What is the Massachusetts Tenant Lead Law Notification?

It is the state notification an owner must give a prospective tenant before entering into a tenancy agreement for pre-1978 premises, under M.G.L. c.111 section 197A(d)(2). The statute requires three things: a copy of the state materials and the standard notification form completed under section 197A(d)(1); a copy of the most recent lead paint inspection report, Letter of Interim Control, Letter of Full Compliance, or abatement plan applicable to the dwelling unit and to the common areas or exterior surfaces; and two copies of a statement certifying the tenant received all of it, one retained by the tenant and one by the owner. The statute permits the certification to be included as a provision in a written tenancy agreement. It is a separate document from the federal disclosure and neither substitutes for the other.

Does the Tenant Lead Law Notification only apply if a child under six lives there?

No. This is the most common misunderstanding of the Massachusetts regime. M.G.L. c.111 section 197A(d)(2) conditions the notification on entering into a tenancy agreement for premises, and section 189A defines premises simply as residential property constructed prior to 1978. There is no child condition anywhere in the notification duty. A childless tenant renting a 1920s apartment gets the notification exactly like a family does. The child-under-six trigger belongs to a different duty entirely, the deleading obligation at section 197(a).

Is the Property Transfer Lead Paint Notification required for rentals?

No, and this is a live error on many Massachusetts pages. M.G.L. c.111 section 197A(b) requires the property transfer notification of persons selling premises, prior to the signing of a purchase and sale agreement, and of persons leasing premises with an option to purchase, prior to the signing of that lease. An ordinary tenancy with no purchase option is governed by the tenant limb at section 197A(d), not by the sale limb at section 197A(b). If you are simply renting out a pre-1978 unit, the Property Transfer Lead Paint Notification is not your form; the Tenant Lead Law Notification is.

When must a Massachusetts landlord delead?

The duty at M.G.L. c.111 section 197(a) has two elements that must both be present: a child under six years of age resides in the premises, and the paint, plaster, or other accessible structural material actually contains dangerous levels of lead. Popular summaries drop one element or the other and report the rule as deleading being required in any pre-1978 rental where a child under six lives or visits. The statute says resides, and it says the material must contain dangerous levels of lead. Where both elements are met the owner must abate or contain under section 197(b) interim control or section 197(c) full compliance. On a change of ownership where a child under six will become or continue to be a resident, section 197(a) gives the new owner ninety days.

Are Massachusetts landlords strictly liable for lead poisoning?

Substantially, yes, but the statute is more precise than the slogan. M.G.L. c.111 section 199(a) makes the owner liable for all damages to a child under six at the time of poisoning, on proof that the child's blood lead level equals or exceeds the level at which the Department of Public Health defines lead poisoning, where those damages are caused by the owner's failure to comply with section 194, section 196(a), or section 197. The same subsection provides the escape: an owner covered by a Letter of Full Compliance or a Letter of Interim Control shall not be strictly liable. That shield is not absolute. While the letter is in effect the owner must still take reasonable care to keep the premises in compliance, and remains liable for all damages caused by breach of that duty of reasonable care.

Which Massachusetts rentals are exempt from the state Lead Law?

M.G.L. c.111 section 199B carries two exemptions. Sections 189A to 199A do not apply to a dwelling unit with fewer than 250 square feet of floor space calculated on total habitable room area, or one used as a rooming house, provided that no person occupying the unit is under six years of age. Note that condition carefully: like the federal 0-bedroom exclusion as amended in 2025, the Massachusetts small-unit and rooming-house exemption carries a child-under-six condition, and a child under six in the unit removes it. Section 199B also exempts a unit let for thirty-one days or less for vacation or recreational purposes, provided the unit has no peeling or chipping paint and the tenant received the appropriate lead paint disclosure notification under the Department of Public Health regulations.

Do I have to give Massachusetts tenants 10 days to inspect for lead?

No. The federal 10-day opportunity is a sales rule. 40 CFR 745.110(a) provides that before a purchaser is obligated under any contract to purchase target housing, the seller shall permit the purchaser a 10-day period to conduct a risk assessment or inspection. The lessor requirements at 40 CFR 745.113(b) contain no inspection item at all. Massachusetts has its own ten-day period, but read its scope: M.G.L. c.111 section 197A(b)(1) gives it to a lessee-prospective purchaser under a lease with an option to purchase who, after being told inspections are available, chooses to have one. That is a purchase transaction. Neither the federal rule nor the Massachusetts statute gives an ordinary tenant a 10-day inspection window. You may offer one voluntarily, but never print a line claiming a tenant received or waived a right that does not exist.

Are studio apartments exempt from the lead paint disclosure?

Not any longer, and this changed in 2025. 40 CFR 745.103, as amended effective January 13, 2025 (89 FR 89416), defines target housing as housing constructed prior to 1978, except housing for the elderly or persons with disabilities or any 0-bedroom dwelling (unless any child who is less than 6 years of age resides or is expected to reside in such housing). The 2024 amendment moved the child-under-six parenthetical to the end of the except-clause, so it now attaches to both limbs. A 0-bedroom dwelling means one in which the living area is not separated from the sleeping area, including efficiencies, studio apartments, dormitory housing, military barracks, and rentals of individual rooms. So a studio is outside federal target housing when no child under six lives there, but becomes federal target housing once a child under six resides or is expected to. Massachusetts runs parallel: the state exemption at M.G.L. c.111 section 199B turns on floor space under 250 square feet or rooming-house use and also fails if an occupant is under six.

Can I refuse to rent to a family with children to avoid deleading?

No, and Massachusetts closed this door explicitly. M.G.L. c.111 section 199A(a) makes it an unlawful practice for purposes of c.151B to refuse to sell, rent, or lease, or to discriminate in the terms of a rental, because the premises do or may contain dangerous levels of lead, or because the rental would trigger duties under sections 189A to 199B, or because a person chooses to exercise a right under those sections. Section 199A(b) states that refusing to rent to families with children in violation of c.151B section 4(11) shall not constitute compliance with the lead law. Section 199A(c) adds that refusing to renew or evicting families with children is not compliance either, and that such evictions also violate c.93A section 2 and c.186 section 18. The statute leaves one lawful route: delead.

What are the penalties for skipping the lead notification in Massachusetts?

There are three separate exposures. Under M.G.L. c.111 section 197A(e), an owner who fails to comply with the notification section is liable for all damages caused by the failure and is subject to a penalty not to exceed one thousand dollars, and a violation by a person engaged in trade or commerce is an unfair and deceptive act under c.93A section 2, which opens up multiple damages and fees. Under 42 U.S.C. 4852d(b)(3) a knowing federal violator is jointly and severally liable to the lessee for three times the damages incurred, with costs and reasonable attorney fees available under 4852d(b)(4). Separately there are government civil money penalties, which EPA adjusts for inflation every year under 40 CFR 19.4, so any dollar figure you read in a blog post is probably stale. Consult the current table rather than trusting a number.

What is the difference between a Letter of Interim Control and a Letter of Full Compliance?

A Letter of Interim Control is the temporary status under M.G.L. c.111 section 197(b). A licensed inspector issues it once urgent hazards are controlled under an emergency lead management plan. It expires one year from issuance, may be renewed once for a further year, and in no case may premises stay under interim control for longer than two years, because full compliance under section 197(c) is the required endpoint. A Letter of Full Compliance is the permanent status. Both letters shield the owner from strict liability under section 199(a), subject to the surviving duty of reasonable care. One practical detail owners miss: section 197(b) provides that the plan and letter are issued for the premises, not its owner, and remain in effect if ownership transfers, so a buyer inherits both the letter and the obligation to comply with its terms.

Does a landlord have to test for lead-based paint?

The federal disclosure rule requires disclosure of what you actually know, not investigation. EPA states plainly that the rule does not require landlords to test or remove lead-based paint. If nothing has ever been tested and you hold no reports, no knowledge is the honest federal answer. Massachusetts changes the calculus rather than the federal answer. Because section 197(a) requires deleading where a child under six resides in premises containing dangerous levels of lead, and section 199(a) makes the owner liable for a poisoned child under six while a compliance letter is the only reliable shield, the deliberately untested Massachusetts property is carrying an unpriced liability rather than avoiding one. Not knowing is lawful under the federal rule and is not a defence under section 199.

How long must a Massachusetts landlord keep the signed disclosure?

The federal floor is three years from the start of the leasing period, under 40 CFR 745.113(c). Note what 745.113(c)(2) says about that period: the recordkeeping requirement is not intended to place any limitations on civil suits under the Act, or to otherwise affect a lessee's or purchaser's rights under the civil penalty provisions of 42 U.S.C. 4852d(b)(3). Three years is how long you must keep the file, not a measure of how long you can be sued. Separately, M.G.L. c.111 section 197A(d)(2) requires you to retain one of the two certification copies, with no end date stated, and a lead poisoning claim brought for a child can surface many years later. Keep the whole package for the life of ownership and hand it over at sale.

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Free Massachusetts Lead Paint Disclosure

Q: Does Massachusetts have its own lead paint law?

Yes, and it is the strongest state lead regime in the country. The Massachusetts Lead Law sits at M.G.L. c.111 sections 189A to 199B. It is genuinely additive rather than a restatement of the federal rule: section 197A(d)(2) requires a Tenant Lead Law Notification before every tenancy agreement, section 197(a) requires deleading or interim control where a child under six resides in premises that contain dangerous levels of lead, section 199(a) imposes liability on the owner for damages to a poisoned child under six, and section 199A makes it an unlawful practice to refuse a family because of lead. Federal compliance alone does not satisfy Massachusetts, and Massachusetts compliance alone does not satisfy the federal rule.

The federal disclosure every Massachusetts landlord must deliver before leasing housing built before 1978 — plus the state duty that federal compliance does not satisfy. Authority is 42 U.S.C. 4852d and the Massachusetts Lead Law, M.G.L. c.111 §§189A–199B. Massachusetts is a two-document state, and the 10-day inspection window you see elsewhere is a sales rule, not a rental one.

Federal + State 42 U.S.C. 4852d M.G.L. c.111 Massachusetts Free PDF

Updated Q3 2026 By Tenant Screening Background Check Editorial Team Reviewed for Massachusetts ~24 min read

A Massachusetts lead paint disclosure is the federally mandated form a landlord delivers to a prospective tenant before any lease of residential property built before 1978. It carries the fixed federal lead warning statement, states the lessor’s actual knowledge of lead-based paint and hazards, lists the records being handed over, documents the tenant’s receipt of the EPA pamphlet Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home, captures any agent’s acknowledgment, and is signed and dated by every party. Authority is 42 U.S.C. 4852d (Section 1018 of Title X, the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992), implemented at 40 CFR Part 745 Subpart F (EPA) and 24 CFR Part 35 Subpart A (HUD). Massachusetts then adds the most demanding state lead regime in the country — the Massachusetts Lead Law at M.G.L. c.111 §§189A–199B — which requires a second document before every tenancy agreement, imposes an affirmative duty to delead in defined circumstances, and makes the owner liable for a poisoned child. Generate the federal form below, then read on for exactly what each regime requires and where they diverge. For the underlying condition of the unit, see our Massachusetts habitability laws guide.

Key Takeaways

Massachusetts is a two-document state. The federal disclosure under 40 CFR 745.113(b) and the Massachusetts Tenant Lead Law Notification under M.G.L. c.111 §197A(d)(2) are separate instruments. Neither one satisfies the other. Delivering only the federal form is the most common Massachusetts failure.
Pre-1978 is the trigger for both regimes. 40 CFR 745.103 defines federal target housing as housing constructed prior to 1978; M.G.L. c.111 §189A defines “premises” as residential property “constructed prior to nineteen hundred and seventy-eight.” The two duties travel together.
The Tenant Notification carries no child condition. §197A(d)(2) attaches to entering into a tenancy agreement, full stop. A childless tenant gets it too.
The deleading duty has two elements, not one. §197(a) requires abatement or containment where a child under six resides and the material contains dangerous levels of lead. Most summaries drop one.
The Property Transfer Notification is a sale document. §197A(b) attaches it to a purchase and sale agreement or a lease with an option to purchase — not to an ordinary tenancy.
The 10-day inspection window does not apply to leases. 40 CFR 745.110(a) gives it to purchasers. The lessor rules at 745.113(b) contain no such item. Massachusetts’ own ten-day period at §197A(b)(1) belongs to a lessee-prospective purchaser.
Compliance letters are the liability shield. Under §199(a) an owner holding a Letter of Full Compliance or Letter of Interim Control is not strictly liable — subject to a surviving duty of reasonable care.
You cannot refuse the family instead. §199A makes lead-motivated refusal an unlawful practice under c.151B, and says plainly that refusing families with children “shall not constitute compliance with the lead law.”

▶ Watch overview

Massachusetts lead paint disclosure overview

Massachusetts Lead Paint Duties at a Glance

Trigger

Built before 1978

Federal Authority

42 U.S.C. 4852d

State Authority

M.G.L. c.111 §§189A–199B

Documents

Two — federal + state

State Notice Cite

§197A(d)(2)

Delead Trigger

Child <6 resides + lead present

Retention

3 years (federal floor)

10-day inspection

Sales only

The one-line answer: if your Massachusetts rental was built before 1978, you must hand the tenant the signed federal disclosure plus the EPA pamphlet before they are obligated under the lease, and separately deliver the Massachusetts Tenant Lead Law Notification package required by M.G.L. c.111 §197A(d)(2) before entering into the tenancy agreement. Then, if a child under six resides in the unit and it contains dangerous levels of lead, §197(a) requires you to delead. Doing the federal half only is the classic Massachusetts mistake.

Massachusetts requires two documents, not one

The single most useful thing to understand about leasing pre-1978 property in Massachusetts is that two separate legal instruments are owed to the same tenant at roughly the same moment, and completing one does nothing for the other. Almost every compliance failure we see in this state comes from an owner who did the federal paperwork properly, filed it, and stopped.

Document one is the federal disclosure. It is required by 42 U.S.C. 4852d and specified element-by-element at 40 CFR 745.113(b). It must be attached to or inserted into the lease, it must be delivered before the lessee is obligated under the lease, and it must be accompanied by the EPA pamphlet. That is the form the generator on this page produces.

Document two is the Massachusetts Tenant Lead Law Notification. It is required by M.G.L. c.111 §197A(d)(2). It must be delivered prior to entering into a tenancy agreement, and it consists of state-published materials plus a state-published certification form, plus copies of specified lead paperwork, plus a two-copy certification of receipt. The form itself is published by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, not by us and not by any form vendor.

The two documents overlap in subject matter and diverge in almost every mechanical detail: different authors, different triggers, different content, different delivery moments, different penalties, different enforcement bodies. They are not alternatives. They are cumulative.

	Federal disclosure	Massachusetts Tenant Lead Law Notification
Authority	42 U.S.C. 4852d; 40 CFR 745.113(b)	M.G.L. c.111 §197A(d)
Applies to	Target housing: constructed prior to 1978 (40 CFR 745.103)	“Premises”: residential property constructed prior to 1978 (§189A)
Timing	Before the lessee is obligated under the lease	Prior to entering into the tenancy agreement
Child under six required?	No	No
Who publishes the form	EPA (the elements are prescribed by rule)	The Department of Public Health lead poisoning control director (§197A(d)(1))
Must include	Lead warning statement, lessor knowledge, records list, lessee acknowledgment, agent statement, signatures	State materials + standard form; most recent inspection report / Letter of Interim Control / Letter of Full Compliance / abatement plan for the unit and common areas; two copies of a receipt certification
Accompanying item	EPA pamphlet Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home	The state notification brochure prepared under §197A(d)(1)
Retention	3 years from commencement of the leasing period (40 CFR 745.113(c))	Owner keeps one of the two certification copies (§197A(d)(2)(iii)); no end date stated
Penalty	Treble damages + fees (4852d(b)(3)-(4)); agency penalties adjusted under 40 CFR 19.4	All damages + penalty up to $1,000; c.93A unfair and deceptive act if in trade or commerce (§197A(e))

The Massachusetts-specific failure mode

A landlord downloads a professional-looking federal lead paint disclosure, completes it correctly, gets it signed before the lease, files it for three years — and has still breached M.G.L. c.111 §197A(d)(2), because the state notification package was never delivered. The federal form is not a substitute and does not mention the state duty. This page exists partly because the form alone will not keep you compliant in this state.

Does Massachusetts have its own lead paint law?

Yes — and it is the most demanding state lead regime in the country. The Massachusetts Lead Law occupies M.G.L. c.111 §§189A through 199B. Unlike the many states whose “lead law” turns out on inspection to be a restatement of the federal rule, Massachusetts genuinely adds duties that do not exist federally, backed by a liability rule that does not exist federally either.

Here is the whole regime, mapped to the section that actually creates each duty. Every cite below was read from the Legislature’s own published text of Chapter 111, not from a summary.

Section	What it does	Who owes it / what triggers it
§189A	Definitions	Defines Premises as “any residential premises, dwelling unit or residential property constructed prior to nineteen hundred and seventy-eight” — the scope-setter for the whole regime. Also defines Owner broadly (legal title; an agent with authority to spend money for code compliance; an estate or trust; a condominium association, but only as to common areas and exterior surfaces).
§194	Detection programme	Directs the Department of Public Health; provides that the amount of lead “that produces the danger of lead poisoning shall be determined by regulation by the director.” The numeric threshold is regulatory, not statutory.
§196(a)	Prohibited acts	Bars applying lead-based paint to any interior or exterior surface or fixture of a dwelling. Anyone.
§197(a)	The deleading duty	Owner. Triggered where a child under six resides in premises whose paint, plaster, or other accessible structural material contains dangerous levels of lead. Both elements required. On a change of ownership where a child under six will become or remain a resident, the new owner has ninety days.
§197(b)–(c)	Interim control / full compliance	Owner. Routes to compliance: an emergency lead management plan and Letter of Interim Control (temporary), or full compliance and a Letter of Full Compliance (permanent).
§197A(b)	Property Transfer Notification	Sellers (“all persons selling premises”), before signing a purchase and sale agreement; and lessors under a lease with an option to purchase, before signing that lease. Not ordinary tenancies.
§197A(d)(2)	Tenant Lead Law Notification	Owner (or whoever rent is regularly paid to), prior to entering into a tenancy agreement. No child condition.
§197A(e)	Notification penalty	Owner liable for all damages caused by the failure, plus a penalty not to exceed $1,000; a violation in trade or commerce is an unfair and deceptive act under c.93A §2.
§197B	Licensing	Lead paint inspectors licensed by the DPH director; delead