Does Virginia require a seller disclosure?
Yes, for most sales of residential property of one to four dwelling units: the owner must give the buyer notification of the Real Estate Board's residential property disclosure statement before the purchase contract is ratified. Transfers that Va. Code 55.1-702 excludes, such as court-ordered sales, are outside that requirement, but even those owners can still owe certain separate written disclosures.
Every sale lands in one of three boxes before any paperwork
Put the sale in one of three boxes before anything else: a transfer of residential property of one to four dwelling units that owes the statement, a transfer that Va. Code 55.1-702 specifically excludes, or a sale with no dwelling unit on the property at all. The box decides what follows.
| Box | What the sale is | What the owner owes |
|---|---|---|
| Covered | A sale, exchange, installment land sales contract or lease with option to buy of residential property of one to four dwelling units, with or without a licensee | Notification of the residential property disclosure statement before ratification, plus any added disclosure that applies |
| Excluded | A transfer listed in Va. Code 55.1-702 A, such as one under court order or by a fiduciary administering an estate | No statement, but the written disclosures in Va. Code 55.1-706, 55.1-706.1 and 55.1-708 still apply when the owner has the knowledge they describe, and the builder of a new dwelling still discloses known code defects |
| No dwelling unit | Land with no dwelling on it | Outside the Act's stated reach |
The third box has its own answer: whether you have to disclose problems with land you sell covers a tract with no house on it. The rest of this page works through the first two.
A covered sale owes notification before the contract is fully signed
On a covered transfer, Va. Code 55.1-703 requires the owner to furnish the purchaser a residential property disclosure statement, which the Real Estate Board provides on its website. The statement is delivered under Va. Code 55.1-709, and that section sets the timing.
That timing is the requirement this page is named for: the owner provides notification of the required disclosures before the purchase contract is ratified, and what is delivered has to be current on the day it is delivered. When a licensee lists the house, the listing agreement also brings that licensee's duty under Va. Code 55.1-712 to inform the owner of the owner's rights and obligations under the Act.
Seller disclosure defines the term, and Virginia's seller disclosure, explained goes through what counts as notification, what the statement says and what happens when it arrives late. In short, a notification delivered after ratification gives the purchaser, apart from one narrow noise-zone exception, a right to terminate as the sole remedy under that section, and that right ends no later than settlement or occupancy.
An excluded transfer skips the statement, not every written disclosure
Va. Code 55.1-702 A lists the transfers “specifically excluded” from the Act. In plain terms:
- Transfers under court order, including court-ordered estate administration, writs of execution, foreclosure sales and deeds in lieu of foreclosure, transfers by a bankruptcy trustee, eminent domain and judgments for specific performance; also assignments for the benefit of creditors and escheats.
- Transfers to a deed of trust beneficiary through a foreclosure sale or a deed in lieu, and transfers by a beneficiary who acquired the property that way.
- Transfers by a fiduciary in the course of administering a decedent's estate, guardianship, conservatorship or trust.
- Transfers from co-owners solely to other co-owners.
- Transfers made solely to a spouse or to persons in the lineal line of consanguinity of a transferor.
- Transfers between spouses under a divorce decree or a property settlement stipulation.
- Transfers made because the record owner failed to pay federal, state or local taxes.
- Transfers to or from a governmental entity or a public or quasi-public housing authority or agency.
- The first sale of a dwelling.
A new house carries its own rule. On the first sale, the builder of a new dwelling must disclose in writing all known material defects that would violate an applicable building code; if the builder knows of no defects, no written disclosure is required.
Three disclosures apply notwithstanding every exclusion on that list. An owner of a residential dwelling unit who actually knows of a pending building code enforcement action affecting safe, decent, sanitary living conditions that the locality gave written notice of, a pending zoning violation not abated or remedied within the time the notice or a court set, a lis pendens filed against the unit, or past use of the property to manufacture methamphetamine without cleanup under the state guidelines, must give a prospective purchaser a written disclosure on the Real Estate Board's form. Work done without a permit is a broader subject, taken up in what to do about an unpermitted addition when you sell.
Estates come up in this box, since one exclusion names a fiduciary administering a decedent's estate. The estate side of a sale is covered in how to sell land you inherited.
Stormwater facilities, flood claims and septic waivers bring disclosures of their own
Some covered sales owe more than the statement. Each of these turns on what the owner knows or on a waiver granted for the property's septic system.
An owner who actually knows of a privately owned stormwater management facility on the property owes a disclosure of its long-term maintenance and inspection requirements under Va. Code 55.1-708.1. An owner who actually knows the house is a repetitive risk loss structure, a term the statute defines by National Flood Insurance Program claims, owes a disclosure under Va. Code 55.1-708.2. And a septic system granted a waiver under Va. Code 32.1-164.1:1 brings a separate written disclosure that is due before a purchase contract is accepted.
What each of the three requires, including the septic waiver's rule on a transfer, is set out form by form in the seller disclosure guide, and whether a particular transfer is one the septic statute's subsection C allows is a question for a Virginia real estate attorney. The septic system's side of a sale more broadly is covered in whether you need a septic inspection to sell.
None of this replaces a look at the specific house. Selling a house in Southwest Virginia covers the listing itself.
Getting the disclosure paperwork ready for a house you are about to list?
Send the address and how the house came to you. Lowell will go over which of the three boxes the sale looks like and the paperwork that box brings with it. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. Thank you.
We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions this raises
Does the disclosure requirement apply if I sell my house without an agent?
Yes, if the sale is otherwise covered. The Act applies to transfers of residential property of one to four dwelling units whether or not a licensed broker or salesperson assists. The duty to inform the owner of the Act's obligations under Va. Code 55.1-712 belongs to a listing licensee, so an owner selling alone finds the statement and forms on the Real Estate Board's website.
Does a sale between co-owners need the disclosure statement?
Not if the transfer is solely from co-owners to other co-owners: Va. Code 55.1-702 A lists that among the transfers specifically excluded from the Act. The written disclosures in Va. Code 55.1-706, 55.1-706.1 and 55.1-708 still apply notwithstanding that exclusion when the owner has the knowledge they describe. Whether a particular transfer is one of the excluded kinds is a question for a Virginia real estate attorney.
Does a builder owe any disclosure on a brand-new house?
The first sale of a dwelling is excluded from the Act, but the builder of a new dwelling must still disclose in writing to the purchaser all known material defects that would violate an applicable building code. If the builder knows of no such defects, no written disclosure is required under that provision.
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 55.1-700, definitions of notification and ratification Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 55.1-701, applicability of the Residential Property Disclosure Act Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 55.1-702, exclusions from the Act Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 55.1-703, residential property disclosure statement Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 55.1-706, pending building code enforcement and zoning violations Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 55.1-706.1, lis pendens disclosure Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 55.1-708, methamphetamine manufacture disclosure Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 55.1-708.1, stormwater management facility disclosure Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 55.1-708.2, repetitive risk loss structure disclosure Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 55.1-709, delivery of disclosures and termination Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 55.1-712, licensee duties under the Act Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 32.1-164.1:1, septic waivers and the disclosure owed at sale Virginia General Assembly
- Residential Property Disclosures Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation
- Disclosure Forms Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation