Lead poisoning is a serious public issue, particularly affecting the lives of our nation's children. The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® is committed to supporting efforts to identify and reduce this potential health threat, while at the same time protecting the value of homes. We support lead poisoning education efforts to benefit all home owners. Increased awareness about the issue can motivate home owners to test for potential health hazards. Also, those home owners planning the sale of their property should recognize the irresponsibility to disclose known lead hazards to real estate professionals as well as potential purchasers.

Although the use of lead-based paint in residences ended in 1977, older homes may contain lead paint, especially homes built prior to 1960. Section 1018 of Title X of the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act, the applicable provision of the law passed in 1992, requires disclosure of lead-based paint information in sales and lease transactions of residential properties built before 1978. The EPA/HUD regulations mandated by Title X were issued in March of 1996. While the requirements of the regulations are imposed on sellers and leasers of pre-1978 housing, Section 1018 also makes real estate agents who are marketing those properties responsible for compliance with those regulations.

The basic requirements of the Section 1018 regulations are:

• Sellers and leasers must disclose the presence of known lead-based paint and/or lead-based paint hazards in the housing.
• Sellers and leasers must provide purchasers and lessees with copies of any available records or reports pertaining to the presence of lead-based paint and/or lead-based paint hazards.
• Sellers and leasers must provide purchasers and lessees with a federally approved lead hazard information pamphlet.
• Sellers must provide purchasers with a period of up to 10 days prior to becoming obligated under the purchase contract during which the purchaser may conduct a risk assessment or inspection for the presence of lead-based paint and/or lead-based paint hazards. The purchaser may agree to waive that testing opportunity.
• Sales and lease contracts must include specified disclosure and acknowledgment language.
• Agents must advise the sellers or leasers whose property they are marketing of these obligations.
• Professional home testing for the presence of lead-based paint costs in the range of $375. Removal can cost an average of $8,000 - based on the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) estimated range of $5,500 to $12,000. The mere presence of lead-based paint, however, is not necessarily a hazard if the paint is in good condition and on non-accessible, non-friction surfaces. Where there is no hazard, no action other than the monitoring the condition of the paint and good maintenance practices are required. In some cases, an alternative to the expensive removal of lead-related products is the specialized treatment of affected areas. For example, large surface areas can be enclosed with another material, such as sheet rock. Other cases may require qualified contractors to abate lead paint in areas that produce lead dust, such as window and door frames and areas accessible to any small children.

Source: National Association of REALTORS® Talking Points