The Sellers Disclosure
In most states it is required by law for the seller to fill out some sort of seller’s disclosure form that list all of the issues that may affect the home they are selling. The purpose of the seller’s disclosure is to make the buyer aware of current defects in the home like an a/c unit or appliance that is not working or possibly a previous flood or fire.
Sellers should make every effort to disclose potential defects to the buyer to the extent they would want to be informed about a home they were purchasing. Disclosure laws were created to not only protect buyers, but also sellers, since the more information that is revealed up front reduces the potential for disputes or lawsuits after the sale. If a seller makes the buyer aware of a small roof leak around the fireplace that occurred once during a hard rain then the buyer has the option of having that area inspected or taking the chance it may not ever happen again. On the other hand if the seller does not disclose the one time leak and it leaks again then the buyer discovering that a roofer had looked at it previously then it could very easily lead to a dispute.
The National Association of Realtors reports that most disputes and lawsuits are due to undisclosed defects, and recommend to sellers to disclose as much as they know about the property they are selling. It is a good idea for seller’s to make all inspection reports that they have received and the action they took to repair any defects available to potential buyers. Bottom line sellers need to disclose as much as possible on the sellers disclosure because buyers historically don’t read the disclosure as carefully as they should before the purchase.
The only sellers that do not have to provide a sellers disclosure are the lenders that have taken a home back through foreclosure or family members of an estate that have not lived in a home and are not aware of the issues.
There is an additional disclosure required by federal law to disclose any lead base paint that the seller is aware of on homes built before 1978. In most cases a seller is not aware if their home has lead paint unless they hired a contractor to test the paint for lead.