Lead Programs Enforcement Division

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The Lead Programs Enforcement (LPE) Division supports HUD's program offices in ensuring compliance with HUD's Lead Safe Housing Rule for federally assisted housing. The Lead Safe Housing Rule requires federally assisted housing to notify, evaluate, and reduce lead based paint hazards.

Enforcement

The LPE Division works with the Office of General Counsel to enforce the Lead Disclosure Rule. The Lead Disclosure Rule requires homeowners to disclose all known lead based paint hazards when selling or leasing a residential property built before 1978. Violations of the Lead Disclosure Rule may result in civil money penalties of up to $11,000 per violation. To ensure compliance, HUD and EPA conduct on-site inspections of sale and lease records and issue document request letters and/or subpoenas to landlords and property managers. HUD conducts targeted investigations and responds to tips and complaints from the public.

Have a Tip or Complaint? Contact the Lead Programs Enforcement Division.

Case Accomplishments

Since 1998, HUD has conducted over 300 on-site document reviews for Lead Disclosure Rule compliance. These investigations, done onsite at property management offices, cover over 400,000 housing units. There have been 48 settlements to date. Civil settlements typically include three elements: a civil money penalty, an agreement to perform a lead paint evaluation and lead hazard control, and a "Child Health Improvement Project" to benefit children in the local area affected by the settlement.

To date, HUD has collected over $850,000 in penalties and commitments of approximately $30 million to test and abate lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards in over 185,000 high-risk units. An additional $600,000 has been made available to fund Child Health Improvement Projects such as purchasing portable blood testing devices, funding lead hazard abatement programs within high-risk cities, funding lead poisoning prevention programs at local health clinics, training, and funding educational lead paint programs. HUD also works with its Office of Inspector General and the Department of Justice on those cases where there is potential evidence of forgery of tenant signatures and/or dates, backdated lead disclosure forms, or other false claims. In 2001, a Washington, DC-area landlord was sentenced to incarceration for two years for obstructing an investigation and making false statements to federal officials to conceal his failure to notify tenants of lead-based paint by forging tenant signatures.