Lead paint disclosure in North Dakota

The federal rule on lead disclosure applies to nearly all homes built before 1978, whether the home changes owner or tenant. Sellers and landlords have to share what they know about any lead-based paint or lead hazards in the place.

They must also pass along any records in their possession and give you the EPA pamphlet on lead. Every sale or lease needs a Lead Warning Statement, a fixed paragraph that spells out the risks of lead.

Buyers get a 10 day window to test the home for lead.

When a licensed agent or broker handles the sale of a property with four or fewer units, state law says the buyer must receive a written disclosure form from the seller. The form must reach the buyer before the purchase agreement gets final acceptance.

The form asks about hidden defects, overall condition, environmental concerns, structural systems, and mechanical systems. The Real Estate Commission's Seller's Property Condition Disclosure, form SFN 62358, asks the seller to say whether lead is a problem anywhere on the property, in the paint, the plumbing, or the ground. Any seller who answers yes has to attach every lead record and report they hold.

An owner who sells a home like this on their own, with no licensee involved, is still on the hook. They have to put in writing every material fact they know of, anything that could meaningfully sway a typical buyer.

The state rules don't cover every sale. Exempt sales include:

• sales ordered by a court and foreclosures
• sales handled by the person managing an estate or trust
• deals between co-owners or close relatives
• brand-new homes that no one has lived in yet

Landlords of pre-1978 homes fall under the federal rule. State law also makes residential landlords follow building and housing codes tied to health and safety. Repairs needed to keep the home livable are their responsibility.

This matters because 46,125 of the state's 135,819 rental homes, about 34%, date from before 1980.

The state's Department of Environmental Quality hands out licenses to firms that do lead abatement, meaning work that permanently gets rid of lead paint hazards or seals them off. The department also credentials people in five roles: inspection, risk assessment, project design, lead work, and lead supervision. Companies doing ordinary renovation work in older homes get certified by EPA instead.

Before abatement starts in a house or anywhere children spend time, the department wants its form at least 10 working days in advance. When a government orders the work, notice must go in by the following working day.

You may do lead work on a home you own without state certification, but only if the only people living there are your immediate family. And no child living there can show an elevated level of lead in the blood.

If you violate the state's licensing statute for lead paint, or the regulations under it, you can face a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per day for each violation. State inspectors can walk into any site where lead paint work is underway.

The state's Health and Human Services department wants children on Medicaid tested for lead at 12 months and again at 24 months. Any child who missed those earlier tests should have one done between ages 2 and 6.

Labs and doctors must report every blood lead result in the state, whatever the level, to Health and Human Services. If a child's result is 3.5 micrograms per deciliter or higher, the next step is a follow-up test using blood drawn from a vein to confirm the result.

The Department of Environmental Quality inspects the child's home when the vein test comes back at 20 or higher. It also steps in when the level holds at 10 or higher for 3 months.