A seller’s disclosure is a written notice where the seller tells the buyer what they actually know about the property’s condition — defects, past repairs, flooding, insurance claims, additions built with or without permits. It’s a statement of the seller’s knowledge, not a warranty and not an inspection report. In Texas it’s required by statute for most residential resales, and it has to be in the buyer’s hands on or before the effective date of the contract.
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▼We see the seller’s disclosure on nearly every resale file we coordinate, and it’s one of the documents we specifically check for when a new contract comes in. Missing, unsigned, or late disclosures create termination rights that can hang over a transaction for weeks.
What the Disclosure Actually Covers
In Texas, the statutory basis is Property Code Section 5.008, which applies to sellers of residential property with not more than one dwelling unit. The notice walks the seller through the property system by system:
- Structure and systems — roof, foundation, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and whether each has known defects
- Repairs and damage — previous fires, flooding, foundation repairs, termite treatment
- Water events — flood zone status, previous water penetration, and whether the seller has ever filed a flood or insurance claim
- Additions and modifications — work done with or without permits
- Environmental and site issues — settling, drainage problems, hazardous materials, landfill proximity
- Legal items — HOA membership and fees, lawsuits affecting the property, unrecorded liens
Which Form: TREC 55-1 or TXR-1406
Two forms dominate in practice, and both are built to cover what §5.008 requires:
- TREC Seller’s Disclosure Notice, TREC No. 55-1. Free on TREC’s forms page, effective May 28, 2026. It tracks the statutory list, plus the questions TREC added in 2026. It replaced 55-0 (the 2023 version), which replaced the older OP-H. If someone hands you an OP-H today, it’s out of date.
- Texas REALTORS® Seller’s Disclosure Notice, TXR-1406. The one listing agents overwhelmingly use. It asks quite a bit more — additional questions on insurance claims, previous inspections, and specific conditions — and buyers are better off for it.
Check the version, not the file name. The TREC form’s footer reads “TREC No. 55-1” on every page; older versions are missing questions the law now requires. Our guide to the current TREC Seller’s Disclosure Notice covers what changed in 2026 and 2023.
The buyer doesn’t have to sign it. Both forms have a receipt acknowledgment for the buyer, and a signed, dated acknowledgment is the best proof of when the notice was delivered. But the statute doesn’t require the buyer’s signature or initials.
The standard throughout is the seller’s actual knowledge. A seller who genuinely doesn’t know about a slab crack under the carpet isn’t lying by leaving it unchecked. That’s also exactly why the disclosure doesn’t replace an inspection during the option period — the disclosure tells you what the seller knows; the inspection tells you what’s actually there.
What the Form Asks, Section by Section
The TREC 55-1 and the TXR-1406 order things differently, and the TXR-1406 goes deeper, but both walk the seller through the same ground. Here’s what each part is really asking and where sellers get tripped up, so you know what to point out when you hand your seller the form.
Items, Systems and Their Condition
A checklist of what the property has (appliances, HVAC, water heater, pool, security system, roof type and age, and so on), then whether the seller knows of defects or malfunctions in each. The structural items live here too: foundation, roof, walls, ceilings, floors, windows, doors.
Specifics matter. “Roof replaced” means little without a year. “Foundation repaired” means little without who did it, when, and whether a warranty transfers. In Texas, foundation questions get extra attention because of clay soil and drainage, and if the seller has an engineering report, the buyer’s side will almost always ask for it. Having it ready saves a round of back and forth.
On the systems, age is fair game. An 18-year-old AC that still runs is still 18 years old, and the inspector will see the data plate anyway. Known plumbing material (polybutylene, galvanized) and electrical work done without permits belong here.
Conditions the Seller Is Aware Of
A long yes/no list of conditions: previous foundation or roof repairs, termite or wood-destroying insect damage and treatment, water damage, previous fires, settling, asbestos, lead-based paint, aluminum wiring, hazardous materials, and similar items. Then a question about any condition that needs repair right now.
Flooding and Water
Floodplain status, previous flooding, water penetration, flood insurance, flood claims, and any FEMA or SBA disaster assistance. These questions were expanded after Hurricane Harvey, and buyers read them closely. If water ever came into the house, even once and even an inch, it belongs on the form.
Additions, Permits, HOA and Legal Items
Room additions or structural changes made without permits, HOA membership and fees, common areas, deed restriction or code violations, lawsuits affecting the property, and similar items. The HOA answers tie into the HOA resale certificate, but the disclosure is where the seller states what they know up front, including any violation notices or announced special assessments.
Inspections, Exemptions, Insurance Claims and Utilities
Recent inspection reports the seller has, property tax exemptions they claim, insurance claims other than flood, whether insurance proceeds were received and the repairs weren’t made, and smoke detectors. The forms also ask for the utility providers serving the property.
Whose Answers These Are
This is the seller’s disclosure. Not the agent’s and not the broker’s. The answers are the seller’s statement of what they know, and that only holds up if the seller is the one answering. An agent who tells a seller what to check or how to word something has turned the seller’s disclosure into the agent’s.
What we’ve heard good listing agents say for years: when in doubt, disclose. The questions are on the form, and the answers are the seller’s.
The Delivery Deadline and the 7-Day Termination Right
The notice must be delivered on or before the effective date of the contract. That deadline — and the first termination right — comes straight from Texas Property Code §5.008(f):
- Delivered late — the buyer may terminate for any reason within 7 days after receiving it, and the earnest money comes back.
The TREC contract goes a step further. Paragraph 7B(2) of the TREC 1-4 Family Residential Contract (Resale), TREC No. 20-19 adds the second right:
- Never delivered — the buyer may terminate at any time prior to closing, with the earnest money refunded.
That second one surprises people. A missing disclosure means the buyer effectively carries a termination right through the entire transaction — long after the option period expired. We’ve seen deals where nobody noticed the disclosure was missing until the week of closing, which handed the buyer an exit nobody knew existed.
Who’s Exempt From the Disclosure Requirement
Section 5.008(e) lists eleven transfers where no notice is required:
- Under a court order or a foreclosure sale
- By a trustee in bankruptcy
- To a lender by the borrower (or to a deed of trust beneficiary by the trustor)
- By a lender that took the property at a foreclosure or trustee’s sale, or by deed in lieu of foreclosure
- By a fiduciary administering a decedent’s estate, guardianship, conservatorship or trust
- From one co-owner to another
- To a spouse, or to a parent, child, grandchild or other lineal relative of a seller
- Between spouses under a divorce or legal separation decree, or a property settlement tied to one
- To or from a governmental entity
- Of a new home never occupied — builder sales
- Of land where any dwelling is worth 5% or less of the property’s total value
The pattern behind the list: these are sellers who either never lived in the property or are transferring it in a context where personal knowledge of its condition isn’t the point. An executor selling a decedent’s house is the classic example — exempt, though many still complete a disclosure noting their limited knowledge, which is generally smart practice.
Never lived there isn’t on the list. A landlord or investor selling a rental still owes the notice. The form handles it: the first line asks whether the seller is occupying the property and, if not, how long since they did or whether they never occupied it. The seller discloses what they know and notes what they don’t.
Paragraph 7B: Check the Right Box
Paragraph 7B of the TREC 1-4 Family contract (TREC No. 20-19, effective July 1, 2026) has three boxes: (1) the buyer has received the notice, (2) the buyer hasn’t, and the seller will deliver it within a set number of days, or (3) the seller isn’t required to furnish the notice under the Property Code.
Box (3) is the one to watch. Checking it on a sale that isn’t actually exempt doesn’t make the requirement go away; it can hand the buyer a valid reason to terminate long after the option period ends. Before (3) is checked, the transfer should fit one of the eleven exemptions above. If it doesn’t, the notice goes out and box (1) or (2) is checked instead.
Exempt doesn’t mean silent, either. Fraud rules still apply. A seller who affirmatively knows about a serious defect and actively conceals it has a problem regardless of any statutory exemption.
What Sellers Don’t Have to Disclose in Texas
A few items the statute specifically carves out, because buyers ask about them constantly:
- Deaths on the property by natural causes, suicide, or an accident unrelated to the property’s condition
- HIV/AIDS status of any previous occupant — protected under federal fair housing law
The property-condition thread runs through both carve-outs. A death caused by a defective condition — a collapsed deck, a faulty railing — circles back to disclosable territory, because the defect is the material fact.
Beyond the statute, the practical rule we see agents give sellers is simple: when in doubt, disclose. Disclosure disputes are one of the most common sources of post-closing litigation in residential real estate, and “I disclosed it and they bought anyway” is a much better position than “we didn’t think it was material.”
The Mistakes We See Most Often
Blanks instead of “unknown.” A blank is ambiguous. Did the seller skip it, miss it, or avoid it? Every question should get a yes, a no, an unknown, or an explanation. A blank is one of the first things we flag when the disclosure comes into the file.
Vague answers when a specific one exists. “Some foundation work” invites the buyer to assume the worst. “Twelve piers on the south and east sides in 2021, transferable lifetime warranty, engineering report attached” is a disclosure. Specific answers build trust with the buyer’s agent; vague ones start a round of questions.
Not updating when something changes. The seller fills out the disclosure in January, and in March a pipe bursts in the guest bath. Now there’s a known condition the form doesn’t show. In our experience, the safe practice is an updated disclosure delivered to the buyer in writing every time a material condition changes between the first notice and closing. Paragraph 10A of the TREC contract separately requires the seller to deliver the property in its present or required condition, ordinary wear and tear excepted, so the repair question usually comes up too. How an update affects the buyer’s rights on a particular file is a question for the client’s attorney.
Treating “as is” as a pass. Paragraph 7D of the TREC contract is about the condition the buyer accepts. It doesn’t remove the §5.008 notice. Only the exemptions above do that.
Treating the disclosure as a warranty. It isn’t one. It’s the seller’s knowledge on the day they sign. If the HVAC worked when the form was signed and fails two weeks later, the disclosure wasn’t wrong. What changes after that is covered by the update and Paragraph 10A, not the original form.
Items that get left off. The ones we see missed most:
- Minor water intrusion that never turned into an insurance claim
- Past insurance claims for hail, wind, water or fire (buyers can pull a CLUE report, so these come out anyway)
- Foundation repairs done by a previous owner, with warranty paperwork the seller inherited
- Open HOA violations
- Easements and access agreements
- Old underground tanks or other environmental history
Rushing it. The worst time to fill out the disclosure is the night before the listing goes live, or after a buyer is already asking for it. The disclosures that hold up are the ones where the seller took time, walked the house room by room, and thought through every repair they’ve made or paid for.
Other Disclosures the Property May Trigger
The seller’s disclosure is the main document, but plenty of properties need more. These are separate notices or addenda, not boxes on the seller’s disclosure:
- Built before 1978: the lead-based paint addendum, TREC 56-0, required by federal law whether or not the sale is exempt from §5.008
- In a MUD: the MUD notice
- In a PID: the PID notice, TREC 53-0, delivered before the contract is signed
- In an HOA: the HOA addendum and the resale certificate
- Leased equipment like solar panels, a water softener or a propane tank: the fixture lease addendum
- In a propane system service area: the propane gas system service area notice
- Near the coast: the coastal area notices
- Groundwater or surface water rights: the Seller’s Water Disclosure, TREC 61-0
Missing one of these doesn’t fix itself at closing. The time to sort out which ones apply is before the listing goes live.
Where the Disclosure Fits in the Transaction
The seller’s disclosure is one of the first documents in the file and one of the first things a buyer’s agent should send their client. In a well-run transaction it’s delivered with or before the contract, acknowledged on the effective date, and referenced during the option period when inspection findings get compared against what the seller reported. Discrepancies between the disclosure and the inspection report are negotiation material — handled by the agents, not by us.
For a home built before 1978, federal law adds another: the lead-based paint addendum, TREC 56-0 (Paragraph 7C), which belongs in the listing paperwork alongside the seller’s disclosure. Some files now need a further disclosure too: the groundwater and surface water rights disclosure (TREC 61-0). Staying current on form versions is part of file compliance: an outdated disclosure version in the file is the kind of detail that gets flagged in a broker compliance review.
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Related Articles
- Option Period in Texas — The buyer’s inspection window and how it works with the disclosure
- TREC Seller’s Disclosure Notice: What Changed in 2026 (and 2023) — The current form and what changed
- The Texas Groundwater and Surface Water Rights Disclosure — When TREC 61-0 is required
- Texas Real Estate Closing Process — Where the disclosure fits from contract to keys
- TREC PID Disclosure Update — A separate disclosure requirement for PID properties
- TREC 56-0: The Lead-Based Paint Addendum — The federal disclosure for homes built before 1978
- MUD Disclosure in Texas — The notice for properties in a municipal utility district
- Common Transaction Pitfalls — The file problems we see most often
