Lead paint disclosure in Virginia

The EPA's rule on lead disclosure, known as Section 1018 of Title X, reaches most homes built before 1978. It covers rentals as well as sales, so it applies to you whether you rent an apartment or buy a house.

Under it, a seller or landlord has to disclose any lead-based paint or lead hazards they know about. They also have to share whatever records they hold and give you the EPA's lead pamphlet.

The lease or contract has to contain a Lead Warning Statement. That's a fixed paragraph warning about the dangers of lead paint in older homes. Buyers have 10 days to test the home for lead.

Va. Code 55.1-703 requires a Virginia seller to give you the disclosure statement the Real Estate Board publishes. Think of it as a "buyer beware" form. The owner promises nothing about the home's condition, and you're directed to check things yourself, for example with a home inspection.

Nothing on the form asks about lead-based paint. The only lead item, number 15, is about plumbing. It says the owner makes no promises about whether the pipes or solder are lead free. With an older home, it's the federal rule that actually gets you lead information.

Va. Code 55.1-702 lets certain kinds of sales skip the state form:

• Court-ordered transfers
• Foreclosure sales
• Transfers made by an estate's or trust's representative
• Transfers between people who jointly own the home
• Sales to a husband or wife or other close family member
• Transfers involving a government body

A contract counts as ratified once both sides have signed and agreed. Under Va. Code 55.1-709, when the seller hands you the disclosures after that moment, cancelling the contract is your only remedy.

In most cases you have 3 days from when the disclosures reach you in person or by electronic delivery, or 5 days from the postmark if they came by mail. And you have to back out before closing or before you take possession of the home.

In Virginia, you need a license to work as a lead contractor, supervisor, worker, inspector, risk assessor, or project designer. The license comes from the state board that oversees asbestos, lead, and home inspectors, which sits within the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. Abatement means permanently getting rid of lead paint hazards or sealing them away. Va. Code 54.1-503(C) makes doing that work without the matching license unlawful.

Virginia doesn't test every child. It goes by risk. Under 12VAC5-90-215, children must have a blood lead check at 12 and 24 months when a risk criterion fits them. For instance, that could be a child who receives Medicaid or WIC benefits, who lives in or often stays at a home built before 1950, or who lives in a pre-1978 home with peeling paint or recent renovation.

Under the state's July 2024 guidelines, when a child's blood lead level is high, the local health department brings in a licensed risk assessor to visit the home and search it for lead hazards.

If money is tight, Virginia's Lead Hazard Reduction program can fix lead paint hazards for free in homes built before 1978. Whether you own and live in the home, rent it out, or keep it empty, it can qualify as long as household income stays at or under 80% of the local median income.

Richmond residents have a local option too: the Lead Safe Program run by the city's health district. It teaches families about lead, offers screening, and sends risk assessors or inspectors to check homes of lead poisoned children in the city.

Older homes are common here. Census figures show that about 42% of Virginia homes, and about 44% of rentals, were built before 1980, so many people will run into these lead rules.