When selling a home in the state of North Carolina, what are you legally required to disclose to the buyer?
In the listing process for all transactions, there’s a document called the Residential Property and Owners’ Association Disclosure Statement that is required by the state. It’s a guideline for sellers to review that answers a series of questions buyers would (more than likely) ask anyway. Such questions might include:
- What is the age of the roof?
- When was the home built?
- How recently were the HVAC systems replaced or serviced?
- Are there any plumbing or electrical defects?
- Is the water from a public water system?
- Has the owner made any additions to the property? If so, were permits required?
- Is the home part of an HOA?
This four-page document is very thorough and will be sure to keep sellers on track and prevent them from withholding information that could sour or outright destroy the deal later on. If a seller doesn’t properly disclose certain pieces of information, it could incur legal ramifications.
Now, if you’ve repaired any issues that you’ve had in the past, such as a leaky roof, are you required to disclose this to the buyer? The answer is no, as long as the work was completed to professional standards
Additionally, it has also become a requirement for homeowners to fill out another disclosure that involves mineral, oil, and gas rights. Mineral rights include the ownership rights to minerals, oil, and natural gas that is found beneath the property, and these are automatically included in the conveyance of a property. They can be purchased or sold at the owner’s discretion.
This requirement was prompted by a large, national builder who was building in this market—they had severed the rights to sell those resources later. There was a class-action lawsuit, and now all homeowners are required to disclose whether or not they sold any of the gas, oil, or mineral rights to another party.
This is just an overview of the types of things you should expect to disclose upon selling. If you’re planning to sell and would like to dig deeper into this topic, please feel free to reach out to me. I’d be happy to share any information that might be of help.
