Do You Have to Disclose Lead Paint When Selling in Arkansas?

Does Arkansas require a lead paint disclosure when you sell your home?

Yes — if the house was built before 1978. Arkansas is a caveat emptor state with no law requiring a seller's property disclosure statement, which is why so many Central Arkansas sellers assume they can sell "as is" and say nothing. But federal law overrides that for older homes. Under 42 U.S.C. § 4852d, sellers of pre-1978 housing must disclose any known lead-based paint, hand over any reports they have, give the buyer the EPA pamphlet, and offer a 10-day window to test. This is the one disclosure Arkansas sellers cannot opt out of.

By Amanda Galbraith | September 4, 2026

Here's the conversation I have with sellers more often than almost any other.

They know Arkansas doesn't make them fill out a disclosure form. They've read that we're a "buyer beware" state. They've decided, reasonably, that they're going to sell the house as it sits and let the buyer's inspector sort out the rest.

Then we pull the tax record and the house was built in 1954.

At that point the calculus changes, because there is exactly one property disclosure in Arkansas that isn't optional — and it comes from Washington, not Little Rock.

Why this catches Central Arkansas sellers off guard

Arkansas follows the caveat emptor rule. There's no state statute requiring you to hand a buyer a completed Seller's Property Disclosure. Most Central Arkansas sellers fill one out anyway because their agent recommends it and because it reduces the odds of a lawsuit later, but the state doesn't force the issue.

Federal law is a different animal. Section 1018 of Title X — the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act — applies in all fifty states, and it doesn't care that Arkansas is a caveat emptor jurisdiction. If your target home was built before 1978, the rule applies to your sale.

And "before 1978" covers a lot of Central Arkansas.

The median year built for housing in Little Rock is right around 1978 — meaning roughly half the city's housing stock is old enough to trigger the rule. About 7% of Little Rock's housing units were built before 1940, and the EPA estimates that roughly 87% of homes built before 1940 contain some lead-based paint.

Geography matters here more than most sellers expect:

• Hillcrest sits inside a historic district listed on the National Register since 1990, built out largely between the 1890s and the 1920s. Nearly every home there is in scope.
• The Heights, Capitol View, and the older streets off Kavanaugh are the same story.
• Park Hill in North Little Rock is its own historic district with pre-war housing stock.
• Maumelle, west Little Rock, and much of Sherwood, Bryant, and Benton skew newer — a large share of that inventory postdates 1978 entirely.

But "my house looks newer" is not a legal determination. The rule keys off when construction permits were pulled or when construction began — not when the kitchen was last remodeled. Check the actual build year in the county record before you decide the rule doesn't apply to you.

What you actually have to do

The obligations are narrow and specific. There are five of them, and they all happen before the buyer is obligated under the contract.

1. Disclose what you know. You have to tell the buyer about any known lead-based paint or lead hazards in the home. "Known" means what you actually know — not what you should have gone looking for.
2. Hand over any records. If you have a prior inspection report, a risk assessment, an abatement record, or a note from a contractor, the buyer gets a copy. If you have nothing, you say so.
3. Give the buyer the EPA pamphlet. The booklet is called Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home, and it's a free download from the EPA. This one gets skipped constantly.
4. Include the Lead Warning Statement in the contract, with signatures from you, the buyer, and both agents confirming the disclosure happened.
5. Offer a 10-day testing window. The buyer gets 10 days to conduct a lead paint inspection or risk assessment at their own expense. Both sides can agree in writing to shorten or lengthen that window — but you have to offer it.

Here is the part sellers most want to hear: you are not required to test. Nothing in the rule obligates you to hire anyone or go find out what's in your walls. You disclose what you know and provide what you have.

That's also the trap. Some sellers respond to that by making sure they never learn anything. I'd push back on that instinct — a buyer who finds something you "didn't know" during their 10-day window is a buyer renegotiating from a position of leverage, and you'll have less time to respond than if you'd known going in.

What happens if you skip it

The penalties are not symbolic. EPA can assess civil penalties in the range of $19,500 to roughly $22,300 per violation under the current inflation-adjusted schedule, with the higher end reserved for knowing violations. Separately, a buyer can sue privately and recover treble damages — three times actual damages.

Both agents are on the hook too. Listing agents and buyer's agents carry their own duty to ensure the disclosure happens, which is a good reason to work with someone who treats this as a checklist item rather than a formality. This is the same category of detail as making sure you know what to expect from a home inspection in Central Arkansas before the inspector shows up — the cost of getting it wrong is wildly out of proportion to the cost of getting it right.

The two things that actually kill deals

In practice, the disclosure form itself almost never blows up a transaction. Two related issues do.

Deteriorating paint and the FHA appraisal. Lead paint in good condition — intact, sealed, not on a friction surface — generally isn't a hazard. Lead paint that's chipping, peeling, flaking, chalking, or sitting on a window that grinds every time it opens is a different matter. And if your buyer is using an FHA loan on a pre-1978 home, FHA requires defective paint surfaces to be scraped, repaired, and repainted before closing. A few square inches of peeling paint on a porch rail can hold up a closing. If you're pricing an older home and expecting FHA offers, walk the exterior with fresh eyes before you list. This is closely related to how a low appraisal plays out in Central Arkansas — in both cases, the appraiser's report becomes the schedule.

The renovation you're planning before you list. This is the one nobody sees coming. Under the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule, any contractor disturbing more than 6 square feet of interior or 20 square feet of exterior painted surface in a pre-1978 home must be an EPA-certified firm using a certified renovator and lead-safe work practices. That covers a lot of ordinary pre-listing work: replacing windows, pulling trim, sanding a porch, opening a wall. Your handyman may not be certified. Ask before the work starts, not after.

What testing costs, if you decide you want to know

If you'd rather go in with information — which I generally recommend for a home you expect to sell to an FHA buyer or a family with young children — here's the range:

• DIY swab kits: $10–$30 at a hardware store. Useful for a quick read, not for a report anyone will rely on.
• Paint-chip lab analysis: roughly $25–$75 per sample.
• XRF testing (a handheld analyzer, no damage to surfaces): about $250–$700.
• Full lead paint inspection: typically $300–$700, averaging near $500 for a single-family home.
• Risk assessment (inspection plus dust wipes, sometimes soil, plus a control plan): $500–$1,500.

For context, the Arkansas Department of Health runs a Lead-Based Paint Program and can point you to certified professionals — 501-671-1472. In 2023, 277 Arkansas children were reported with elevated blood lead levels, which is the reason this rule exists in the first place.

What I tell sellers of older homes

Most of my Central Arkansas sellers with pre-1978 homes handle this in about fifteen minutes and never think about it again. The sequence:

1. Confirm the build year from the Pulaski County assessor record — not from memory or from the listing you bought off of.
2. If it's pre-1978, sign the federal disclosure form at the same time you sign the listing agreement, so it's ready to go with every offer.
3. Pull together any records you have — old inspection reports, contractor notes, anything mentioning paint or abatement.
4. Download the EPA pamphlet and let your agent attach it to the disclosure packet.
5. Walk the exterior and the window sills for peeling or chalking paint, and fix what you find — before an FHA appraiser finds it for you.
6. Verify your contractor's EPA certification if you're doing any pre-listing work that disturbs paint.

This matters more right now than it did two years ago, simply because homes are sitting longer. Maumelle homes are averaging around 70 days on market, up from 57 a year ago, and Little Rock is closer to 76 days. When a house takes ten weeks to sell, you don't want to lose the one good offer you got over a form that takes fifteen minutes and a pamphlet that costs nothing.

If you're selling an older home you inherited, this shows up alongside a whole set of other questions — worth reading how selling an inherited house in Arkansas works before you list. And if the home has settlement issues on top of its age, foundation problems and Central Arkansas clay soil is the companion piece.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to test my house for lead paint before selling in Arkansas?

No. Federal law requires you to disclose lead-based paint you already know about and to provide any records you have — but it never requires you to test. You do have to give the buyer a 10-day window to test at their own expense if the home was built before 1978.

My house was built in 1976 but completely renovated in 2015. Does the rule still apply?

Yes. The rule keys off the original construction date — specifically, whether a construction permit was obtained before January 1, 1978, or construction began before that date. A renovation doesn't reset the clock, even a gut renovation.

What if I don't know whether there's lead paint in the house?

That's the most common answer, and it's a legitimate one. You disclose that you have no knowledge of lead-based paint and no reports, everyone signs the form, and the buyer decides whether to use their 10 days to test. What you can't do is know something and stay quiet about it.

Does lead paint make a house unsellable in Central Arkansas?

Not remotely. Half of Little Rock's housing stock predates 1978, and those homes sell every week. Intact, well-maintained paint generally isn't treated as a hazard. The problems arise from deteriorated paint — especially on an FHA loan, where defective paint surfaces have to be repaired before closing.

Who pays for the lead inspection if the buyer wants one?

The buyer does. The 10-day period is the buyer's opportunity to inspect at their own expense. You're required to allow it, not to fund it — though like everything else in a transaction, who ultimately pays for any resulting repairs is negotiable.

Before you list an older Central Arkansas home

Arkansas gives sellers unusual latitude on disclosure — and that latitude stops at the federal lead paint rule for pre-1978 homes. Disclose what you know, provide the records you have, hand over the EPA pamphlet, get the signatures in the contract, and offer the 10-day window. It's a short list, and it's the cheapest liability protection available to you.

If you own an older home in Hillcrest, The Heights, Park Hill, or anywhere in Central Arkansas and you're thinking about selling, let's look at the build year and the paint condition before we set a price. It changes which buyers you can realistically attract, and it's a much easier conversation in week one than in week six.

You can also download my free Central Arkansas Home Sellers Guide for a walkthrough of the full process from pricing to closing.

This article is general information, not legal advice. I'm a licensed Arkansas real estate broker, not an attorney or a lead risk assessor. Federal penalty amounts are adjusted periodically for inflation, and FHA, EPA, and HUD requirements change — confirm current requirements with your lender, your closing attorney, and the EPA or Arkansas Department of Health before relying on them.

Equal Housing Opportunity. Arkansas Property Management & Real Estate | www.ar-property.com

About Amanda Galbraith

Amanda Galbraith is a residential real estate agent serving the greater Little Rock area. She specializes in helping first-time sellers navigate the process from pricing to closing, as well as investors looking to increase their portfolio. Connect with Amanda at www.amandagalbraith.ar-property.com.

Amanda Galbraith, Broker/Owner — Arkansas Property Management & Real Estate | www.ar-property.com