landlords or sellers to actually do anything about the Lead. It also does not require them to test for lead. This requires notification of known lead based paint or disclosure that the home was built before 1978 only.

In my experience, this can be very important. In my rental home that I shared pictures of our lead testing in a previous post, the landlords did not properly disclose the lead based paint dangers in the lease. For that reason, I was able to immediately break the lease without penalty. It is really important to know your legal rights in this and use them when needed.




Resources from the EPA and HUD:
http://www.hud.gov/offices/lead/library/enforcement/fs-discl.pdf 
This link has a good summary handout of the legal requirements.
http://www.epa.gov/region1/enforcement/leadpaint/section1018.html
EPA New England summary of the legal requirements, including sample language for Lead based paints disclosure and numbers to report violations.