Lead paint disclosure rules
If you buy or rent a home built before 1978, federal law requires the seller or landlord to tell you what they know about lead paint, before you sign. Here's exactly what they have to do, what you're entitled to, and who's exempt.
What sellers and landlords must do
The rule is often called “the 1018 rule”, after section 1018 of the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992. It's codified at 40 CFR 745 Subpart F, with HUD's parallel version at 24 CFR 35, Subpart A. Before the buyer or tenant is bound by a contract, the seller or landlord must:
- Give you the pamphlet Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home (or an EPA-approved equivalent).
- Disclose any known lead-based paint or lead hazards in the home: where it is and what condition it's in.
- Hand over any records or reports they have about lead in the home, including for common areas in a multi-unit building.
- Include a Lead Warning Statement in the contract or lease, signed and dated by both sides, confirming the disclosure happened. Agents must make sure it's done, and the seller or landlord and any agent must keep a copy for at least three years.
The rule requires disclosure, not testing or removal. A seller who has never tested doesn't have to test, and can disclose “no knowledge”. That's why the buyer's inspection window matters.
Your 10-day inspection right (buyers)
Buyers must be given a 10-day period to have the home inspected or risk-assessed for lead before they're obligated to buy. You and the seller can agree in writing to a longer or shorter period, or you can waive it in writing. Tenants don't get this period, but they do get the disclosure and the pamphlet.
Which homes are covered
“Target housing” is any housing built before 1978, except:
- zero-bedroom units (studios, efficiencies, dorm rooms), and
- housing for the elderly (households reserved for people 62 or older) or for people with disabilities,
and those two exceptions disappear if a child under 6 lives there or is expected to. (That's how EPA's rule and the statute read; HUD's text attaches the child-under-6 condition only to elderly and disability housing.)
Sales and leases that are exempt
- Foreclosure sales.
- Leases of 100 days or less, with no renewal or extension possible.
- Rentals a certified inspector has found free of lead-based paint.
- Lease renewals where the disclosure was already made and nothing new has been learned.
How common is lead paint in covered homes?
Very. HUD's 2018–19 survey found lead-based paint in about half of all homes built before 1978, and the odds swing hard by decade:
Share of homes with lead-based paint anywhere, by year built (HUD American Healthy Homes Survey II).
If a seller or landlord didn't disclose
EPA and HUD enforce the rule; violations can bring civil penalties, and anyone who knowingly violates it can be sued by the buyer or tenant for three times their damages. If you think a disclosure was skipped or false, EPA's lead program or your regional EPA office is the place to report it, and an attorney can tell you what remedies apply in your state.
Sources: 42 U.S.C. 4852d; 40 CFR 745.100–745.119 (eCFR, current as of October 2026); 24 CFR 35.80–35.98.
How likely is lead paint where you live?
We estimate it for every neighbourhood from the decade its homes were built.