What is lead abatement?
Lead abatement is permanent work designed to completely eliminate lead hazards from a home. It typically includes actions such as removing lead-based paint, replacing windows or surfaces, installing permanent enclosures, or fully encapsulating hazardous materials.
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How long is it valid?
Properties that complete a full lead abatement are eligible for a 20-year Lead-Safe Certificate.
What are interim controls?
Interim controls are short-term measures used to temporarily reduce lead hazards. This may include paint stabilization, specialized cleaning, repairing friction surfaces, or temporarily covering worn or damaged components. Interim controls improve safety but do not permanently remove the lead.
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How long is it valid?
Properties that complete interim controls are eligible for a 5-year Lead-Safe Certificate.
What’s the main difference?
The key difference is the permanence of the work:
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Lead abatement = permanent removal of hazards (20-year certificate)
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Interim controls = temporary hazard reduction (5-year certificate)
Lead-safe is a proactive approach. It means making sure homes don’t pose a lead risk before a child is poisoned. A home is lead-safe when lead risks – known as lead hazards – have been controlled so the concentration of lead dust remains below the threshold set by the Ohio Department of Health. This means a lead-safe home is no longer hazardous but may still contain lead.
In order to combat lead poisoning, the City of Toledo is requiring Lead-Safe Certificates for the most at-risk properties. To obtain a Lead-Safe Certificate, units must pass a lead clearance exam conducted by an independent, licensed local lead inspector.
The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) sets the levels for Lead Dust Clearance. For the City of Toledo’s Lead Safety Ordinance, in order to receive your certificate, you must pass a visual and dust wipe inspection at or below these levels. This inspection must be performed by a local lead inspector (licensed by Ohio as a Clearance Technician, Lead Inspector, or Risk Assessor) who is registered with the City of Toledo, Department of Housing and Community Development. You can find a list of current inspectors on our website.
ODH Lead Dust Clearance Levels: (as of 03/01/2021)
Floors – 10 micrograms/ft2
Window Sills – 100 micrograms/ft2
Window Troughs (also called wells) – 100 micrograms/ft2
Exterior Living Area – 40 micrograms/ft2
Because the majority of Toledo’s housing stock was built before 1978, we have inherited a large, toxic legacy of lead paint. Every year, hundreds of Toledo children test high for lead in their blood, a value of 3.5 µg/dL or greater. There is no safe level of lead in the bloodstream. 3.5 µg/dL represents the highest 2.5% of children ages 1-5 in the entire U.S. population. You can read more about the blood lead reference value on the CDC’s website.
- Owners of all residential rental properties in Lucas County must register with the Auditor.
- Owners of 1-4 unit properties built before 1978 must also get a Lead-Safe Certificate from the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department. Those who operate family childcare homes (e.g. in-home daycare’s) also need a lead-safe certificate but do not need to register with the Auditor’s rental registry.
- Housing Choice Voucher (formerly Section 8) properties are not exempt and must get a Lead-Safe Certificate.
- Applications for the Lead-Safe Certificate require a lead-safe report (e.g. clearance report) and a $25 fee and must be completed entirely online.
- Qualifying properties must pass a visual and dust wipe inspection performed by a local lead inspector. The certificate is valid for 5 years. Fully abated properties are eligible for a 20-year certificate with proper documentation.
- After the first compliance date (December 31, 2025, for the most at-risk census tracts), the Division of Code Enforcement will enforce the lead ordinance under the current nuisance housing code.
Visit our For Owners page for more information and resources available to property owners.
If you previously received a Lead-Safe Certificate under the former ordinance and it is still valid, no further action is required at this time. Your certificate will remain valid until its listed expiration date. However, if your property’s census tract has a later phase-in deadline, you will not be required to reapply until that later date.
Example 1: Your Lead-Safe Certificate expires on October 20, 2025, but your property’s census tract is not required to comply until December 31, 2026. In this case, your certificate is valid through October 20, 2025, but you will not be required to reapply until December 31, 2026.
Example 2: Your Lead-Safe Certificate expires on October 20, 2026, but your census tract has a compliance deadline of December 31, 2025. In this case, you are not required to reapply until the date listed on your certificate.
If you had a Local Lead Inspection under the previous ordinance and received a passing result or lead risk assessment report, you may still use that documentation to apply for a Lead-Safe Certificate—as long as the report is less than 5 years old. You do not need to repeat the inspection. Your Lead Safe Certificate will be valid for 5 years from the date of the local lead inspection, not the application date.
Example: If your clearance exam was completed on January 1, 2023, and you submit your application on January 1, 2025, your certificate start date will be January 1, 2023 the date of the passing inspection. It will expire on January 1, 2028 — leaving 3 years of validity.
Please contact the Local Lead Inspector who performed your clearance if you need a copy of the original report.
We know that the majority of lead poisoning occurs in homes built before 1978 from the ingestion of lead-based paint and the consumption of lead dust. Visual inspection alone cannot tell us if this granular level of lead dust is present; dust wipe analysis is recognized by health departments across the country and the EPA to determine lead-dust levels. Dust wipes are currently our best available scientific tool for the measurement and enforcement of lead safety.
The start date is always based on the date of the passing inspection. If your property does not meet lead-safe standards during the first inspection, the certificate cannot begin on that date. Instead, it begins on the date when the property passes all clearance requirements.
Example: A property owner schedules a clearance examination on January 1, 2026. During the inspection, deteriorated paint and unsafe dust wipe results are identified, and the property fails. The owner completes repairs and cleaning, then schedules a re-inspection on January 10, 2026. This time, the property passes all clearance requirements.
In this case, the Lead-Safe Certificate will begin on January 10, 2026, the date of the passing inspection.
- Only family childcare homes and residential rental properties with 1-4 units built before 1978 fall under the new ordinance.
- The fee for the lead-safe certification is $25 instead of the previous $45.
- Lead-safe certificates are available for 5 years, or 20 years in the case of full abatement.
- Residential rental properties must also be registered with the Lucas County Auditor.
- Housing Choice Voucher (HCV, formerly known as Section 8) properties are not exempt.
You can check the Lead-Safe Certificate status of any property on our Lead-Safe Map.
You can find a list of currently active Local Lead Inspectors here. This list is updated regularly.
Please note: We strongly recommend that property owners hire Local Lead Inspectors who have general liability insurance. The list we provide includes only those licensed and registered with the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department to do this work. You should verify their credentials yourself to confirm they are insured. We make no guarantees on insurance coverage of Local Lead Inspectors.
Besides being required under law, there are many benefits to rental owners for getting their Lead-Safe Certificate.
- You will have additional peace of mind knowing that your property is considered lead-safe for pregnant women and children to live in.
- Your rental will be listed as lead-safe for potential tenants to find on this website.
- A Lead-Safe Certificate provides a clear record of the owner’s work to address lead safety if someone later tries to make a legal claim based on lead poisoning.
Yes. Under the current ordinance, HCV (formerly known as Section 8) rental units must also pass a Local Lead Inspection and receive a lead-safe certificate. The City of Toledo is working with Lucas Metropolitan Housing to streamline this process for HCV rental owners who need additional help getting these inspections done.
If your rental property is held in trust, an LLC, or other non-natural person entity, you must still complete the lead-safe certificate process, which includes the rental registry with the Lucas County Auditor. Part of this process is identifying a natural person as the de facto agent, contact, or officer for your corporation. A natural person for our purposes is an individual human being that is over 18 years of age and of sound mind.
The rental registry is part of Ohio Revised Code 5323 and is handled by the Lucas County Auditor. It applies to all residential rental properties in Lucas County. This is not new, and most rentals are already registered.
The City’s new ordinance piggybacks on the existing registry and provides enforcement under the Division of Code Enforcement. Download a copy of the Rental Registry ordinance.
There is a lack of data about who owns rental property in Toledo. This rental registry will allow us to better understand who our local and out-of-town owners are and how to reach them. Under the lead ordinance, residential rental properties built before 1978 and having 1-4 units must get a lead-safe certificate. The first step to get this certificate is registering with the Auditor’s rental registry.
Under the City’s ordinance, “Residential Rental Property” means any part of a structure being used or occupied as a private residence, including attached structures such as porches or stoops, occupied by any person or persons other than the property owner and/or members of the owner’s “Immediate Family” regardless of whether or not the owner occupies another portion of the structure.
Under the City’s ordinance, “Immediate Family” includes father, mother, brother, sister, spouse, child, mother-in-law, father-in-law, daughter-in-law, son-in-law, stepmother, stepfather, grandmother, grandfather, and grandchild.
Under the City ordinance, “Family Childcare Home” means a type A Home or a type B Home as defined by Ohio Revised Code section 5104.01.
Detailed information on Family Childcare Homes is available through Ohio Jobs & Family Services and you can search for licensed Type A and Type B facilities at http://childcaresearch.ohio.gov/.
Properties that are sold on land contract are not rentals and do not need to be lead-safe certified. Land contracts should be recorded with the Lucas County Recorder’s office to prove they are not rentals and not subject to the lead ordinance.
If a property changes ownership, the new owner may transfer the existing Lead-Safe Certificate into their name as long as the certificate is still valid. To do this, the new owner must submit a Lead-Safe Certificate Application along with a $10 refiling fee before the current certificate expires.
A “lease” is a rental, regardless of whether or not there is an option to purchase. Leased properties that are 1-4 units and built before 1978 are subject to the Rental Registry and Lead-Safe Ordinances.
Rental properties or family childcare homes that are not yet certified and past their phase-in deadline must have their lead-safe certificate before they are occupied by a tenant or used as an in-home daycare, respectively. Violations of this law will be enforced under the City of Toledo’s nuisance housing code.
You can check a property’s current Lead-Safe Certificate status and phase-in deadline on our Lead-Safe Map.
If the rental property is currently occupied when you purchase it, we recommend you get your lead-safe certification as soon as possible to avoid fines and penalties.
Lead poisoning affects young children and pregnant women most severely, and the damage can last the rest of that person’s life. There is no cure for lead poisoning, though some treatment options are available. If you suspect you or your child is suffering from lead poisoning, consult your doctor immediately and request a test. The Toledo Lucas County Health Department also performs lead testing in our community.
Ohio law requires all children age 6 and under in high-risk zip codes, which cover all of Toledo, to be tested for lead poisoning. Most lead poisoning goes undetected and untreated because a person is asymptomatic or symptoms are attributed to other causes. Therefore, the best way to know if you or your child is lead poisoned is to get a test. There is no safe level of lead in the bloodstream.
Possible Signs and Symptoms in Children:
- Developmental delay
- Learning difficulties
- Irritability
- Loss of appetite
- Weight loss
- Sluggishness and fatigue
- Abdominal pain
- Vomiting
- Constipation
- Hearing loss
- Seizures
- Eating things, such as paint chips, that aren’t food (pica)
Toledo Public Utilities has replaced city-owned lead service lines systematically for 20 years through its water main replacement program. Visit the public utilities website for more information.
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