Has Your Home Been Lead Tested? You May Be Surprised!

Of all the paperwork that goes with a normal Real Estate transaction, the most overlooked form could prove to be the most costly. Fortunately, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a very consumer friendly State and makes it fairly easy to stay out of lead paint trouble.

Our office recently had this scenario occur. Our agent was listing a home that the Seller said she was unaware if it contained lead paint or not. This is very common because, unless you have had a lead paint inspection, or the prior owner has told you that they had knowledge of lead paint, you have no way of knowing. Here is where a few minutes of work can save a huge legal mess not to mention save someone from being poisoned by lead paint.

A quick check of the archives in the MLS showed that indeed the property was purchased with the lead declaration being "Unknown". The current owner had no inspections done. A check of the property in the Massachusetts Lead Safe Home Database showed that the prior owner had not been as forthcoming with thier agent as they should have been. There was an inspection done during the prior ownership period that was positive for lead paint and no action was taken.

The current Seller must now disclose that there is lead paint present and should try to get a copy of the inspection to determine how much and where the lead paint was found. Had this not been caught at this point, and someone ended up getting poisoned, you would hope that the original owner that had the inspection and failed to disclose it would be held liable. As we all know, in these situations it is usually a case of; sue everyone and see who is left standing.

If you have not already used the link above to check your current home address or a home that you may be thinking about purchasing, you will be shocked as to how easy it is. This site should be bookmarked on every Realtor's computer and used in every transaction.

***TIP*** Be careful with Streets that have odd spellings. I ran a home on Greene St that showed up under Green St. Be careful with words like Olde, and Towne. more times than not they will drop the odd vowel.