Lead paint disclosure in Nevada

This rule comes from Section 1018 of Title X, and it covers most housing put up before 1978. It applies to sales and to rentals alike. So it touches you whether you're on the buying end, the selling end, or renting a place out or renting one to live in.

Sellers and landlords have 4 duties under this rule:

• Let you know about any lead-based paint or lead hazards they're aware of
• Pass along any records or reports in their possession
• Give you the EPA pamphlet on lead
• Put a Lead Warning Statement in the contract

What is a Lead Warning Statement? It's a standard paragraph added to the contract that warns about the dangers of lead in older homes. Buyers also get a 10-day window to have the home checked for lead.

NRS 113.130 says that anyone in Nevada selling a place with 1 to 4 units must complete Nevada's Seller's Real Property Disclosure Form (Form 547). The buyer must receive it at least 10 days before the property is conveyed. Conveyance is just the moment ownership changes hands, passing out of the seller's name and into the buyer's.

Whoever is selling has to complete the form personally. A real estate agent working for the seller may not fill it in on the seller's behalf.

Question 12 asks if the home went up on or before December 31, 1977. Answer yes, and the form notes that the federal EPA lead disclosure documents are required too. So if you're buying an older home in Nevada, you should walk away with the state form as well as the federal lead documents.

No. NRS 113.130(3) doesn't let a Nevada buyer waive the right to get the disclosure form. Waiving a right means agreeing, usually on paper, to give it up. And a seller can't require the buyer to waive it as a condition of the deal going through.

The state disclosure form isn't required for every sale. NRS 113.130(2) spells out the ones that skip it:

• Sales that happen through foreclosure
• Transfers between co-owners, spouses, or near family members
• A home's first sale when a licensed contractor built it
• Some relocation sales, plus sales a fiduciary handles

These exemptions only cover the Nevada form. Homes built before 1978 still fall under the federal lead rule, which stands on its own.

A buyer who never got the disclosure form can back out of the deal before closing without any penalty, under NRS 113.150.

What if the seller covered up a defect they knew was there? Then the buyer can sue. The seller could be on the hook for 3 times what the repair costs, along with court costs and attorney's fees. The buyer has to file the suit within 1 year of discovering the problem, or within 2 years of the sale closing, whichever of those dates falls later.

Roughly 1 in 5 Nevada homes went up before 1980, and rentals run a bit above that, based on US Census figures.

Only sales are covered by the Nevada seller form. Rent an older home, and it's the federal rule that makes your landlord share what they know about lead, along with any records, the lead pamphlet, and the warning statement.

Nevada's NRS 442.700 urges providers to screen a child's blood for lead at 12 months and again at 24 months, or at least one time before the child turns 6. The quick finger-prick version is a capillary test. A high result should be checked again with a venous test, where a needle draws blood from a vein.

The Southern Nevada Health District, serving Clark County, tests children ages 1 to 5 by appointment. Medicaid and Nevada Check Up are accepted, and a family without insurance pays $28.

Nevada treats lead exposure as a reportable condition (NRS 441A), and NRS 442.700 requires that every blood lead test gets reported. Failing to file the report is a misdemeanor, and each violation brings a $1,000 administrative fine.

In Esmeralda County and seven other rural counties (Elko, Humboldt, Lander, Lincoln, Nye, Storey and White Pine), the state Division of Public and Behavioral Health gets involved once a child's venous blood lead level reaches 3.5 ug/dL or more. Case management begins, and the division requests an environmental investigation at the child's home. That means testing the paint, soil, dust, and water to pin down where the lead is coming from.