Selling a Home Built Before 1978 in Salt Lake County: What Lead Paint Disclosure Requires

If your home was built before 1978, federal law requires you to give the buyer an EPA lead hazard information pamphlet, disclose any known lead-based paint or lead hazards, share any reports you have, and sign a disclosure form before the buyer is bound to the contract. The buyer also gets a window to have the home tested for lead if they want one. Skipping any of this can create liability for the seller and trouble for the sale.

Charisse Walker is a real estate agent with Chalker Properties Group in Salt Lake and Davis County, Utah, and a licensed mortgage lender. Salt Lake County has plenty of homes built before 1978, from older neighborhoods in Salt Lake City and Murray to mid-century streets across the valley, so this comes up often.

This is general education and not legal advice. Your agent and your attorney can speak to your sale.

The federal government banned residential lead-based paint in 1978. Homes built before then may contain it, even if it was painted over years ago. Lead paint is most likely to cause trouble when it is chipping, peeling, or disturbed by sanding and remodeling, since that releases dust.

The rule applies to most residential sales of homes built before 1978, including single-family homes, condos and townhomes, with some narrow exceptions. Your agent can tell you whether an exception might fit your property.

The federal rule sets a short list of required steps:

• The pamphlet. Give the buyer the EPA pamphlet on protecting families from lead in the home before they are bound to the contract.
• Disclosure of what you know. Tell the buyer about any known lead-based paint or lead hazards in the home.
• Reports and records. Provide any inspection or risk assessment reports you have about lead in the home, and any records on the topic.
• A signed disclosure form. The contract includes a lead warning statement, and both sides sign confirming the steps were done.
• A testing opportunity. The buyer generally gets a period, commonly ten days, to have the home tested for lead, unless both sides agree in writing to a different period or to waive it.
• Record keeping. Agents and sellers keep the signed documents for a set time after the sale.

Your agent will normally attach the forms to the contract. Read them before you sign, and ask questions if anything is unclear.

The rule requires you to disclose what you know. It does not require you to test the home before selling, and many sellers do not. If you have no knowledge, the form has a place to say so.

Be careful with what you say. Do not state that the home has no lead paint unless you have a test that shows it. A statement like "I have no knowledge of lead-based paint" is accurate if true. A statement like "there is no lead paint" is a claim you may not be able to support.

If you have records from past renovations, old inspection reports or a prior buyer's lead test, gather them now. Those documents count as information the buyer is entitled to see.

The buyer can order a lead inspection or risk assessment during the testing period. A certified professional does the work. The results go to the buyer, and the terms of the contract say what happens next.

Usually the buyer has three choices: accept the results, ask for repairs or a credit, or cancel the contract. If lead hazards are found, the seller can agree to address them, negotiate a credit, or decline, and the buyer then decides whether to proceed.

Work done to remove or cover lead paint is regulated, and contractors doing renovation work in pre-1978 homes need to follow lead-safe work practices. If you hire anyone for repairs, ask whether their firm is certified. Our guide on negotiating repairs after a Utah inspection explains how requests like these usually play out.

The federal lead paint rules are separate from the Utah seller disclosure forms. Both apply, and you complete both. Our overview of Utah seller disclosures covers the state side.

The same principle runs through all of it: disclose what you know, in writing, before the buyer is bound. It protects the buyer, and it protects you.

• Confirm the build year. County records show it, and your agent can pull it.
• Collect records. Old inspection reports, remodel permits and any paint-related paperwork.
• Look at condition. Peeling or chipping paint on windows, doors, trim and exterior surfaces is worth fixing the safe way, not by sanding it yourself.
• Tell your agent what you know. They will put it on the forms accurately.
• Decide about testing. A test is optional, but it can remove uncertainty and speed negotiations. Whether to order one is your choice.
• Plan the timing. The testing window runs inside your contract timeline, so a buyer who uses it can change your closing schedule.

• Skipping the forms. They are not optional on a pre-1978 home.
• Handing the pamphlet over late. It has to come before the buyer is bound.
• Saying there is none. State what you know, not what you assume.
• Sanding or scraping before the sale. Disturbing old paint can create the very hazard you are trying to avoid.
• Not telling the contractor. Anyone doing repair work needs to know the age of the home.

Here is a typical example, not a specific client.

A seller in a brick home built in the 1950s is getting ready to list. They have never tested for lead, but they have an invoice from a window replacement in the 1990s and some older repainting records.

Their agent confirms the build year, attaches the federal disclosure and pamphlet to the listing documents, and the seller notes the work they know of and that they have no knowledge of lead hazards beyond the age of the home. The buyer receives the packet before they make an offer, signs the acknowledgment with the contract, and chooses to skip additional testing.

Nothing slows the sale. The paperwork was ready, it was accurate, and nobody was surprised. That is the whole goal.

Calmly and with facts. Buyers who see the lead disclosure on an older home are not shocked, because it is in every pre-1978 file. What worries them is a seller who seems evasive.

Keep the conversation simple. State the year the home was built, what you know about any past paint or renovation work, and what records you have. Point them to the pamphlet, which explains how lead exposure happens and how to reduce it. Let them decide whether they want testing.

If a buyer asks a question you cannot answer, say so and pass it to your agent. A plain "I do not know" on the form and in conversation is accurate and protects you. A guess is how sellers end up in a dispute later, so skip it. If a buyer raises health concerns, such as young children or a pregnancy in the household, encourage them to talk with their own doctor and to use the testing window.

Does the rule apply if I am selling as-is?

Yes. Selling as-is changes repair negotiations, not the disclosure requirement.

Does it apply to a condo?

Generally yes, if the unit was built before 1978. Your agent can confirm for your building.

Can the buyer waive the testing period?

Yes, in writing, if both sides agree. The disclosure and pamphlet are still required.

Do I have to remove lead paint before I sell?

No. The rule requires disclosure, not removal. A buyer may ask for repairs, and that is a negotiation.

Who keeps the signed forms?

Sellers and agents keep copies for a required period after the sale. Ask your agent how long.

Charisse Walker is a real estate agent with Chalker Properties Group in Salt Lake and Davis County, Utah, and a licensed mortgage lender. She gets the disclosure paperwork ready before the listing goes live, so an older home does not collect avoidable delays.

The selling your home guide lays out the full process, and the Murray page shows the kind of older neighborhoods where this paperwork comes up.

Selling an older home in Salt Lake County? Contact Charisse to talk through your timeline and the disclosures to prepare.