Renting an older home: lead notification, Lead Law duties and condition records

Which lead duties apply, and when

The lead duties for rentals are easy to blur together. They apply in different situations, and keeping them apart avoids two opposite mistakes: skipping the notice because no young child is expected, or treating every pre-1978 rental as if it had to be fully deleaded before anyone could move in.

• Every rental of a home built before 1978: give the state and federal notification package before the lease is signed, including any lead reports and letters you already have.
• A child under six lives in the home: the Lead Law requires the lead paint hazards to be removed or brought under interim control.
• A hazard is found, or repair or renovation will disturb paint: the work has to be done by properly licensed or authorized people using lead-safe methods.
• Deleading or interim control has been done: the result is documented in a Letter of Compliance or Letter of Interim Control, which then goes to future tenants with the notification package.

The notification package before the lease

Under Massachusetts and federal law, before a prospective tenant enters a rental agreement for a home built before 1978, the owner provides: two copies of the Tenant Lead Law Notification and Tenant Certification Form, one for each side to keep; a copy of the most recent lead inspection or risk assessment report for the unit, if one exists; and a copy of any Letter of Compliance or Letter of Interim Control for the unit, if one exists. This applies whether or not the household includes a child under six.

The federal disclosure rule adds the EPA pamphlet Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home; disclosure of any known lead-based paint or lead hazards; all available records and reports, including those for common areas of a multi-unit building; and a Lead Warning Statement attached to or written into the lease. EPA publishes a sample lessor's disclosure form for this. Keep a signed copy of the federal disclosures for three years after the lease begins.

The tenant and the owner each keep a completed, signed Tenant Certification Form, which certifies that the tenant received the information. It does not certify that the home is lead-free, and it does not waive the owner's duties under the Lead Law. Owners who skip the notification face civil penalties under state law, and civil and criminal penalties under federal law.

Finding the home's lead history

If you are not sure what lead records exist, start with the state's Lead Safe Homes databases, run by the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. Lead Safe Homes 2.0 holds inspection reports and compliance documents; Lead Safe Homes 1.0 lists a property's lead history. Lead paperwork you received when you bought the property belongs in the same search.

Whatever turns up goes into the notification package. A past Letter of Compliance is useful, but the present condition of the paint still matters, especially after later damage or renovation.

Children under six and fair housing

The Lead Law requires the removal or control of lead paint hazards in homes where a child under six lives. In that situation the owner must delead the home or bring the lead hazards under interim control. Interim control is temporary: a Letter of Interim Control, issued by a risk assessor, starts a period that has to end with full compliance no later than two years from the date of the letter. Which inspection, which work and which route to compliance fit a particular home is decided by licensed lead inspectors and risk assessors.

Who lives in a home can change during a tenancy, for example when a child is born or a family member moves in. Because the duty is tied to a child under six living there, an owner should be ready to arrange an inspection when a tenant reports a young child, rather than treating the question as settled at lease signing.

Massachusetts law prohibits refusing to rent to a household because it includes young children, because lead paint is or may be present, or because of the cost of deleading. Declining a renewal for those reasons is not allowed either. Asking applicants about children in order to screen them out, or steering families to other units to avoid lead work, is discrimination.

Repairs and deleading work

Do not dry scrape, power sand, burn off or demolish painted surfaces that may contain lead. These methods spread lead dust through the home, and even a small amount of dust can poison a child.

Massachusetts regulations allow certain low-risk and moderate-risk abatement and containment work to be done by authorized people who meet the training and other requirements of 105 CMR 460 and 454 CMR 22. Beyond those categories, deleading is work for licensed deleading contractors. Which category a task falls into, and who may do it, is for a licensed lead professional to confirm before work starts. For ordinary renovation, repair or painting in a pre-1978 home, EPA recommends hiring a lead-safe certified contractor.

Get a written scope of work before deleading or interim control begins. When the work is finished, a licensed lead professional checks the result and, if the standards are met, issues a Letter of Compliance or a Letter of Interim Control. That letter goes into the file and into the notification package for later tenants. A rental where no deleading or interim control is under way does not need this sign-off simply to be leased, but it still needs the notification package.

Habitability under 105 CMR 410

Lead is one part of the condition of an older home. The State Sanitary Code, 105 CMR 410, sets minimum housing standards covering heat, hot water, sanitary facilities, structural condition, pests and other matters, and it applies to every rental, not only older ones. The specific requirements depend on the code section and the type of property.

Before each turnover, walk the areas you can safely reach: heating and hot water, plumbing and drains, windows and locks, signs of leaks or pests, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Photograph what you see and keep the notes. Repairs to electrical, plumbing, gas or heating systems go to licensed trades, and their invoices go into the file. A tenant dispute or a pending approval does not pause a needed repair.

If you take a security deposit, the statement of condition must list existing damage, including code violations certified by a board of health or building official or found by a court. A careful pre-lease walk-through gives you what you need to write it.

What to have in the file before the lease is signed

Assemble these for each address, and update them when work is done or a tenant changes.

• Two signed Tenant Lead Law Notification and Tenant Certification Forms, one kept by you and one by the tenant
• The federal lessor's disclosure with the Lead Warning Statement, and a record that the EPA pamphlet was given
• The most recent lead inspection or risk assessment report, and any Letter of Compliance or Letter of Interim Control, if they exist
• Lead Safe Homes search results for the address
• Written scopes, invoices and license information for deleading, interim control and licensed trade repairs
• Pre-lease walk-through notes and photos, and the statement of condition if you collect a security deposit