Do I have to disclose problems with land I sell in Virginia?
Not under Virginia's residential disclosure statute: it applies only to residential property of one to four dwelling units, so a sale of land with no dwelling on it is outside its reach. A licensee engaged to sell the land must still disclose, in writing, the material adverse facts about its physical condition that the licensee actually knows. Anything more the owner owes is an attorney's question.
A dwelling on the parcel decides which rules are in play
Start with what stands on the ground. Virginia's Residential Property Disclosure Act, Chapter 7 of Title 55.1, is where the residential property disclosure statement comes from, and the first thing it limits is the kind of property it reaches.
The provisions of this chapter apply only with respect to transfers by sale, exchange, installment land sales contract, or lease with option to buy of residential real property consisting of not less than one nor more than four dwelling units, whether or not the transaction is with the assistance of a licensed real estate broker or salesperson.
Va. Code 55.1-701
The Act applies to residential property of one to four dwelling units, and the count starts at one. A sale of land with no dwelling unit on it sits outside the Act's stated reach, whether the tract is a wooded hillside, a hayfield or a lot that never had a house on it. On a house sale the same sentence reaches owners who sell without a licensee, and whether Virginia requires a seller disclosure on a house, including which transfers are excluded, is its own answer.
The harder case is a parcel with something on it: an old farmhouse nobody lives in, a cabin, a barn with a finished room. Whether a parcel like that counts as residential real property under the Act is a question for a Virginia real estate attorney. Calling the ground land in a listing does not settle it.
On a land listing, the written duty sits with the licensee
Once an owner signs a listing agreement, a different statute comes into play, and it is not limited to houses. Va. Code 54.1-2131 sets out what a licensee engaged by a seller owes.
Licensees shall treat all prospective buyers honestly and shall not knowingly give them false information. A licensee engaged by a seller shall disclose to prospective buyers all material adverse facts pertaining to the physical condition of the property that are actually known by the licensee.
Va. Code 54.1-2131 B
Three parts of that sentence do the work. The facts are material and adverse. They concern the physical condition of the property. And they are facts the licensee actually knows. The section adds that the disclosure is made in writing, and the Real Estate Board's regulation treats a seller's standard agent who fails to disclose those facts to a prospective purchaser in a timely manner as misrepresentation or omission.
The duty runs toward the owner as well: a licensee engaged by a seller must disclose to the seller material facts about the property or the transaction that the licensee actually knows. So on a land sale, the written disclosure duty these sections set out binds the licensee and turns on what the licensee actually knows. It is not the seller disclosure statement a house seller furnishes to a buyer, and anything an owner tells the licensee about the ground becomes something that licensee actually knows.
Physical condition means the ground and its improvements, inside the boundary
The statute defines physical condition, and the definition is narrower than the list of everything a land buyer might care about.
Under Va. Code 54.1-2131, the physical condition of the property refers to the physical condition of the land and any improvements on it. The same definition leaves out three kinds of matters:
- Matters outside the boundaries of the land, or relating to adjacent or other nearby properties.
- Matters relating to governmental land use regulations.
- Matters relating to highways or public streets.
Those exclusions mark where the written physical-condition duty stops. They do not loosen the first sentence of the same subsection: a licensee still may not knowingly give a prospective buyer false information.
Several problems that stall land sales have answers of their own. Missing legal access is taken up in whether you can sell land with no road access. A line fence in the wrong place, a failed soil evaluation and minerals reserved in an old deed each raise a separate set of questions too.
What an owner owes a land buyer is an attorney's question
The Code sections above do not set out an owner's own disclosure duty on a sale of vacant land, and nothing on this page requires or excuses one. Questions of fraud, concealment and what the purchase contract itself promises are where that answer lies, and a Virginia real estate attorney is the person to read them against a particular sale.
One sentence from the house side is easy to borrow for land by mistake. On a house sale, the Act says nothing in it prevents a purchaser from pursuing other remedies against an owner for intentional or willful misrepresentation of the property's condition. That is what the Act preserves on a house sale; it is not a rule written for a tract the Act never reaches. The Act's old-mine disclosure in Va. Code 55.1-702 B is another house-side provision, and it is written only for Planning District 15. Virginia's seller disclosure statement, explained, covers the house side item by item, including which planning district commissions serve this footprint.
A contract that sells the tract as is raises its own questions for the buyer's side of the deal, answered in what as is means when you buy land.
Know of a problem on the tract you plan to sell?
Tell Lowell what you already know about the ground before it is listed, and he will go through how known problems on a tract reach buyers in writing. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. Thank you.
We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions this raises
Does a barn or cabin on my acreage bring the sale under the disclosure act?
The Act turns on dwelling units: it applies to transfers of residential real property of one to four dwelling units. Whether a parcel with a particular structure on it counts as residential real property under that language is a question for a Virginia real estate attorney, and the answer can change what paperwork the sale calls for.
Does my listing agent have to tell buyers about the county's land use rules for my tract?
Not under the written physical-condition duty. Va. Code 54.1-2131 defines the physical condition of the property as the land and its improvements, and excludes matters relating to governmental land use regulations, highways or public streets, and neighboring properties. The same section still bars a licensee from knowingly giving a prospective buyer false information on any subject.
If I mention a wet spot or an old dump site to my agent, what happens to that information?
It becomes something the licensee actually knows. A licensee engaged by a seller must disclose to prospective buyers, in writing, all material adverse facts about the physical condition of the property that the licensee actually knows. What you owe the buyer yourself about the same spot is a separate question for a Virginia real estate attorney.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- Va. Code 55.1-701, applicability of the Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 54.1-2131, licensees engaged by a seller Virginia General Assembly
- 18VAC135-20-300, misrepresentation and omission Virginia Real Estate Board
- Va. Code 55.1-702, exclusions and the Planning District 15 mining disclosure Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 55.1-713, remedies preserved for misrepresentation Virginia General Assembly