Iowa's new lead service line disclosure lands on condo boards, not just sellers
Iowa's new lead service line disclosure lands on condo boards, not just sellers
2026-09-10 · Iowa · Compliance
Iowa added lead service lines to its residential seller disclosure on January 1, 2026. In a condominium, the seller usually cannot answer the question without the association. House File 876 was signed June 6, 2025, and unlike most Iowa legislation it carried its own effective-date clause — January 1, 2026, not the default July 1.1
What must be disclosed
The disclosure statement required by Iowa Code chapter 558A must now report “the presence of lead service lines,” alongside significant structural defects.2
The definition is broader than the name suggests. A “lead service line” means a service line made of lead — and a galvanized service line counts as one if it ever was, or currently is, downstream of any lead service line or of a service line of unknown material. That last clause is the one that catches communities out: uncertainty upstream converts a galvanized line into a reportable lead service line.
A “service line” is the pipe connecting the water main to the building's interior plumbing — running from the main to the water meter, and excluding interior plumbing.
Which transfers it reaches
Chapter 558A applies to transfers of property containing at least one but not more than four dwelling units, with the familiar exemptions: court-ordered transfers, foreclosures, fiduciary and family transfers, quitclaim deeds, and transfers by power of attorney. The Iowa Real Estate Commission implements the disclosure item by rule under § 543B.9.
An individually owned condominium unit is a transfer of property containing one dwelling unit. The building around it may contain fifty.
The duty is the seller's
To be exact about this, because it matters: HF 876 imposes no statutory duty on the association. The disclosure obligation belongs to the seller. Nothing in the Act requires a board to investigate, to certify, or to respond within any period.
The burden is nonetheless real, because the seller physically cannot see the pipe.
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