History of Lead-Based Paint Must Be Disclosed

Question: We are both retired and buying a home in south Scottsdale. The home was built in the 1960’s. We recently received from our real estate agent a pamphlet on Protecting Your Family From Lead-Based Paint and other information about lead-based paint (“LBP”). Now that we have this information on LBP, we have no idea what to do. Even our real estate agent didn’t know. He suggested to put the LBP information with our escrow file, which already has a summary of our CC&Rs, and some warranty documents. Is there something that we should do now that we have this LBP information?

Answer: Most homes built prior to 1978 were painted with LBP, which can be fatal if ingested by small children. In 1978 the use of LBP in homes was prohibited by federal law, and could no longer be used to paint homes. In the last 44 years, many of these homes have since been re-painted with non-LBP. If not already, at some point in time, the dangers of LBP to children may be de minimus, and LBP disclosure will no longer be required.

Note: One mile north of Scottsdale Fashion Square shopping mall is a community of 39 town homes built in the 1970’s. This community is named “Scottsdale North,” because in the 1970’s this community was considered to be in “north” Scottsdale. Therefore, because most homes further north in Scottsdale were built after 1978, LBP disclosure is rarely required for homes in today’s north Scottsdale.