Lead paint disclosure in Michigan

Under the federal lead disclosure rule, most housing built before 1978 is included. It doesn't matter if the home is for sale or for rent.

If you're a seller or a landlord, this rule means you have to do 4 things:

• Disclose whatever lead paint or lead hazard knowledge you have about the home.
• Pass along any records or reports about the problem that you have.
• Provide the EPA's lead pamphlet.
• Put a Lead Warning Statement into the sales contract or the lease.

Buyers have a 10-day window to check the home for lead.

Under Michigan's Seller Disclosure Act, homes with 1 to 4 units need a written seller disclosure statement. The requirement covers regular sales, land contracts, and lease-options. With a land contract, your payments go straight to the seller over time rather than through a bank loan. A lease-option means you rent the home now and have the right to buy it later.

The form's Item 10 asks if the seller knows about any environmental hazard on the property. Lead-based paint is one of the hazards named on the form, alongside asbestos, radon, and storage tanks.

Not every transfer calls for the seller disclosure statement. Michigan law carves out exceptions:

• Court-ordered transfers, plus foreclosures.
• Sales by a fiduciary who hasn't lived in the home. A fiduciary is a person who handles property on someone else's behalf, like the person managing an estate.
• Transfers to a spouse, parent, grandparent, child, or grandchild.
• New homes that have never been occupied, when the seller holds a builder's license.

The statement has to reach you before you sign the purchase agreement. Should it arrive after signing, you still have the right to cancel the deal in writing. How long you get depends on how it was delivered.

There's one situation where a Michigan landlord can be charged with a crime. It happens when a landlord has been aware of a lead paint hazard for 90 days or more, hasn't tried in good faith to remedy it, and continues renting to a family with a child whose blood, drawn from a vein, shows 10 ug/dL or more of lead. The ug/dL is how doctors measure lead in blood.

The charge is a misdemeanor, and the penalties are:

Owners of some rental homes built before 1978 must register those properties with the state's Lead Safe Housing Registry. This kicks in when the lead has been removed or controlled, as confirmed by a certified risk assessor. Registering a home is free, and anyone can look at the registry.

The state only lets certified people perform or offer this kind of work. That means inspections for lead-based paint, risk assessments, and abatement, which is the removal or permanent sealing of lead paint. Michigan's Lead Abatement Act requires each person to hold a certification for the particular type of job involved.

Detroit changed its rental ordinance on October 29, 2024. When a child living in a rental has lead poisoning, the city orders a lead inspection plus a risk assessment, and the owner foots the bill. A single-family rental inspection runs $195.

Starting January 1, 2024, Michigan doctors have to test children for lead at ages 12 months and 24 months. Any child aged 24 to 72 months with no prior test must be tested too. Parents are allowed to say no to the test.

Under state rules effective April 30, 2025, lead poisoning means at least 3.5 ug/dL of lead in the blood. Kids living in places on the high-risk list, like Detroit, Flint, and Grand Rapids, need one more test between 48 and 60 months.

The US Census counts a lot of Michigan homes built before 1980.