Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Requirements in Oregon

If you are selling or renting out a home in Oregon that was built before 1978, federal law requires you to give the buyer or tenant a lead-based paint disclosure before they sign anything. The Oregon lead-based paint disclosure obligation comes from the federal Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992, and Oregon adds its own seller property disclosure form on top of it. The package has to be delivered, signed, and kept on file, and the penalties for skipping it are steep.

Which Properties Are Covered

The rule applies to what federal law calls “target housing”: most homes, apartments, and private residences built before 1978. The Consumer Product Safety Commission banned lead-based paint for residential use that year, so anything older may still carry it on walls, trim, doors, or windows.¹ It covers both sales and leases, and it does not matter whether you own one house or dozens of units.

The underlying statute, 42 U.S.C. § 4852d, requires the disclosure to happen before the buyer or tenant becomes legally obligated under any contract.²

Exemptions

A pre-1978 property does not always trigger the rule. The federal exemptions are:

Housing for the elderly or persons with disabilities, unless a child under six lives or is expected to live there.
Zero-bedroom units such as studios, lofts, and dormitories, again unless a child under six resides there.
Short-term leases of 100 days or fewer where no renewal or extension is possible.
Foreclosure sales.
Anything built in 1978 or later.

Oregon does not add to or narrow this list.¹ If you are not certain an exemption fits, disclose anyway. The paperwork costs almost nothing; getting it wrong costs a lot.

What the Disclosure Package Must Include

For a sale, federal regulation 24 CFR 35.88 requires four things:

The EPA pamphlet Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home, which explains the health risks of lead exposure, particularly for young children and pregnant women.³
A written statement disclosing any lead-based paint or lead hazards the seller knows about, including the location and condition of affected surfaces.
Copies of any prior lead inspections, risk assessments, or abatement records. If none exist, the seller must say so explicitly.
A Lead Warning Statement, printed in large type as a separate attachment to the contract, notifying the buyer that homes built before 1978 may contain lead paint.

The seller must share this same information with any real estate agent involved in the transaction.⁴

What Changes for Leases

Landlords face a slightly different checklist. The lease itself must contain, or have attached, the Lead Warning Statement, the landlord’s disclosure of known hazards, a list of available reports, and the tenant’s signed acknowledgment that they received everything. If an agent or property manager is involved, the lease must also include a statement confirming the agent informed the landlord of the obligations and is aware of their own duty to ensure compliance.⁵

Oregon’s Separate Seller Property Disclosure Statement

In addition to the federal package, Oregon sellers must complete the state’s property disclosure statement under ORS 105.464. That form asks whether any portion of the property has been tested or treated for lead-based paint, alongside other environmental hazards such as radon, asbestos, and contaminated soil, and requires a “Yes,” “No,” or “Unknown” answer.⁶ It is a separate document from the federal lead disclosure form. Both are required in an Oregon sale, and skipping the state form because the federal one is done is a common and avoidable mistake.

Timing, Signatures, and Record Retention

The disclosure package has to reach the buyer or tenant before they are legally obligated under the purchase contract or lease. If something gets disclosed after a buyer has already submitted an offer, the seller must finish the remaining disclosure steps before accepting, and the buyer gets a chance to review the new information and potentially revise their offer.⁴

Every party signs. On a sale that means the seller, the buyer, and any agents; on a lease it means the landlord, the tenant, and any agents or property managers. Signatures must be dated.⁵

Keep the signed copies for at least three years. For sellers and their agents the clock starts at the completion of the sale; for landlords and their agents it starts at the beginning of the lease.⁷ If a dispute comes up later and you cannot produce the signed disclosure, the burden shifts to you.

The Buyer’s 10-Day Inspection Window

Federal law gives buyers a default 10-day period to hire a certified inspector or risk assessor to check the property for lead. The parties can agree in writing to lengthen or shorten the window, or the buyer can waive the inspection entirely.⁸ Waiving is common in competitive markets but risky with older homes, where hazards are not always visible and remediation can run into the thousands.

In Oregon, anyone performing a lead inspection or risk assessment must hold certification from the Oregon Health Authority.⁹ Spell out the inspection timeline clearly in the purchase agreement so there is no ambiguity about when the window opened and closed.

Agent Responsibilities

Agents cannot treat lead disclosure as the seller’s problem. The statute is explicit that when a seller or landlord has contracted with an agent, the agent must ensure compliance with the disclosure requirements on behalf of the seller or landlord.² An agent who lets a transaction close without the required disclosures faces the same penalty exposure as the seller.

In practice, the listing agent should confirm the property’s construction date, verify the disclosure package is complete, and make sure the buyer receives it before signing anything binding. For rental agents and property managers, the same logic applies: the lease must contain the required statements and signatures before the tenant takes possession.

Penalties for Noncompliance

The consequences for skipping lead disclosure come from several directions at once.

Government civil penalties. Violations are prohibited acts under the Toxic Substances Control Act. The statutory base is up to $10,000 per violation, and EPA adjusts the amount upward annually for inflation.²
Triple damages in private lawsuits. Anyone who knowingly violates the disclosure rules is jointly and severally liable to the buyer or tenant for three times the actual damages. A court can also award attorney fees, court costs, and expert witness fees to the prevailing party.
Injunctive relief. The federal government can seek a court order to stop ongoing violations.

The triple-damages provision is where this gets expensive in real life. If a buyer discovers undisclosed lead hazards after closing and spends $15,000 on remediation, the seller could owe $45,000 plus legal costs. Knowing violations create personal liability that cannot be shifted onto an LLC or other entity.

If You Also Plan to Renovate

Disclosure is a separate obligation from the EPA’s Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) Rule, which governs paid work that disturbs painted surfaces in pre-1978 housing and child-occupied facilities. In Oregon the EPA authorized the Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Construction Contractors Board to administer and enforce RRP starting in 2010, and certified firms and renovators found out of compliance face civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, per day.¹⁰ OHA can also suspend or revoke certifications for failing to comply with state or federal lead paint rules.¹¹ Before hiring anyone for work that disturbs paint on a pre-1978 Oregon home, ask to see the firm’s RRP certification. Homeowners doing their own work on their own residence are exempt; anyone being paid for the work is not.

1
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Rule (Section 1018 of Title X)
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 4852d – Disclosure of Information Concerning Lead Upon Transfer of Residential Property
3
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home (English)
4
eCFR. 24 CFR 35.88 – Disclosure Requirements for Sellers and Lessors
5
eCFR. 24 CFR 35.92 – Requirements for Leases
6
Oregon Public Law. ORS 105.464 – Form of Sellers Property Disclosure Statement
7
eCFR. 24 CFR Part 35 Subpart A – Disclosure of Known Lead-Based Paint and/or Lead-Based Paint Hazards Upon Sale or Lease of Residential Property
8
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Real Estate Disclosures About Potential Lead Hazards
9
Oregon Health Authority. Lead Paint Regulations
10
Oregon Health Authority. Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule
11
Oregon Public Law. ORS 431A.355 – Power of Oregon Health Authority to Regulate Lead-Based Paint Activities