Does West Virginia have its own lead paint disclosure law?

No. West Virginia has no state-specific lead paint disclosure statute. The duty in West Virginia is entirely federal, under 42 U.S.C. 4852d with implementing rules at 40 CFR Part 745 Subpart F and 24 CFR Part 35 Subpart A. West Virginia does have a lead statute - the Lead Abatement Act at W. Va. Code Chapter 16, Article 35 - but it is a contractor-licensing and abatement regime, not a landlord disclosure duty: read section by section it contains no lessor, lease, pamphlet, or disclosure obligation. West Virginia's separate landlord overlay is the habitability duty at W. Va. Code 37-6-30, which applies independently to deteriorated paint.

Which West Virginia rentals require a lead paint disclosure?

Any residential rental built before 1 January 1978, which the rule calls target housing. Units built in 1978 or later are outside the rule. Two carve-outs sit inside the definition of target housing at 40 CFR 745.103: a zero-bedroom dwelling, and housing for the elderly or persons with disabilities. Only the elderly or disabled exclusion carries a child condition - it is lost where a child under six resides or is expected to reside there. The zero-bedroom exclusion is unconditional, so a studio is not target housing even if a family with a young child lives there. Separately, 40 CFR 745.101 exempts short-term leases of 100 days or less with no renewal, certified lead-free housing, and qualifying lease renewals.

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

No. The 10-day inspection opportunity is a sales rule, not a rental rule. 40 CFR 745.110(a) says 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-opportunity item at all, and the EPA lessor form does not include one. Many form sites wrongly copy this item onto rental disclosures from the sales version. You may offer an inspection window voluntarily, but no federal rule compels it for a lease, and you should not print a checkbox claiming the tenant received or waived a right the rule never gave them.

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

No. The federal rule requires disclosure of what you actually know, not investigation. EPA states plainly that the rule does not require sellers or landlords to test or remove lead-based paint or lead-based paint hazards. If the unit has never been tested and you hold no reports, no knowledge is the honest answer. What you may not do is check no knowledge while sitting on a report, a prior abatement record, or knowledge of a child's elevated blood-lead result in the unit. Note that under West Virginia's Lead Abatement Act you also may not self-perform a lead risk assessment, inspection, or abatement without a lead discipline license (W. Va. Code 16-35-5).

What is West Virginia's Lead Abatement Act, and does it require disclosure?

The Lead Abatement Act at W. Va. Code Chapter 16, Article 35 is a licensing and abatement statute administered by the state Bureau for Public Health. It requires a lead discipline license to carry out lead-risk assessment, inspection, or abatement (16-35-5), makes an owner responsible for pre-project notification to the division (16-35-9), and sets state civil and criminal penalties for abatement violations (16-35-13). It does not create a landlord lead disclosure duty - it contains no lessor, lease, pamphlet, or disclosure requirement. It matters to landlords because the homeowner abatement exemption in 16-35-7(a) expressly does not reach a rented dwelling.

How long must a West Virginia landlord keep the signed disclosure?

At least three years from the start of the leasing period, under 40 CFR 745.113(c). Keep the signed disclosure, a note of which pamphlet edition was delivered, and copies of every record you handed over. The retention period is a floor, not a measure of your exposure: 40 CFR 745.113(c)(2) states the recordkeeping requirement is not intended to place any limitations on civil suits or on the lessee's rights under 42 U.S.C. 4852d(b)(3). Retaining the file for the life of ownership is the safer practice.

What must a landlord disclose when renovating an occupied pre-1978 rental?

This is a separate duty from the leasing disclosure. Under the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule at 40 CFR Part 745 Subpart E, a renovation that disturbs painted surfaces in a pre-1978 unit requires lead-safe work practices by a certified firm, and occupants must receive lead hazard information no more than 60 days before work begins. If common areas are affected, notice describing the nature, location, and expected dates of the work must reach every unit in the building. Where the work is a full lead abatement rather than ordinary renovation, West Virginia's own Lead Abatement Act adds a pre-project notification duty and licensing requirement.

Can the West Virginia lead paint disclosure be signed electronically?

Yes. Electronic disclosure and signature are permitted under the E-SIGN Act, 15 U.S.C. 7001. EPA attaches conditions: give a clear statement of the right to receive paper documents, explain the procedure to withdraw consent and its consequences, explain how to access and retain the electronic records, and obtain the tenant's consent demonstrating they can actually access the materials. A link alone is not delivery. Retain the electronic record for the same three years.

What is the Lead Warning Statement?

It is the fixed federal paragraph required by 40 CFR 745.113(b)(1) that must be attached to or inserted into the lease. It states that pre-1978 housing may contain lead-based paint, that lead exposure is especially harmful to young children and pregnant women, that lessors must disclose the presence of lead-based paint and hazards, and that lessees must receive a federally approved pamphlet. It is prescribed wording, so rewriting or improving it can defeat the disclosure. The generator on this page reproduces it.

What are the penalties for skipping the disclosure?

Two separate federal exposures. First, 42 U.S.C. 4852d(b)(3) makes a knowing violator jointly and severally liable to the lessee for three times the damages that person incurred, and 4852d(b)(4) lets the court add court costs, reasonable attorney fees, and expert witness fees. Second, government civil money penalties, which EPA adjusts for inflation each year under 40 CFR 19.4; the per-violation figures quoted on most form sites are stale, so check the current table rather than trusting a number. These are the federal disclosure penalties. West Virginia's own penalties at W. Va. Code 16-35-13 are different - they attach to abatement and licensing violations, not to the federal disclosure duty.

Does the disclosure apply to lease renewals?

A fresh disclosure is required for a new lease with a new lessee. Lease renewals are addressed directly by 40 CFR 745.101(d), which exempts renewals of an existing lease where the lessor has already made every disclosure required by 40 CFR 745.107 and where no new information described in 745.107 has come into the lessor's possession. Watch the cross-reference: 745.101(d) points at 745.107, not at 745.113. If you obtained a new lead report or learned of a hazard since the original disclosure, the exemption does not apply and the new information must be disclosed. Redisclosing at each renewal is the conservative practice and costs nothing.

When is the lessee's agent required to sign?

Only when that agent is compensated by the lessor. The EPA lessor form carries a footnote making the lessee's-agent item conditional on the lessee's agent receiving compensation from the lessor. The lessor's own agent item is not conditional: any agent engaged by the lessor must confirm they informed the lessor of the obligations under 42 U.S.C. 4852d and are aware of their own responsibility to ensure compliance. Where no agent is involved, the item is marked not applicable.

Do I have to disclose records for other units in the building?

Yes, where they exist. EPA states that for multi-unit buildings the records you must provide include those for common areas and other units that come from building-wide evaluations. The disclosure duty is not limited to the four walls of the leased unit: if a building-wide risk assessment identified hazards in a stairwell, a laundry room, or a neighbouring unit, that report is within scope for a pre-1978 building.

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Free West Virginia Lead Paint Disclosure

The federal disclosure every West Virginia landlord must deliver before leasing housing built before 1978. Authority is 42 U.S.C. 4852d and 40 CFR Part 745 Subpart F. West Virginia adds no lead disclosure statute of its own — and the 10-day inspection window you see on other sites is a sales rule, not a rental rule.

Federally Required 42 U.S.C. 4852d 40 CFR Part 745 West Virginia Free PDF

Updated Q3 2026 By Tenant Screening Background Check Editorial Team Reviewed for West Virginia ~18 min read

A West Virginia 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). West Virginia imposes no separate lead paint disclosure statute — the duty here is purely federal. West Virginia’s own lead law, the Lead Abatement Act at W. Va. Code Chapter 16, Article 35, is a contractor-licensing and abatement regime, not a landlord disclosure duty, and the state’s landlord overlay is the habitability duty in our West Virginia habitability laws guide. Generate the form below, then read on for exactly what the rule requires.

Key Takeaways

Pre-1978 is the only trigger. Original construction before 1 January 1978 makes the unit “target housing” and the disclosure mandatory. The build date controls even if the unit was gutted and rebuilt in 1995.
West Virginia has no lead disclosure statute. The disclosure duty is 100% federal. West Virginia’s Lead Abatement Act (W. Va. Code Chapter 16, Article 35) is a licensing and abatement regime — it contains no lessor, lease, pamphlet, or disclosure obligation.
The 10-day inspection window does not apply to leases. 40 CFR 745.110(a) gives it to purchasers only. The lessor rules at 40 CFR 745.113(b) contain no such item.
The zero-bedroom exclusion is unconditional. A studio is not target housing even if a child under six lives there. Only the elderly-or-disabled limb of the definition carries the child condition.
You never have to test. The rule compels disclosure of actual knowledge, not investigation. “No knowledge” is honest and lawful when nothing has been tested and you hold no reports.
The 16-35-7(a) homeowner exemption does not reach a rental. West Virginia’s do-it-yourself abatement exemption is expressly withdrawn for any dwelling occupied by someone other than the owner or the owner’s immediate family.
Deliver before the tenant is obligated, not at move-in and not with the keys. Late delivery is the same violation as no delivery.
Retain the signed disclosure three years from the start of the leasing period (40 CFR 745.113(c)). It is your only real defence in an enforcement inquiry.

▶ Watch overview

West Virginia lead paint disclosure overview

West Virginia Lead Paint Disclosure at a Glance

Trigger

Built before 1978

Authority

42 U.S.C. 4852d

WV Statute

None — federal only

Retention

3 years

Timing

Before lease obligation

Pamphlet

EPA, mandatory

Duty to test

10-day inspection

Sales only

The one-line answer: if your West Virginia rental was built before 1978 and the lease runs longer than 100 days, you must hand the tenant this signed disclosure plus the EPA pamphlet before they are obligated under the lease, and keep the signed copy for three years. Nothing in West Virginia law changes that; nothing in West Virginia law adds to it.

What the West Virginia lead paint disclosure does

The lead paint disclosure — often called the Section 1018 disclosure, after the 1992 statute that created it — is the formal federal notice a West Virginia landlord delivers to a prospective tenant for any residential property built before 1978. It does four things in one document.

First, it puts the tenant on notice of potential lead exposure through the federally mandated lead warning statement, the fixed language at 40 CFR 745.113(b)(1) that must be attached to or included within the lease.

Second, it transmits the lessor’s actual knowledge of lead-based paint or hazards in the dwelling. The lessor picks one of exactly two positions: known lead-based paint or hazards are present, with a description of what is known; or the lessor has no knowledge of lead-based paint or hazards in the housing. There is no third box, and there is no “maybe”.

Third, it transmits any reports the lessor holds from prior inspections, risk assessments, or hazard-reduction work. The lessor either provides copies of all available records and lists them, or affirmatively states that no reports or records exist.

Fourth, it documents the tenant’s receipt of the disclosure and of the EPA pamphlet. The signed acknowledgment is the landlord’s primary defence in any later EPA or HUD inquiry or private civil action.

The disclosure is not optional and the duty is not waivable by agreement. A pre-1978 West Virginia rental leased without one exposes the landlord to government civil penalties and to a tenant’s private action for triple damages plus fees. Compliance takes fifteen minutes; non-compliance is the most expensive paperwork failure in pre-1978 rental practice.

Does West Virginia have its own lead paint law?

No. West Virginia has no state-specific lead paint disclosure statute, and this page will not invent one. Every substantive requirement described on this page comes from federal law: 42 U.S.C. 4852d, 40 CFR Part 745 Subpart F, and 24 CFR Part 35 Subpart A. This is the single most misreported fact on the West Virginia lead-paint internet, and it is worth being precise about, because the automated answers now circulating get it wrong in three distinct ways.

West Virginia does have a lead statute — but it is not a disclosure statute. The Lead Abatement Act at W. Va. Code Chapter 16, Article 35 is a real, in-force West Virginia law. Read section by section, though, it is a contractor-licensing and abatement regime administered by the state Bureau for Public Health. Its provisions cover a short title (16-35-1), legislative findings, definitions, the powers of the director, childhood screening, the lead discipline license, an abatement contractor’s duties, exemptions, notification of elevated blood-lead levels, notification of abatement projects, training-course accreditation, license discipline, a special revenue account, and penalties. Nowhere in the article is there a lessor, a lease, a pamphlet, or a disclosure obligation. It does not tell a landlord to hand a tenant anything before a lease. Confusing the Lead Abatement Act with a lead disclosure duty is the classic error, and it is exactly the conflation a lead-contractor certification regime invites: certifying who may disturb lead is a different thing from telling a tenant what you know about it.

What West Virginia actually adds for a landlord falls into three buckets, none of which is disclosure:

Habitability — W. Va. Code 37-6-30. The landlord’s duty to deliver and maintain the premises “in a fit and habitable condition” and to comply with applicable health, safety, fire, and housing codes applies independently of disclosure. Deteriorated lead paint can be a habitability defect on its own, whether or not you disclosed it. Disclosure does not cure a hazard; it only discloses one. This is covered in depth in the state-overlay section below.
The abatement licensing regime — W. Va. Code 16-35-5. It is unlawful in West Virginia to carry out a lead-risk assessment, inspection, or abatement activity without an appropriate lead discipline license. A West Virginia landlord cannot lawfully self-perform a lead inspection or abatement; that work goes to a licensed professional. This constrains how you respond to a hazard, not what you disclose.
Local programs. Some West Virginia municipalities run rental-registration or licensing programs that can add inspection or notice obligations. These are municipal, not statewide, and they are not lead disclosure duties. Check with local code enforcement or the county health department before assuming none applies — but do not assume a city has a lead disclosure ordinance simply because an aggregator asserts one.

Three automated answers to distrust

First, some engines cite a “West Virginia Residential Property Condition Disclosure Act” at W. Va. Code 36-12. There is no such act there: Chapter 36, Article 12 is the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act. Second, some answers restate the federal duty as though West Virginia law imposed it — “West Virginia law requires landlords to provide a lead-based paint disclosure.” No West Virginia law does; federal law does. Third, the West Virginia lead search results are polluted with Virginia results, and Virginia does have a lead notification statute (Va. Code 8.01-226.7). West Virginia has no analogue. On this page, no West Virginia disclosure statute is invented, no city ordinance is dressed up as state law, and no Virginia rule is imported.

What the rule actually requires: the six elements of 40 CFR 745.113(b)

Most guides list “three things” a landlord must do. The regulation is more precise than that. 40 CFR 745.113(b) requires six distinct elements in the lease or an attachment to it. A disclosure missing any one of them is defective, regardless of how professional the form looks. This is the checklist to audit your own paperwork against.

Element	What 40 CFR 745.113(b) requires	Who completes it
(b)(1) Lead warning statement	The fixed federal paragraph, reproduced in its prescribed wording, attached to or inserted into the lease.	Pre-printed on the form
(b)(2) Lessor’s disclosure of known paint and hazards	A statement disclosing the presence of known lead-based paint and hazards, including any additional information available (for example location and the condition of painted surfaces) — or a statement of no knowledge.	Lessor
(b)(3) List of records and reports	A list of any records or reports available to the lessor that were provided to the lessee — or a statement that no such records exist.	Lessor
(b)(4) Lessee’s acknowledgment	A statement by the lessee affirming receipt of the information in (b)(2) and (b)(3) and receipt of the lead hazard information pamphlet.	Lessee (initials)
(b)(5) Agent’s statement	A statement that the agent has informed the lessor of the lessor’s obligations under 42 U.S.C. 4852d and is aware of their own responsibility to ensure compliance.	Agent (initials, or N/A)
(b)(6) Signatures certifying accuracy	The signatures of the lessors, agents, and lessees certifying to the accuracy of their statements, with dates.	All parties

Note what is not in that list: no inspection window, no testing requirement, no filing with any agency, and no obligation to remediate. The rule is an information-transfer rule. It makes you tell the truth about what you know and hand over what you hold; it does not make you go looking.

The item nobody mentions: the lessee’s agent

Element (b)(5) is often described as “the agent signs”. In practice there can be two agents, and they are treated differently. The lessor’s agent must always complete the item where one is engaged. The lessee’s agent item is conditional — the current EPA lessor form carries a footnote limiting it to a lessee’s agent who receives compensation from the lessor. Where no agent is involved at all, the item is marked not applicable rather than left blank, so the record shows the question was addressed.

Target housing: the pre-1978 trigger

“Target housing” is the federal term for property subject to the rule. The definition at 40 CFR 745.103 is residential dwellings constructed before 1 January 1978, subject to the narrow exclusions in the next section.

Why 1978 — and which 1978 date actually governs. The operative cutoff comes from the definition itself: 40 CFR 745.103 defines target housing as housing constructed prior to 1978, meaning construction before 1 January 1978. The historical reason that year was chosen is the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s ban on lead-containing paint at 16 CFR 1303.1 — but that ban applies to paint manufactured after 27 February 1978, which is not the same date. Competing pages routinely merge the two and report the CPSC ban as effective 1 January 1978. It was not. The distinction has no practical effect on your compliance answer, because the construction cutoff in 745.103 is what decides coverage, but it does tell you which cite to trust: for whether your unit is covered, read 745.103, not the CPSC rule. Housing constructed from 1 January 1978 onward sits outside the disclosure regime entirely.

How to verify the build year in West Virginia. The county assessor’s record is the fastest authoritative source, and every West Virginia county assessor maintains it. The original certificate of occupancy, the building permit file, and title records also establish it. The lessor carries the burden of correctly identifying target housing — “I think it was around 1980” is not a defence, and a guess that turns out wrong is a knowing violation waiting to happen.

Renovation does not reset the clock. A 1962 building stripped to the studs and rebuilt in 2001 is still target housing. The original construction date controls, not the date of the most recent renovation. This trips