What Must Sellers Disclose in Texas?

In Texas, a seller of residential property has to give the buyer a written Seller's Disclosure Notice covering everything they actually know about the condition of the home. That means known defects, past flooding, structural repairs, roof and system problems, termite history, homeowners association obligations, and anything else materially affecting the value or desirability of the property.

The standard is knowledge, not perfection. You are not required to hire inspectors or go looking for problems before you sell. You are required to tell the truth about what you already know. The distance between those two sentences is where sellers get themselves in trouble, and this article is mostly about that gap. This is general information, not legal advice. If your situation is complicated, and I will point out which ones are, talk to a real estate attorney before you sign anything.

The Form Itself

Texas Property Code Section 5.008 requires the notice for most sales of single family residential property. The Texas Real Estate Commission publishes a version of the form, and most brokerages use either that one or an expanded version from a local association. The expanded ones ask more questions. Answering more questions is generally in your favor.

The notice is delivered to the buyer on or before the effective date of the contract. If it comes late, the standard Texas contract gives the buyer a window, typically seven days after receiving it, to terminate the contract with no penalty. That alone is a reason to have the notice finished before you go on the market rather than scrambling for it after you accept an offer.

Practically, the form asks you to check whether the property has, or has had, items in three broad buckets:

• Systems and components present and working. Heating, cooling, plumbing, electrical, water heater, appliances that convey, pool equipment, sprinkler systems.
• Known defects and conditions. Structural or foundation problems, roof leaks, water penetration, termites or wood destroying insects, previous repairs, aluminum wiring, hazardous materials, drainage issues.
• Legal and neighborhood conditions. Homeowners association membership and dues, unpaid assessments, encroachments, lawsuits affecting the property, special districts, deed restrictions, mineral leases.

What You Have to Disclose

Known defects, whether repaired or not. This one catches people. If your foundation was repaired eight years ago and has performed fine since, that is still a disclosure. Repair does not erase history. Disclose it, attach the invoice and any warranty, and you have turned a scary item into a documented one. Hiding it and letting the buyer's inspector find the piers is much worse.

Prior flooding. Texas expanded flood disclosure significantly, and current forms ask specifically whether the property has flooded, whether it is in a 100 year floodplain or flood pool, whether you have filed a flood insurance claim, and whether you have received federal disaster assistance for flood damage. El Paso is a desert and buyers assume flooding is not a factor here. It can be. Arroyo and storm drainage flooding during monsoon season is real in parts of this city, and if your property has taken water, that is a disclosure regardless of what the flood map says. Buyers should read the flood insurance guide for El Paso rather than assuming.

Structural and roof repairs. Piers, slab work, roof replacement, wall cracks that were addressed, drainage correction. Include who did the work and whether a warranty transfers.

Homeowners association information. Whether the property is in an association, the dues, any special assessments, known violations, and pending litigation. If you are in one, the buyer will also receive a resale certificate, but that does not excuse you from answering the questions on the notice. The El Paso homeowners association guide covers what buyers are actually reviewing.

Deaths on the property, in some circumstances. Here is the precise rule, because it is widely misunderstood. Texas law says a seller is not required to disclose a death that occurred on the property by natural causes, suicide, or an accident unrelated to the condition of the property. That is a specific carve-out. It does not cover everything. A death caused by a condition of the property, a faulty balcony, a carbon monoxide leak, defective wiring, is tied to a defect you would have to disclose anyway. And a violent crime on the property is not inside that carve-out. When a seller asks me about this, my answer is that the legal question is for their attorney, and the practical question is whether they want the buyer learning it from a neighbor two weeks after closing.

Special district assessments. If your property sits inside a municipal utility district or public improvement district, and a lot of newer construction in far east El Paso and out toward Horizon does, there are required notices and the buyer needs them. That assessment changes their monthly payment.

What You Do Not Have to Disclose

Things you genuinely do not know. There is no duty to inspect your own house before selling. If you have never had a plumber under the slab and have no reason to suspect a leak, you are not concealing anything by checking "unknown." Use that answer honestly and sparingly. A seller who marks fifteen items unknown on a house they have lived in for twelve years looks evasive, and juries think so too.

A death by natural causes, suicide, or an unrelated accident, as described above.

That a previous occupant had a condition not transmissible through occupancy of the property. Texas Property Code addresses this directly, and it exists to prevent discrimination.

Your reason for selling. Divorce, job loss, a new duty station. Nobody is entitled to your circumstances, and telling a buyer you are motivated is a negotiating error rather than a legal duty.

Opinions and rumors. You are disclosing facts about the property, not neighborhood gossip. If you have actual knowledge of something material, that is different.

Buyers: How to Actually Read One

Most buyers glance at the disclosure and file it. That is a waste of the single most useful document a seller ever hands you.

• Read the "unknown" boxes as questions to ask. Every unknown is either an honest gap or an avoidance. You will not know which until you ask directly, in writing, through your agent.
• Cross reference it against the inspection. If the inspector finds evidence of a repaired foundation and the notice says no known structural repairs, you have a problem worth pausing over. That is exactly what the option period is for.
• Look at the age of everything. A roof installed in 2009 and a water heater from 2011 are not defects, but they are your next five years of expenses.
• Take the homeowners association section seriously, including dues and any mention of assessments or violations.
• A thin disclosure on an old house is a yellow flag. Not a deal killer. A reason to inspect harder. The El Paso home inspection guide covers what to add beyond the standard inspection, including sewer scopes and septic on Lower Valley and Socorro properties.

The disclosure is not a warranty, and it does not replace an inspection. It tells you what the seller knows. The inspector tells you what the seller may not.

Who Is Exempt

The Property Code lists transfers that do not require the notice. The common ones:

• Sales by an executor, administrator, or trustee administering an estate, guardianship, conservatorship, or trust. This is why inherited property often comes with no disclosure.
• Foreclosure sales and transfers by a trustee in bankruptcy, or a sale by a lienholder who acquired the property at foreclosure.
• Transfers between co-owners, or to a spouse or direct family member.
• Transfers pursuant to a divorce decree or court order.
• New construction that has never been occupied. The builder has other obligations and warranties instead.

Two things worth understanding about exemptions. First, an exemption from the statutory form is not a license to lie. A seller who is exempt from delivering the notice can still be liable for affirmative misrepresentation or fraudulent concealment. If the executor knows the slab is cracked and says the house has no issues, "I was exempt" is not a defense. Second, buyers purchasing exempt property should negotiate a longer option period and spend more on inspections, because the informational asymmetry is real. Estate and foreclosure properties are frequently good buys, and they are also where the surprises live.

Why Under-Disclosing Is the Most Expensive Shortcut a Seller Can Take

Let me be direct about this, because sellers ask me every year whether they really have to mention the thing they are hoping not to mention.

The upside of hiding a known defect is that you might sell for a few thousand dollars more. The downside is a lawsuit after closing, in which the buyer has your signed form saying no known issues, a repair invoice with your name on it, and an attorney who found both. Texas gives buyers real remedies for fraud and for violations of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and those cases have gone badly for sellers. Legal fees alone dwarf whatever the disclosure would have cost you at the negotiating table.

The version I actually recommend is the opposite move. Disclose fully, attach documentation, and price the house accordingly. Buyers discount for uncertainty far more than they discount for a known, documented, repaired problem. A foundation repair with an invoice and a transferable warranty is a paragraph. A foundation repair discovered by an inspector on day six of the option period is a renegotiation, and often a termination.

In a market with about 50 days of average marketing time and roughly two to three months of inventory, you have a normal, functioning market. You do not have a frenzy that will paper over problems. Sale to list ratios around 98 percent tell you buyers are negotiating, not capitulating. A clean, complete disclosure is a competitive asset in that environment. The preparing your home for sale guide covers the rest of the pre-listing work, and first-time seller mistakes has the fuller list of what goes wrong.

How I Have Sellers Fill It Out

Sit down with the form before the photographer comes, not after an offer arrives. Give it an hour, not ten minutes.

1. Walk the house with the form in hand. Every room, the attic access, the water heater closet, the electrical panel, the roof from the ground.
2. Pull your records. Receipts, permits, warranties, insurance claims. Anything you paid a contractor for is probably a disclosure.
3. Answer "unknown" only when it is true. Then say why, in the comment lines. "Owned since 2019, no knowledge of prior repairs" is a much better answer than a blank checkbox.
4. Use the comment space. The form gives you room to explain. A one line explanation next to a scary checkbox does more to keep a deal together than anything your agent can say later.
5. Send anything unusual to an attorney. Unpermitted additions, boundary disputes, an inherited property, litigation, a death on the property, mineral rights. These are not agent questions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a seller's disclosure required in Texas?

Yes, for most sales of single family residential property. Texas Property Code Section 5.008 requires the seller to deliver a written Seller's Disclosure Notice to the buyer on or before the effective date of the contract, with specific listed exemptions such as estates and foreclosures.

Do you have to disclose a death in a house in Texas?

Not if the death was by natural causes, suicide, or an accident unrelated to the condition of the property. Texas law specifically excludes those. A death caused by a property defect, or a violent crime, falls outside that exclusion, and a seller with that situation should consult an attorney.

What happens if a seller lies on the disclosure in Texas?

The buyer may have claims for fraud, statutory misrepresentation, and damages, and can pursue them after closing. Being exempt from delivering the notice does not protect a seller who makes false statements. The legal exposure is generally far larger than whatever the disclosure would have cost in price.

Do you have to disclose foundation repairs in Texas?

Yes. Known structural or foundation repairs are disclosable even if the work is complete and the house has performed well since. Attach the invoice and any transferable warranty, which usually turns the item from a red flag into documentation.

Does a seller's disclosure replace a home inspection?

No. The disclosure tells you what the seller knows. An inspection tells you what a trained professional can find, including things the seller genuinely never knew. Buyers should always do both, and use the option period to act on what turns up.

Who is exempt from the seller's disclosure in Texas?

Common exemptions include sales by executors, administrators, or trustees of an estate or trust, foreclosure and trustee sales, transfers between co-owners or spouses, transfers under a court order or divorce decree, and new construction that has never been occupied.

The Bottom Line

The Texas Seller's Disclosure Notice asks you to write down what you know. Sellers who take that seriously, attach their receipts, and explain the items in the comment lines tend to close on the terms they agreed to. Sellers who leave a known problem off the form usually meet it again during the option period, in a renegotiation, or in a lawyer's letter after closing, and it costs more every step down that road.

Buyers, read the form like it is evidence, because it is. Cross it against the inspection, ask about every unknown in writing, and inspect harder on exempt properties where no notice exists. If you are getting ready to list in El Paso and want help filling out the notice completely without volunteering things that are not required, reach out or start with the seller resources page. For anything legally complicated, I will tell you plainly to call an attorney, because that is the honest answer.