Does radon come up when a house sells in Southwest Virginia?
Yes, in two places. Virginia's residential property disclosure statement says the owner makes no representation about whether the property is in an EPA Zone 1 or Zone 2 locality, and it points the buyer toward a radon inspection. The statement orders no test, but EPA recommends testing when a home is bought or sold, and 4 pCi/L is EPA's action level.
Subdivision 14 of the disclosure statement is where a buyer first reads the word radon
On a Virginia house sale, radon can arrive as a line of print before it is ever a number. Among the matters Va. Code 55.1-703 B lists in the residential property disclosure statement, subdivision 14 is the one about radon, and it is written as a disclaimer followed by a to-do list for the purchaser.
The owner makes no representations with respect to whether the property is located in a locality classified as Zone 1 or Zone 2 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Map of Radon Zones
Va. Code 55.1-703 B 14
The same subdivision then advises purchasers to use whatever due diligence they consider necessary to find out whether the property sits in such a zone. It names five ways to do that:
- reviewing EPA's Map of Radon Zones or EPA's radon information website
- visiting the Virginia Department of Health's Indoor Radon Program website
- visiting the National Radon Proficiency Program's website
- visiting the National Radon Safety Board's website, which lists its certified contractors
- ordering a radon inspection
Notice what the subdivision is about: the locality's zone, not the air inside this house. EPA says its map should not be used to decide whether an individual home needs testing, and why the map is only a rough estimate for a whole jurisdiction is laid out in the guide to radon in Southwest Virginia. The Virginia Department of Health says testing is the only way to know whether a particular home has a radon problem, and EPA and VDH recommend testing all homes, especially those being purchased.
The radon line is one item among many in the seller disclosure paperwork. Whether a particular sale calls for the statement at all is its own question, answered in does Virginia require a seller disclosure.
The seller's test comes before the house is on the market
The first place a radon test can happen in a sale is on the seller's side, before any buyer is involved. EPA's Home Buyer's and Seller's Guide to Radon, in its March 2024 revision, speaks to the seller directly.
EPA recommends that you test your home before putting it on the market and, if necessary, lower your radon levels. Save the test results and all information you have about steps that were taken to fix any problems.
EPA, Home Buyer's and Seller's Guide to Radon (March 2024 revision)
Find a tester Virginia allows
Under Va. Code 32.1-229.01, no one may conduct or offer radon screening, testing or mitigation in Virginia unless listed as a professional by the National Radon Proficiency Program or the National Radon Safety Board, or meeting other proficiency measures EPA or the Board of Health accepts. VDH notes that buyers and sellers may hire a trained professional to test.
Test, and read the result against EPA's action level
EPA's action level, set out in the last section of this page, is the line a result is read against.
Keep the paper
EPA's guide tells sellers to save the results and all information about steps taken to fix a problem. The same guide tells a buyer to ask the seller for radon test results.
A radon test is not the same thing as a general home inspection, and whether to order a broader inspection ahead of listing is taken up in should I get a pre-listing inspection. The rest of getting a house ready for market sits on the sell your home page.
The buyer's test runs on the clock the contract sets
The second place a test happens is after a buyer is involved. EPA's guide gives the buyer a short sequence: ask the seller for the radon test results, ask for any information the seller has about a radon-reduction system if the home has one, and have the house tested if it has not been tested.
No radon rule this page relies on sets when that buyer's test happens. The purchase contract does. A buyer who wants a radon result before being committed needs time for it, and that time lives in the contract's own terms, whether a contingency or a due diligence period. How long a due diligence period typically runs, and what starts its clock, is worked through in how long a due diligence period lasts.
The disclosure statement itself only advises. Subdivision 14 tells purchasers that ordering a radon inspection is one way to do their own due diligence; it does not make the test a condition of the sale, and it does not say what happens if a result comes back high.
Both sides read the same number: 4 pCi/L
Whether the test was the seller's or the buyer's, the result is read against one federal benchmark. EPA's action level is 4 picocuries per liter (pCi/L).
- 4 pCi/L or higher
- EPA's action level: VDH says it should be used to decide whether mitigation should be performed, and EPA says to fix the home at that level.
- Between 2 and 4 pCi/L
- EPA suggests mitigation be considered.
- No test yet
- Nothing is known about this house. A zone designation does not fill the gap, because high results have turned up in every Virginia county.
A number on a sale is only useful if the next step is clear, and most of the next steps belong to someone else: a listed radon professional for testing and mitigation, the contract for timing, and an attorney for what the result changes between buyer and seller. Radon, lead paint and the disclosure statement each have their own entry among the Land 101 guides.
To see a locality's EPA radon zone, go to EPA's Map of Radon Zones or VDH's Indoor Radon Program. This page names no zone for any county here, and a zone would not answer for a single house.
Holding a radon result on a house you are selling?
Send the address and what the test showed. Lowell will go over how that number fits into the listing, from the paperwork to the buyer's side of the contract. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. Thank you.
We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions this raises
What if the house already has a radon reduction system?
EPA's Home Buyer's and Seller's Guide to Radon tells a buyer to ask the seller for any information the seller has about the system, along with the seller's radon test results. It tells a seller to save test results and everything about the steps taken to fix a problem. What the contract requires either side to hand over is a question for a Virginia real estate attorney.
Is a seller required to share an old radon test result with the buyer?
That is a question for a Virginia real estate attorney, because no source this page relies on answers it. Subdivision 14 of the residential property disclosure statement is about the EPA zone of the locality, not a test result from the house. EPA's guidance, separately, tells sellers to save their results and tells buyers to ask for them.
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 55.1-703, required disclosures for buyer to beware (subdivision B 14, radon zones) Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 32.1-229.01, who may conduct radon screening, testing or mitigation Virginia General Assembly
- Home Buyer's and Seller's Guide to Radon (EPA 402/K-24/001, March 2024 revision) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- EPA Map of Radon Zones U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Indoor Radon Program Virginia Department of Health
- EPA radon risk map for Virginia Virginia Department of Health
- Radon testing results and the EPA action level Virginia Department of Health
- Radon testing and mitigation Virginia Department of Health