Landlord Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Form and Explanation

Landlords are responsible for more than just maintaining the quality of their property and its surrounding land. Beyond the basic plumbing, cleaning, and other related requirements, there are a number of required disclosures that you must give to renters before they move into your property.

Today, we’ll introduce a sample of the best landlord lead-based paint disclosure. This disclosure is required to be given to tenants by law, so you want to be sure that you have put it together exactly as it is supposed to be.

Let’s get started!

A Table of Contents for Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Form for Tenants

What is the Lead-Based Paint Disclosure?

The lead-based paint disclosure is a form that tenants must receive from their landlord while signing the rental lease or before moving onto the property. This form lets tenants know about the risk of lead-based paint, whether or not it may be on the property, and what tenants can do about the paint to stay safe.

Thanks to the lead-based disclosure form, rental tenants can be assured of their safety when it comes to the dangers of lead-based paint.

Why is the Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Required?

For many centuries it was not commonly known that lead could be toxic. Since no one was concerned about the use of lead, it was added to many products. One of the products it was most often added to was paint!

In 1977, the use of lead paint was banned in both residential and public buildings.

Scientists learned in the years leading up to 1977 that lead can cause huge health problems, including all of the following:

  • Seizures
  • Nausea
  • Headaches
  • Fatigue
  • Irritability
  • Kidney damage
  • Brain damage

The concern of using lead-based paint in the home is especially strong for those homes where children live. It’s easy for developing children to be permanently damaged by the toxicity of lead paint, and children touching the paint and then putting their fingers in their mouths or eating paint flakes can cause serious damage.

Though the use of lead paint was banned in 1977, houses that were built before 1978 still have lead-based paint in them.

The Laws on Lead-Based Paint

There is a specific process laid out by the EPA that you must follow when alerting tenants about the potential danger:

  1. Provide tenant with EPA-approved information about identifying lead paint and its dangers.
  2. Let the tenants know what you know about lead-based paint in the property as well as where on the property it may have been used.
  3. Give tenants a copy of any tests for lead-based paint that you have had completed.
  4. Include a disclosure form (see our sample below) with the lease, and ensure that all tenants sign off on this disclosure.
  5. File the disclosure so you have a copy of it for at least three years of signing.

The potential dangers of lead-based paint must be taken seriously, so ensure that you follow these steps correctly to keep both you and tenants safe.

A Closer Look at the Lead-Based Paint Disclosure

For a landlord writing up the documentation, the lead-based paint disclosure should look something like our sample:

Landlord Lead Based Paint Disclosure

The form must include all of the following information:

  1. A general warning about the dangers of lead-based paint and the related laws that exist about these dangers.
  2. Disclosure of any knowledge about the presence of lead-based paint on the property. If you do not know if there is lead-based paint, this should be stated as well.
  3. What reports regarding lead-based paint have been done on the property and what those reports found.
  4. Space for the tenant to confirm that they received the disclosure as well as a copy of the EPA-approved brochure about lead paint.
  5. Space for the landlord to sign that they gave out all of the necessary information.

By including all of these things, you will have a valid disclosure that proves that you did your best to warn the tenants about any potential risks.

Know Your Requirements

For a landlord, lead-based paint disclosure forms protect you from the risk of a lawsuit if someone in the home should get sick because of lead paint. Beyond that, however, is the basic humanity of helping to educate tenants about lead-paint and its possible risks in the home. With the proper disclosure procedure, this will not be a concern.