What does as is mean when you buy land?
On vacant land, as is leaves the checking to the buyer. Virginia's residential property disclosure statement applies to residential property of one to four dwelling units, so a tract with no dwelling comes without one. The seller's licensee must disclose, in writing, material adverse physical facts the licensee actually knows, but access, water, septic, title, boundaries and zoning are the buyer's to verify.
A house buyer is handed a statement; a land buyer is handed nothing in its place
Put two Virginia purchases next to each other. One is a house on a lot. The other is a wooded tract with no dwelling on it. Both contracts may say as is, but the two buyers start with very different paper.
The difference is written into the scope of the Residential Property Disclosure Act. Va. Code 55.1-701 says the chapter applies to transfers of "residential real property consisting of not less than one nor more than four dwelling units." A tract with no dwelling unit falls outside that stated reach, so its buyer gets no residential property disclosure statement at all.
| Item | House of one to four dwelling units | Vacant tract |
|---|---|---|
| Disclosure statement | Yes, unless the transfer is one the Act exempts | None: no dwelling unit, so the Act's statement does not reach it |
| A written prompt about lot lines and adding structures | Subdivision B 2 of 55.1-703 says the owner makes no representation about current lot lines or the ability to add structures, and advises a survey and contacting the locality about zoning, lot coverage, height and setbacks | No statement, so no prompt; the same questions still need answers |
| The seller's licensee's written duty on known physical facts | Applies | Applies |
What an as-is clause does in a particular land contract is a question for a Virginia real estate attorney. The plain-language entry is in the glossary under as is. The seller's side of the same problem, what an owner of land has to tell a buyer, is answered in do I have to disclose problems with land I sell.
The seller's licensee must put known material adverse physical facts in writing
One rule follows a buyer from the house sale onto the land sale, because it attaches to the real estate licensee rather than to the kind of property.
Va. Code 54.1-2131 has a licensee engaged by a seller disclose to prospective buyers, in writing, the material adverse facts about the property's physical condition that the licensee actually knows. Two limits shape it. The first is knowledge. The second is the definition of physical condition: the land and any improvements on it, leaving out matters outside the boundaries or about nearby properties, governmental land use regulations, and highways or public streets.
On a vacant tract those exclusions carry weight. What is planned on the parcel next door, what a county ordinance allows on this one, and the public road out front all sit outside the definition. That duty binds the licensee, not the owner.
Six checks that fall to the buyer, and where each is worked through
With no statement and a licensee duty limited to known physical facts, the rest of what a land buyer needs to know comes from the buyer's own checking and the professionals the buyer hires. None of the rules is restated here; each has its own page.
Can you legally get to it?
Road frontage and a legal right of access are separate questions. See how to know if land has legal access.Will the ground take a system?
The health department's process answers that, and a listing's description does not stand in for it. See how perc tests work.Where does it come from?
Whether a public line reaches the tract or the water has to come from the ground is a parcel-by-parcel answer, and the county-by-county picture is on the six counties and Galax page.What is recorded against it?
A title search reads the land records, and title insurance is a separate product. See title insurance on land.Where are the lines on the ground?
A boundary survey is a surveyor's work, not a licensee's and not a seller's.What may be built?
Some counties here have zoning and some do not, and neither answer ends the inquiry. See zoning versus no zoning.The five factors for reading a parcel before buying it are worked through on reading land before a sale.
As is does not write a single day for the checking into the contract
An as-is sale moves the checking to the buyer. It does not by itself give the buyer time to do the checking, and it does not by itself take that time away.
Whether a land buyer can survey, test the soil, or have an attorney examine title before being bound depends on what the purchase contract says, for example through a due diligence period or a contingency tied to a named check. How long those periods run, and what starts and stops them, is laid out in how long a due diligence period is.
Two Disclosure Act provisions that do not follow a buyer onto vacant land
A buyer who has bought a house before may expect its rules to come along on a land purchase. Two provisions in particular belong to the Act, and so to the house side of the comparison.
The remedy the Act preserves
Va. Code 55.1-713 says nothing in the chapter prevents a purchaser from pursuing other remedies at law or equity against an owner for the owner's intentional or willful misrepresentation of the property's condition. That sentence sits inside an Act whose stated reach is residential property of one to four dwelling units. What a buyer of vacant land can do about a misrepresentation comes from outside the Act, and it is a question for a Virginia real estate attorney.
The mining disclosure, and where it applies
Va. Code 55.1-702 B asks for a written disclosure of known past mining operations or abandoned mines, shafts or pits, but only for property in a locality comprising Planning District 15. Which planning district commissions serve this footprint is set out in Virginia's seller disclosure, explained.
Looking at a tract of land offered as is?
Send the road or tax map number and the listing's wording. Lowell will point out what the listing leaves for your own checking on the ground. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. Thank you.
We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions this raises
What changes if no real estate licensee is involved in the land sale?
The written duty in Va. Code 54.1-2131 is a duty of a licensee engaged by a seller, so on a sale with no licensee that duty is not in play. The Residential Property Disclosure Act applies whether or not a licensee is involved, but it still reaches only residential real property of one to four dwelling units. What a land seller owes a buyer directly is a question for a Virginia real estate attorney.
Can I still survey or test the soil on land sold as is?
That depends on the purchase contract, not on the words as is. Access to the land for a survey, a soil evaluation or other checks before you are bound comes from the contract's terms, such as a due diligence period or a contingency. What a particular as-is clause allows or gives up is a 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 Residential Property Disclosure Act Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 55.1-703, required disclosures for buyer to beware (subdivision B 2, lot lines) Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 55.1-702, exclusions and the Planning District 15 mining disclosure Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 55.1-713, purchaser remedies under the Act Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 54.1-2131, licensee disclosure of material adverse physical facts Virginia General Assembly