Lead Paint Disclosure in Massachusetts: What Sellers of Pre-1978 Homes Must Do

If your Massachusetts home was built before 1978, you're required to give a prospective buyer a specific disclosure — the Property Transfer Notification — before they sign a purchase and sale agreement, along with any lead inspection records you actually have. Selling the home does not, by itself, require you to remove or remediate any lead paint; that obligation is triggered separately, as explained below.

Two overlapping legal frameworks apply to any pre-1978 residential sale in Massachusetts: the federal disclosure rule under Title X of the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act (42 U.S.C. § 4852d, 40 CFR Part 745 Subpart F), and the Massachusetts Lead Law and its regulations (M.G.L. c. 111, §§ 190–199B; 105 CMR 460.000), enforced by the state's Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. They ask for overlapping information but use separate paperwork, and most Massachusetts closing attorneys handle both as a matter of course.

Which homes does this apply to?

Any residential property built before 1978 — the year the federal government banned lead-based paint for residential use. The cutoff is about the building's age, not about whether children currently live there or whether you know of any lead paint on the property. If you don't know when your home was built, your municipal assessor's database is the fastest way to check.

What exactly do you have to disclose?

Under 105 CMR 460.720, before a buyer signs a binding agreement you must give them the official Property Transfer Notification form and disclose:

• Whether the property has ever been certified lead-safe, with a copy of any Letter of Full Compliance or Letter of Interim Control
• Copies of any lead inspection, risk assessment, or post-compliance reports you have for the property
• Any past reported cases of lead poisoning among occupants (without naming the individual)

If you have no records — no inspection has ever been done — you disclose that. The law requires you to share what you actually know and have; it does not require you to go find out by ordering a test before you sell.

What happens after the buyer receives the disclosure?

The federal rule adds a second protection: the buyer must also receive the EPA pamphlet Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home, and — unless they waive it in writing — a window of at least 10 days to have a licensed lead inspector assess the property before they're bound by contract. In practice, most Massachusetts purchase and sale agreements build this inspection into the same contingency period as the general home inspection, so it rarely adds a separate step to the timeline.

Buyers sometimes assume a clean disclosure means the property is lead-free. It usually means only that no one has ever tested it. If a young child will live in the home, an independent lead inspection during the contingency period tells you something the seller's paperwork alone cannot.

Do you have to remove the lead paint to sell?

No. Selling a pre-1978 home creates a disclosure obligation, not a deleading obligation. The duty to delead or bring a unit into interim control is triggered separately, by a child under six residing in the property — a rule aimed at occupancy, not ownership transfer. A buyer moving in with young children takes on that compliance question for themselves after closing; it isn't something the sale itself forces on the seller beforehand.

What if you skip the disclosure?

Sellers and agents who don't comply are subject to civil penalties under Massachusetts law, and both civil and criminal penalties under the federal statute. Beyond the statutory exposure, an undisclosed lead issue discovered after closing is a common source of post-sale disputes — the disclosure exists in part to put that risk to rest before the deal closes, not after.

Where does this fit in the closing timeline?

The Property Transfer Notification has to be in the buyer's hands before they sign anything binding — before an accepted offer, not just before the purchase and sale agreement. If you're listing an older home, ask your agent to have the disclosure ready alongside your listing paperwork rather than scrambling once an offer is on the table; see our guide to what a listing agent handles for the rest of that pre-listing checklist. And if lead disclosure turns up records you didn't know existed, our home inspection guide covers how that fits alongside the buyer's general inspection contingency.