How can i find out if my property has ever been tested for lead paint?
Can i find out if my property has ever been tested for lead
Yes! You can find out if your property has a history of lead testing. Massachusetts has the 4th oldest housing stock in the country with roughly 67% of all homes in the state being built before 1978. While most of these homes haven’t been tested for lead paint, there is a good many that have and here’s how to find out if your home or property has a testing history.
The place you want to look is in a database maintained by the State of MA, specifically the Childhood Lead Paint Prevention Program (CLPPP) which is housed in the Department of Public Health (DPH). The actually now have two databases, and we can dive into that a bit more.
Lead safe homes 1.0 Database
Below is the link to the original database, called Lead Safe Homes 1.0
The Lead Safe Homes 1.0 database is the original database that was started by the State. It stores the info on any inspection that took place at a property and whether or not lead paint hazards were found. You simply need to select the town you’re looking for and the street name to search the records. You’ll get a result if there are homes tested on that street in that city/town. The information that’s available is if lead inspection and what type was done, if any lead hazards were found, if there’s a letter of compliance. You also get the name and license number of the inspector that performed the inspection. Unfortunately, that’s the extent of the info and you won’t be able to tell where or what the lead paint hazards were, or how they were corrected during deleading work.
One other wrinkle in this database is that the actual reports or compliance documents aren’t stored by the State either. Those records are maintained by the lead inspector that completed the inspection. In many cases, they are still in business and if you reach out to them, they’ll be able to provide you with a copy of the reports and/or compliance documents (sometimes for a small fee). In a handful of cases, the inspector may not be in business anymore and in this case you may need to do another inspection to determine the lead paint status of the property.
Lead safe homes 2.0 database
Below is the link to the new Lead Safe Homes Database 2.0
Just released not much more than a year ago is the State’s new database, Lead Safe Homes 2.0. With this database, there are quite a few improvements. For some of the older inspections, you’ll be able to get copies of the cover page of the reports as well as a letter of compliance (if issued), which can make life a bit easier with future testing.
For properties more recently tested (2024 and on), the database will contain the full inspection report and associated compliance certificates (if issued). This will be a huge help for homeowners as they won’t need to reach out to inspectors for a copy or rely on previous homeowners to maintain their files.
Hopefully this helps answer questions you might have about searching for the lead paint testing history of your property. If you have other questions, don’t hesitate to reach out by giving us a call or submitting a contact form request.