Basic Requirements of a Lead-Based Paint Disclosure

“Every shortcut has a price usually greater than the reward.” – Bryant McGill

Rumors have swirled lately that sellers are not required to fill out the Residential Lead-Based Paint Disclosure (Form LPD) if they answer the two questions about lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards in the Seller’s Property Disclosure (Form SPD).

This is simply not true. There are no shortcuts when it comes to government compliance. Complete disclosure requires five steps, which I’ll review below.

1. Provide the Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home pamphlet to the buyer. This is a separate document from the Form LPD and is printed by the EPA. Form LPD has a spot for the buyer to acknowledge receipt of the pamphlet, which may be the only way to record that the pamphlet had been given as required since there is no similar acknowledgment on Form SPD.
2. Disclose known information and records. This is potentially the only part of the legal requirements that is met with Form SPD, but even that is questionable since it doesn’t quite match up with the suggested format published by the EPA.
3. Attach a completed lead-based paint disclosure form to the agreement of sale. Aside from the fact that a Seller’s Property Disclosure is not required in every transaction, the form is not meant to be used as an attachment to the Agreement of Sale. PAR does not recommend attaching the SPD because it could potentially turn every disclosure question into a term of the Agreement.
4. The disclosure attachment must include the Lead Warning Statement. Neither Form SPD nor the Agreement of Sale contains this Statement. The only PAR form with the Lead Warning Statement is the Form LPD.
5. All parties, and their agents, must sign and date the attachment. The law requires that agents inform sellers of their responsibilities regarding disclosure, and that the agents sign the disclosure form to certify that they have provided the appropriate information. The law also requires sellers and buyers to sign to show that the disclosure form was given and received. Form SPD may not always be signed by the buyer but, more importantly, there is nowhere on Form SPD for the agent to sign certifying that they have performed their responsibilities.

The EPA does perform brokerage audits, and Pennsylvania brokers have been fined – mostly for paperwork errors like missing signatures. And liability is not limited just to listing brokers! A buyer’s broker missing paperwork or signatures in their own file could be fined as well, even if the mistake is made by the other party, so be sure to keep on top of things and don’t allow a broker on the other side of the transaction to shirk their duty.