Virginia's seller disclosure, explainedWhat the statement says the owner is not promising, and what happens once the buyer has it.
The Residential Property Disclosure Act runs on a timeline: a duty before the listing, a statement before the contract is fully signed, a narrow exit if the statement comes late, and a one-year limit afterward. This guide follows it in that order.
It starts with the listing licensee's duty to inform the owner
When a house is listed, the first duty in Virginia's seller disclosure law, the Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act, does not belong to the seller. It belongs to the licensee who lists the house.
A real estate licensee representing an owner of residential real property as the listing broker has a duty to inform each such owner represented by that licensee of the owner's rights and obligations under this chapter.
Va. Code 55.1-712
The buyer's side mirrors it. A licensee representing the purchaser has the same duty to inform the purchaser, and when the purchaser has no licensee, the duty falls to the owner's licensee who is dealing with the purchaser. A licensee who performs those duties has no further duties to the parties under the Act, and is not liable for a violation of it or for failing to disclose information about property subject to it.
A licensee's other disclosure duties come from a different statute, Va. Code 54.1-2131, which puts a written disclosure duty to buyers on a licensee engaged by a seller and is not limited to houses.
The Act has a defined reach. It applies to transfers by sale, exchange, installment land sales contract, or lease with option to buy, of residential real property of one to four dwelling units, whether or not a licensee is involved. A tract with no dwelling on it falls outside that description; what a seller of land owes a buyer, and how that licensee duty reads, is covered in do I have to disclose problems with land I sell. Whether a particular transfer is one the Act excludes is a separate answer: does Virginia require a seller disclosure.
Subdivision by subdivision, what the owner is not representing
The owner of residential real property furnishes the purchaser a residential property disclosure statement, which the statute frames as a statement for the buyer to beware of certain matters that may affect the decision to buy. The Real Estate Board provides the statement on its website.
It is not a checklist of defects. Each subdivision of Va. Code 55.1-703 B is a statement that the owner makes no representation on a subject, often paired with advice that purchasers do whatever due diligence they deem necessary. In the version in force until January 1, 2027, the list runs to subdivision 19. Subdivision 2 shows the pattern:
The owner makes no representation with respect to current lot lines or the ability to expand, improve, or add any structures on the property, and purchasers are advised to exercise whatever due diligence a particular purchaser deems necessary, including obtaining a property survey and contacting the locality to determine zoning ordinances or lot coverage, height, or setback requirements on the property.
Va. Code 55.1-703 B 2
| Subdivision | The owner makes no representation about |
|---|---|
| B 1 | The condition of the property or its improvements, and recorded covenants and restrictions or conveyances of mineral rights; purchasers are advised to consider a home inspection, a mold assessment by a business that follows EPA guidelines, and a residential building energy analysis, before settlement |
| B 2 | Current lot lines and the ability to expand, improve or add structures |
| B 3 | Matters pertaining to adjacent parcels, including their zoning classification or permitted uses |
| B 4 | Whether a historic district ordinance affects the property |
| B 5 | Resource protection areas under a Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act ordinance |
| B 6 | Information on registered sexual offenders (a statutory item) |
| B 7 | Whether the property is within a dam break inundation zone |
| B 8 | The presence, type, size or maintenance responsibilities of any wastewater system |
| B 9 | Any right to install or use solar energy collection devices |
| B 10 | Whether the property is in one or more special flood hazard areas |
| B 11 | Whether the property is subject to a conservation easement or other easements |
| B 12 | A community development authority approved by a local governing body |
| B 13 | Deposits of marine clays (marumsco soils) |
| B 14 | Whether the locality is Zone 1 or Zone 2 on EPA's Map of Radon Zones; purchasers are pointed to EPA, VDH and the two national radon programs, and to a radon inspection |
| B 15 | Pipe, plumbing fittings, fixtures, solder or flux that do not meet the federal Safe Drinking Water Act definition of lead free |
| B 16 | Defective drywall |
| B 17 | The condition or regulatory status of an impounding structure or dam on the property |
| B 18 | Proximity to a public use airport or noise from aircraft |
| B 19 | Proximity to a military ground installation, including related noise or other effects |
A few rows have their own guides. The radon subdivision is explained in radon in Southwest Virginia, and flood hazard areas in reading a floodplain map. The lead subdivision concerns plumbing only; paint on a house built before 1978 falls under a federal rule, set out in lead paint disclosure on older homes.
Facts an owner does disclose, some despite the exemptions
Beside the statement, the Act and, for septic waivers, a separate statute require an owner to disclose certain facts outright. Three of them, building code or zoning enforcement, a lis pendens and methamphetamine, apply notwithstanding the exemptions in Va. Code 55.1-702, so a transfer the Act otherwise excludes can still carry them.
Code or zoning enforcement
An owner of a residential dwelling unit with actual knowledge of a pending Uniform Statewide Building Code enforcement action affecting safe, decent, sanitary living conditions, of which the locality notified the owner in writing, or of a pending zoning violation not abated or remedied within the time set by the written notice of violation or a court, gives a prospective purchaser a written disclosure on the Real Estate Board's form.Lis pendens
An owner with actual knowledge of a lis pendens filed against the dwelling unit gives a prospective purchaser a written disclosure that says so, on the Board's form.Methamphetamine
An owner with actual knowledge that the dwelling was previously used to manufacture methamphetamine and has not been cleaned up under the state guidelines discloses that in writing, on the Board's form.Stormwater facility
An owner with actual knowledge of a privately owned stormwater management facility on the property discloses the facility's long-term maintenance and inspection requirements, on the Board's form.Repetitive flood loss
An owner with actual knowledge that the dwelling is a repetitive risk loss structure discloses it. The statute means two or more National Flood Insurance Program claims of more than $1,000 paid within any rolling 10-year period since 1978.Military air installation
In a locality with a military air installation, the owner discloses whether the parcel is in a noise zone or accident potential zone designated on the locality's official zoning map.Septic waiver
Where an onsite sewage system has been granted a waiver under subsection B, the owner delivers a separate written disclosure before a purchase contract is accepted: any operating permit for the system is null and void at transfer or sale, and the regulatory requirements for additional treatment or pressure dosing apply before an operating permit can be reinstated.Two of those cards have longer answers. Unpermitted work, beyond a pending enforcement action, is covered in what if my house has an unpermitted addition, and the septic side of a sale in do I need a septic inspection to sell. Which transfers the septic statute's subsection C allows is a question for a Virginia real estate attorney.
One disclosure in the chapter is written for a single planning district. The mining disclosure in Va. Code 55.1-702 B applies only to property wholly or partly in a locality comprising Planning District 15, which the Department of Housing and Community Development lists as the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission. Carroll, Grayson and Wythe counties and the City of Galax are served by the Mount Rogers Planning District Commission; Floyd, Montgomery and Pulaski counties by the New River Valley Regional Commission.
Notification has to come before the contract is fully executed
Two defined words set the deadline. Ratification is the full execution of a real estate purchase contract by all parties. Notification is either a statement acknowledging that the purchaser has been advised of the required disclosures on the Real Estate Board's website, or delivery of the disclosures to the purchaser.
The owner of residential real property subject to this chapter shall provide notification to the purchaser of any disclosures required by this chapter prior to the ratification of a real estate purchase contract or otherwise be subject to the provisions of subsection B.
Va. Code 55.1-709
The disclosures have to be current as of the date they are delivered. DPOR's disclosure forms page lists the Residential Property Disclosures Acknowledgement Form, with other items, under the words "Selling Homeowners MUST complete," and that form advises the purchaser of the disclosures listed in the statement on the Board's webpage. Separate forms, including the building code enforcement and zoning violation form, sit under a second heading for sellers who may also need them. The statute's own test stays the same: notification, by acknowledgement or by delivery.
Unknown items and professional reports
If a required item of information is unknown or unavailable when the disclosures are due, the owner may say it is unknown, or may give an approximation that is clearly identified as one, is reasonable, rests on the owner's actual knowledge, and is not used to evade the Act. And when a purchaser asks for information, the owner's delivery of a licensed professional's report, on matters within that professional's license or expertise, has its own provision in the Act, taken up in whether to get a pre-listing home inspection.
A late statement opens a short termination window
When the disclosures reach the purchaser after ratification, the Act gives the purchaser one remedy for the lateness: terminating the contract. That right ends at the earliest of six events.
- Three days after the statement is delivered in person or electronically
- Five days after the postmark, if it was mailed postage prepaid and properly addressed
- Settlement on the purchase
- The purchaser's occupancy of the property
- The purchaser's written application to a lender for a mortgage loan, where the application discloses that the right of termination ends on application
- The purchaser's signed written waiver of the right, made after receiving the statement, in a writing separate from the purchase contract
To terminate, the purchaser gives the owner written notice within that time by hand delivery, by United States mail postage prepaid with sufficient proof of mailing, by electronic delivery, or by overnight delivery through a commercial service or the United States Postal Service. A termination that complies is without penalty to the purchaser, and any deposit is promptly returned.
Material changes, liability limits, and a new subdivision in 2027
The statement is not frozen on the day it is delivered. At or before settlement, the owner has to disclose any material change in the disclosures made about the property.
The Act also limits what the owner answers for. Except for the military air installation disclosure, the owner is not liable for an error, inaccuracy or omission in information delivered under the Act if it was not within the owner's actual knowledge, or came from public agencies or other persons, or the owner reasonably believed it correct, and the owner was not grossly negligent in obtaining and passing it on. And no cause of action arises against an owner or a licensee for not disclosing that the property was the site of an act or occurrence with no effect on the physical structure, its physical environment or the improvements, or of a homicide, felony or suicide.
What an as is clause in a purchase contract adds to or takes from any of this is a contract question for a Virginia real estate attorney; the wider question is taken up in what selling a house as is means in Virginia.
Subdivision 20, from January 1, 2027
As of September 13, 2026, Va. Code 55.1-703 has two versions posted: one effective until January 1, 2027, and one effective on that date. The later version adds subdivision 20. The owner makes no representations or warranties about whether the property is in a locality that has adopted a land-use plan that may provide use value assessment and taxation, and when qualifying real estate changes to a nonqualifying use or zoning, it may be subject to rollback taxes and interest. What sets those taxes off is its own answer: what triggers rollback taxes.
A contract that straddles the date does not start over. Under Va. Code 55.1-709 A, a seller need not deliver additional disclosures when a transaction under a ratified contract proceeds to settlement after amending legislation takes effect, provided the correct disclosures were delivered under the law in effect at the time of delivery.
Remedies after the sale, and the one-year clock
If an owner fails to provide a required disclosure, the purchaser's remedies under Va. Code 55.1-713 start with termination, subject to the late-delivery rules above. The same section adds an action for damages.
In the event that the owner fails to provide any of the applicable disclosures required by this chapter, or the owner misrepresents, willfully or otherwise, the information required in such disclosure, except as result of information provided by an officer or employee of the locality in which the property is located, the purchaser may maintain an action to recover his actual damages suffered as the result of such violation.
Va. Code 55.1-713
The noise-zone exception travels with it: a purchaser of property in a locality-designated noise zone with a day-night average sound level of less than 65 decibels has no right to maintain that action for damages.
The clock is short. An action under the section has to be commenced within one year of the date the purchaser received the disclosures. If the disclosures were never delivered, the year runs from settlement on a sale, or from occupancy on a lease with an option to purchase.
The Act does not close every other door. Nothing in it prevents a purchaser from pursuing other remedies at law or in equity against an owner for the owner's intentional or willful misrepresentation of the property's condition. What those remedies are, and whether a claim fits one, belongs with a Virginia real estate attorney.
Read end to end, the Act gives a seller two fixed deadlines: notification before ratification, and any material change disclosed at or before settlement. The septic waiver disclosure has its own, earlier one: before a purchase contract is accepted.
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Good questions, straight answers.
Can a buyer's mortgage application end the right to terminate over a late disclosure?
It can. One of the six events that end the termination right is the purchaser's written application to a lender for a mortgage loan, where the application contains a disclosure that the right of termination ends upon the application. The right ends at the earliest of the six events, so a qualifying application can close the window before three or five days have run.
What can an owner put down when a required fact is unknown?
Under Va. Code 55.1-711, the owner may state that the information is unknown, or may use an approximation. The approximation has to be clearly identified as one, reasonable, based on the owner's actual knowledge, and not used to get around the Act. The owner still has to disclose any material change in the disclosures at or before settlement.
Does a house under contract in December 2026 need the new rollback subdivision at a January 2027 settlement?
Not if the correct disclosures were delivered under the law in effect when they were delivered. Va. Code 55.1-709 A says the seller need not provide additional disclosures when a transaction under a ratified contract proceeds to settlement after legislation amending the disclosures takes effect. Subdivision 20, on use value assessment and rollback taxes, takes effect January 1, 2027.
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 (notification, ratification) Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-701: applicability of the chapter Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-702: exclusions, and the Planning District 15 mining disclosure Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-703: required disclosures for buyer to beware (both posted versions) Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-704: military air installation disclosure Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-706: pending building code or zoning violations Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-706.1: lis pendens disclosure Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-708: methamphetamine disclosure Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-708.1: stormwater management facility disclosure Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-708.2: repetitive risk loss disclosure Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-709: delivery, termination and notice (including 55.1-709 A and 55.1-709 C) Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-710: owner liability Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-711: material changes and unknown information Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-712: licensee duties Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 55.1-713: remedies and the one-year limit Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 54.1-2131: duties of a licensee representing a seller Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 32.1-164.1:1: onsite sewage waivers and the purchaser disclosure Code of Virginia
- Residential property disclosures Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation
- Disclosure forms Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation
- Planning district commissions Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development
- About the commission Mount Rogers Planning District Commission
- About New River Valley Regional Commission