The seller's disclosure notice in Texas
Draft Pending review by a Texas title professional before it is final.
Texas requires the seller of most homes to tell the buyer, in writing, what the seller knows about the home's condition. Here is what the notice is, when it's due, and what goes with it.
Updated
What it is
Texas requires the seller of most homes to give the buyer a written notice about the home’s condition (Property Code §5.008). It asks what the seller knows: the roof, the foundation, plumbing and electrical, flooding and past water damage, repairs and additions, pests, and more. The Texas Real Estate Commission publishes a form for it.
The notice is a statement of what you know. It is not a warranty and not an inspection, and it doesn’t replace the buyer’s own inspection.
Who has to give one
The law covers the sale of a home with one dwelling unit. Some sales are exempt — for example a sale ordered by a court, a foreclosure, or a sale from one co-owner to another — and the TREC contract has a box for a seller the law doesn’t require to give the notice. If you think your sale is one of them, a Texas real estate attorney can tell you.
When the buyer gets it
The notice belongs in the buyer’s hands before the buyer signs the contract. If the buyer gets it only after the contract is signed, Texas law gives the buyer 7 days after receiving it to end the contract for any reason (Property Code §5.008). The TREC contract records which way it happened in ¶7B.
For a seller that means a late notice reopens the deal: a buyer who is past the option period can still walk away for 7 days. It is one of the reasons owners fill the notice in before they list.
Answering the questions
Answer from what you actually know. “Unknown” is an honest answer when you don’t know; guessing is not. Where you have paper — an old inspection report, repair invoices, an insurance claim, a foundation warranty — the buyer will want to see it.
The notice speaks as of the day you sign it. If something changes before closing, such as a new leak or a repair, the buyer will want to know, and an attorney can tell you what to put in writing.
Homes built before 1978: lead-based paint
For a home built before 1978, federal law adds its own disclosure. Before the buyer is bound by a contract, the seller discloses any lead-based paint or hazards the seller knows about, hands over any reports, gives the buyer the EPA’s pamphlet on lead, and gives the buyer a chance to have the home tested. The TREC contract covers it in ¶7C, with an addendum for the disclosure itself.
Other notices that may go with it
- A municipal utility district or a public improvement district: a district notice. MUD and PID notices
- A homeowners association: the association’s documents and a resale certificate (Property Code §207.003), and the TREC HOA addendum (form 36-11), which says who orders and pays for them and gives the buyer time to read them.
- On the coast: TREC’s coastal addenda, for property that borders tidal waters or lies seaward of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
On ListedBy
When you build a listing on ListedBy, it lists the notices your home’s records call for — the seller’s disclosure for a home, the lead-based paint disclosure for one built before 1978, a MUD or PID notice when the records put the home in a district, the HOA addendum when there is an association — and keeps the documents you upload where signed-in buyers can read them before they make an offer.