Protect Your Family From Lead: The EPA Pamphlet Explained
“Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home” is the plain-English booklet the EPA, HUD, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission wrote to sit at the center of the federal lead-disclosure system. If you are buying or renting a home built before 1978, or hiring someone to renovate one, federal law says a copy has to reach your hands before you sign or before the work starts. This page tells you where to get it for free, what it actually covers, which languages it comes in, and who is on the hook to deliver it to you.
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Where to get it for free
The pamphlet is a free government document — nobody should ever charge you for it. Download the current PDF straight from EPA’s “Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home” page. The English booklet runs a little over a dozen pages and is a small PDF that emails or prints cleanly for a closing packet.
If you would rather have a physical copy or you want to talk to a person, the National Lead Information Center mails printed copies at no cost and answers questions at 1-800-424-LEAD. HUD also mirrors the same booklet on its lead disclosure enforcement page, and most state and local health departments post it alongside their own lead-poisoning materials.
What the pamphlet actually covers
The booklet is deliberately short and does three jobs. First, it explains where lead paint hides in an older home — window sills and jambs, doors, porches, stair rails, and any friction or impact surface where paint chips and grinds into dust. Second, it lays out the health stakes, especially for children under six and pregnant women, and points readers toward a blood-lead test. The CDC now uses a blood-lead reference value of 3.5 micrograms per deciliter to flag children with more lead than most, a level it lowered from 5 µg/dL in 2021; the CDC is clear that no amount of lead in a child’s blood is considered safe. Third, it tells buyers and renters their rights, including the buyer’s inspection window described below.
What it is not: it is not an inspection report, a certified-inspector directory, a remediation cost sheet, or medical advice for a child with an elevated blood-lead level — that conversation belongs with a pediatrician. For confirming whether a specific surface actually contains lead, see our guide on how to test for lead paint.
The buyer’s 10-day window
One right the booklet spells out matters more than the rest: when you buy pre-1978 housing, federal disclosure rules give you 10 calendar days to have a lead inspection or risk assessment done before you are committed to the purchase. The clock starts at contract signing, and you and the seller can agree in writing to shorten, lengthen, or waive it. An inspection tells you which surfaces contain lead-based paint; a risk assessment tells you whether the lead that is present is actively hazardous. They are different scopes, and for a home in deteriorated condition the risk assessment is usually the more useful one.
Which languages it comes in
The EPA publishes the pamphlet in English and Spanish plus a range of additional translations — Arabic, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Russian, Haitian Creole, Tagalog, Portuguese, Polish, Somali, and more — each as its own PDF on EPA’s translations page. Handing a recipient a version in a language they read is part of meeting the disclosure obligation in good faith, so agents and property managers working in multilingual markets tend to keep several on hand rather than relying on English alone.
Who has to give it to you, and when
Two federal rules carry the delivery requirement. The EPA rule at 40 CFR Part 745 covers nearly all sales and leases of pre-1978 housing, plus renovation work; the HUD rule at 24 CFR Part 35 layers extra duties onto housing that receives federal assistance. Between them, four parties owe you the pamphlet:
| Who delivers it | To whom | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Seller (usually via the listing agent) | Buyer | Before the purchase contract is signed |
| Landlord (usually via the manager) | Tenant | Before the lease is signed |
| EPA-certified renovation firm | Owner and occupants | Before work that disturbs paint begins |
| Child-occupied facility operator | Parents and guardians | Before facility renovation begins |
Delivery alone is not enough — the rules require documented proof. Sellers and landlords collect a signed lead disclosure form acknowledging receipt of the pamphlet and the Lead Warning Statement; renovators collect a signed pre-renovation acknowledgment. Those records must be kept for at least three years. If a dispute or enforcement case ever opens, that signed acknowledgment is the document that separates a defensible file from a presumed violation. Our companion piece explains exactly when a lead-based paint disclosure is required.
The renovation version: “Renovate Right”
For renovation, repair, and painting work, the EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule pairs the main pamphlet with a second booklet, “Renovate Right,” aimed at the job at hand. Any firm disturbing paint in pre-1978 housing or a child-occupied facility must be EPA-certified, keep at least one worker trained as a certified renovator (an EPA-approved course, valid for five years), and follow lead-safe practices for containment, dust control, and cleanup verification. Hiring an uncertified contractor for that work is a federal violation — and it leaves you exposed to lead dust without any of the rule’s protections. A “child-occupied facility” is a building where the same child under six is present on at least two days a week, at least three hours per visit, adding up to at least six hours weekly and 60 hours a year — which sweeps in most daycares and preschools regardless of the building’s age.
When distribution does not apply
The disclosure requirement skips housing built in 1978 or later, housing already certified lead-free by a certified inspector, short-term leases of 100 days or fewer with no renewal, zero-bedroom studios, and housing reserved for the elderly or people with disabilities where no child under six lives. The RRP rule’s exemptions are narrower: it still applies to renovation in a pre-1978 home unless the owner certifies in writing that no child under six and no pregnant woman lives there and the property is not a child-occupied facility. For the wider picture of how lead intersects with older-home hazards, see our asbestos and lead hazard hub.
Frequently asked questions
This summary reflects EPA, HUD, and CDC guidance current as of 2026 and is not legal advice. Front Range homeowners or renters concerned about lead in a pre-1978 home can reach us through our contact page for a referral to a qualified local lead inspector.
Lead paint test kits
Instant swab kits flag lead on painted surfaces in minutes — useful before a renovation in any pre-1978 home.
| Product | Why | Buy |
|---|---|---|
 3M LeadCheck Swabs | EPA-recognized instant swabs. | Amazon — $199.00 |
 Lead Test Kit (lab-based) | Mail-in for a documented result. | Amazon — $150.00 |