Birmingham has set a goal of replacing every remaining lead water service line in the city by the end of 2026. It does the work at no charge to any property owner with a lead service. That leaves about two months on the City's own timeline. A home going under contract this fall or winter with a lead line still in the ground has no repair bill to negotiate. It has a schedule the purchase agreement can't control, a City record a buyer can check, and a seller disclosure form that asks about plumbing.
The City Pays, So the Deal Pays in Time
Under Michigan's rules, replacing a lead line isn't a cost the owner carries. The state's MI Lead Safe FAQ says the water supply is responsible for the entire line from the main to the home, including all costs, and that partial replacements are banned. Birmingham's Lead Water Service Replacement Program page says the same thing in local terms: replacement is free to any property owner with a lead service. It names two contacts, HRC consultant Rebecca Duggar and the Birmingham Engineering Department at 248-530-1840.
In a transaction, the work happens when the City and its contractor get to the address, and the owner has to sign up for it. On its construction projects page, the City says it mailed owners with known lead services about scheduling the free replacement. It also says it's going door to door and leaves a flier when the owner isn't home. In other words, an unreplaced lead line usually means nobody has scheduled the work yet. A listing date doesn't change that, and neither does an inspection deadline.
For a seller, the cheapest fix there is gets awkward if it surfaces during the inspection window instead of before the listing goes live.
The Program Is in Its Tail
The state's year-by-year numbers show where Birmingham stands. Michigan's Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, known as EGLE, publishes replacement data reported by each water supply. Birmingham's rows look like this:
| Calendar year | Lead and GPCL replacements reported to EGLE |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 216 |
| 2022 | 204 |
| 2023 | 83 |
| 2024 | 27 |
| 2025 | 35 |
GPCL is the state's term for a galvanized line that was previously connected to lead. Those 2021 to 2025 rows add up to 565 replacements, and most of them came in the first two years. By 2024 and 2025, the City was replacing about 30 lines a year. That pattern fits a program that finished its high-volume blocks early and is now working through scattered individual addresses.
EGLE's service line materials inventory is labeled "updated March 2025." It lists Birmingham with 9,156 service lines in total, including 153 lead, 2 GPCL and 33 whose lead status is unknown. EGLE describes these inventories as snapshots of what each supply submitted at the time, and they can change as replacements happen or inventories are updated. Subtracting one dataset from the other doesn't give a reliable count of what's left.
The City's own numbers count differently, too. Birmingham's Lead Testing page lists 252 replacements in 2021 and 195 in 2022. Those don't match EGLE's rows for the same years. The same page cites an earlier figure of 730 out of nearly 9,000 residential water customers with lead in the public portion of the line, the private portion, or both. Each source is accurate on its own terms. None of them tells a buyer about a particular house.
For a transaction, the trend matters more than any one count. Five years of letters and outreach have already reached most of the city's lead lines. The ones still in the ground belong to a small set of specific addresses, and a sale is often the first time anyone looks closely at one of them.
Why Birmingham Moved Faster Than the State Requires
Birmingham's Lead Testing page says Michigan law requires the City to replace "at least 7%" of its lead service lines every year. It also says the City is well ahead of the state deadline. EGLE's action level exceedance guidance explains where that number comes from. The standard Michigan pace is an average of 5% a year. A supply that goes over the lead action level after installing corrosion control has to raise that to at least 7% within one year. Birmingham's page says the City has resolved its lead action level exceedance, and it still links the public advisory from 2019.
The statewide clock is slower. EGLE says water supplies with lead or GPCL lines have been required since January 2021 to replace them within 20 years, which runs to 2041. So the end-of-2026 date is Birmingham's own goal, set years ahead of the state requirement. EGLE's annual replacement report form, revised February 2026, adds that the 20-year requirement is likely to change once the federal Lead and Copper Rule Improvements are folded into Michigan's rule. The rules behind this program are still changing, even though the City's local target is fixed.
The Record Anyone Can Pull Before an Offer
The City puts its service line records online, and anyone can look up an address. That makes the line one of the few things in a Birmingham deal a buyer can check before the inspection. The process the City describes works like this:
- Open the Birmingham City Map, which the Lead Testing page links to as the place to review the City's records for the water service line at an address.
- Look up the service line material listed for the property. The City says it added this information to the City Map property database and was still verifying data for parts of the city, so some addresses may show as unknown.
- If the record is unclear, call the Engineering Department at 248-530-1840, the number the City lists for questions and scheduling.
The program page also has a reference image to help owners identify the material of the pipe running to the water meter.
"Unknown" is a status of its own under state rules. EGLE's service line material notification page says homes with unknown lines must be notified within 30 days after the supply submits its complete inventory, and then every year until the material is identified. If the line turns out to be lead or GPCL, the notices continue every year until it's replaced. When a home is newly found to have a lead or GPCL line, the owner and occupants must be notified within 30 days and then once a year.
Birmingham's March 23, 2026 City Manager report says the City sent its letters for EGLE's yearly notice requirements in November 2025. An owner selling this season may have one of those letters in a drawer. A buyer's side may reasonably ask whether one arrived.
What the Seller Disclosure Form Asks
Michigan's statutory Seller Disclosure Statement has no question specifically about lead service lines. It does ask the seller to identify the plumbing type, with copper, galvanized and other as the choices. It also asks about known plumbing problems and known environmental hazards, with lead-based paint among the listed examples. The form tells sellers to report known conditions affecting the property. A seller who has received the City's letter knows the service line material. How that knowledge fits into the form's questions is for the seller and their attorney to decide.
This post is general information, not legal or financial advice. Owners and buyers should confirm their own situation with a real estate attorney and the City's Engineering Department.
A Short FAQ
If the line is replaced after closing, who pays?
Under Michigan's rule, the water supply pays for the entire line, from the main to the home, and partial replacements aren't allowed. Birmingham says replacement is free to any property owner with a lead service, and that applies to a new owner too.
Does a galvanized line count?
It can. EGLE says galvanized lines that are or were connected to lead piping must be replaced. If a galvanized line can't be proven never to have been connected to lead, it has to be replaced as well.
When does the state check that notices went out?
EGLE requires each supply to sign a certification by July 1 every year confirming that it met the notification requirements for the previous calendar year.
If you're getting ready to list in Birmingham, or you're weighing an offer on a home with an unknown service line, the City's record is worth checking before anyone else does. Anthony Maisano and the Anthony Maisano Real Estate Group at Max Broock REALTORS® can pull that record early and work the replacement timing into your listing or offer plan. Schedule a strategy call.
