What is a seller’s disclosure?
This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Disclosure duties, exemptions, and the consequences of getting them wrong vary by state and turn on the facts of your transaction. Consult a Michigan real estate attorney about your situation.
A seller’s disclosure is a signed written statement in which the seller reports the known defects and conditions of a property before the buyer is bound to buy it. In Michigan it’s a statute, not a courtesy: the Seller Disclosure Act requires the Seller’s Disclosure Statement on any transfer of not less than 1 and not more than 4 residential dwelling units, and the statutory form runs 59 line items, a 36-item appliance and system checklist, 12 property-condition questions, and 11 more yes-or-no questions.
Two rules do most of the work. You disclose what you actually know, and “Unknown” is a legitimate answer. And you deliver the form before you sign a binding purchase agreement, because a late delivery lets the buyer terminate in writing within 72 hours of personal delivery, or 120 hours by registered mail.
Learn what a seller’s disclosure is, what belongs on the form, when it has to reach the buyer, and what happens if you leave a known defect off. Earlier in the process? Start with our Selling a Home guide.
Key takeaways:
- 59 questions, answered from what you know: Michigan’s form asks about 36 appliances and systems, 12 property conditions, and 11 additional items, and the Act says a seller isn’t liable for an omission outside their personal knowledge.
- Delivery carries a deadline: The statement must reach the buyer before you execute a binding purchase agreement, and a late delivery lets the buyer terminate in writing within 72 hours of personal delivery, or 120 hours of registered mail.
- “As-is” is not one of the 9 exemptions: Michigan’s Act exempts 9 categories of transfer, and an as-is clause isn’t among them. Homes built before 1978 also owe the buyer a federal lead pamphlet and a 10-day window to inspect for lead-based paint.
What is a seller’s disclosure?
A seller’s disclosure is a written statement of a property’s known condition, signed by the seller and delivered to the buyer, covering structure, roof, plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling, water intrusion, environmental hazards, past repairs, and boundary or zoning issues. Most states use a standardized checklist. Michigan prescribes one exact form inside the statute, so every seller of a one- to four-unit residential property fills out the same document.
The form’s purpose paragraph says what it isn’t. Unless otherwise advised, the seller has no expertise in construction or engineering and has not inspected generally inaccessible areas such as the foundation or roof, and the statement “is not a warranty of any kind” and “is not a substitute for any inspections or warranties the buyer may wish to obtain.”
A disclosure moves what you know into writing before the buyer commits; it doesn’t replace the buyer’s inspection. Where it lands in the sale is mapped in our selling process walkthrough, and the money side sits in the finances of selling.
What goes on a seller’s disclosure?
Nine categories cover nearly everything a disclosure form asks, and Michigan’s statutory version asks about all nine.
| Category | What the Michigan form asks | Examples you would disclose |
|---|---|---|
| Structure and foundation | Settling, drainage, structural, or grading problems? Major fire or flood damage? | A patched foundation crack, a bowing basement wall. |
| Roof | Leaks? Approximate age, if known. | A past leak, a repaired valley, the shingle year. |
| Plumbing | Type: copper, galvanized, or other. Known problems? | Galvanized supply lines, a past sewer backup. |
| Electrical | Any known problems? | Knob-and-tube wiring, a panel that trips. |
| Heating and cooling | Type and approximate age, plus central heat and central air entries. | A 24-year-old furnace, an AC that no longer cools. |
| Water intrusion and mold | Basement or crawl space: has there been evidence of water? | Spring seepage, a sump pump that runs constantly. |
| Environmental hazards | Asbestos, radon gas, formaldehyde, lead-based paint, storage tanks, contaminated soil? | A prior radon result, a buried fuel oil tank. |
| Permits and past repairs | Work done without necessary permits or licensed contractors? | An unpermitted finished basement or bathroom. |
| Boundary and zoning | Encroachments, easements, zoning violations, shared features, or an HOA? | A neighbor’s shed over the line, a shared driveway. |
Michigan’s form adds insulation, well testing, septic condition, infestation history, flood insurance, mineral rights, outstanding assessments, and pending litigation. Two categories have deep dives: selling a home with foundation issues and selling a home with environmental issues.
When do you give the buyer the disclosure?
Before you sign. Michigan’s Act requires delivery to the buyer or the buyer’s agent before you execute a binding purchase agreement, or an installment sales contract in a land-contract or lease-option deal. Delivery must be personal, by facsimile, or by registered mail, and a statement handed to the buyer’s agent counts as delivered.
Miss that window and the buyer gets an exit. A disclosure delivered after the purchase agreement is signed lets the buyer terminate on written notice within 72 hours of personal delivery or 120 hours of registered mail, a right that expires when the property transfers by deed or installment sales contract. It’s the most avoidable way a Michigan seller loses a deal, and it sits alongside the other exit ramps in how to handle a buyer backing out.
One follow-up rule catches people: the form commits you to disclose immediately any change to the structural, mechanical, or appliance systems between signing and closing, and a late amendment restarts that same clock.
What happens if you don’t disclose a known defect?
You can be sued, and the Seller Disclosure Act does not shield you. The Act states that its list of disclosure items “does not limit or abridge any obligation for disclosure created by any other provision of law regarding fraud, misrepresentation, or deceit in transfer transactions.”1 Michigan’s Court of Appeals has held that an as-is clause bars an innocent-misrepresentation claim but does not necessarily prevent a buyer from proving fraud in the Seller’s Disclosure Statement itself.
Noncompliance doesn’t undo the sale, since a transfer isn’t invalidated solely because someone failed to follow the Act, so the buyer’s remedy is damages. The statutory standard is good faith, which the Act defines as “honesty in fact in the conduct of the transaction.”
The practical takeaway is unglamorous. A buyer who sees a defect on the form negotiates over it; a buyer who finds it after closing calls a lawyer. When you’re unsure whether something qualifies, disclose it and take the close call to a Michigan real estate attorney. More traps sit in common seller mistakes to avoid.
Does selling as-is remove the disclosure requirement?
No. In Michigan the duty attaches to the type of transfer, not to the contract language, and the Act’s exemptions are a closed list of 9 categories that doesn’t include an as-is clause. Selling as-is signals you won’t make repairs. It doesn’t delete the form or erase liability for concealing what you knew.
- Court-ordered and default transfers: Probate-administration sales, writs of execution, foreclosure sales, bankruptcy trustee sales, eminent domain, deeds in lieu, and lender resales after foreclosure.
- Nonoccupant fiduciary transfers: Sales by a nonoccupant fiduciary administering a decedent’s estate, guardianship, conservatorship, or trust. A personal representative who lived in the house doesn’t automatically get this one.
- Family, government, and new-construction transfers: Co-tenant and close-family transfers, divorce-related transfers between spouses, governmental transfers, and builder sales of never-inhabited new construction.
Everything else gets a form. What as-is costs you in buyer pool and price is covered in selling a home as-is: pros and cons.
How do you fill out a seller’s disclosure form?
Work through it in one sitting, because the form’s instructions tell you to complete it yourself rather than hand it to your agent. Five habits keep sellers out of trouble.
- Answer every question: The instructions say to answer ALL questions, check NOT AVAILABLE for items your property doesn’t have, and check UNKNOWN when you don’t know. A blank helps nobody.
- Use “Unknown” honestly: Marking a system unknown because you never tested it is fine. Marking a basement unknown when you bail water every March is what a lawsuit turns on.
- Explain, then attach a page: The form gives you five lines and tells you to attach additional signed sheets. A repair with a date, a contractor, and an invoice beats a checked box.
- Disclose the unpermitted work: One question asks directly about work done without necessary permits or licensed contractors, a problem handled in how to sell a home with unpermitted work.
- Keep the signed copy: File your statement, any amendment, and the buyer’s acknowledgment. For target housing built before 1978, federal law separately requires you to give the buyer the lead hazard information pamphlet, disclose any known lead-based paint or lead-based paint hazards along with any reports or records you have, and allow a 10-day period to conduct a lead inspection or risk assessment before the buyer is obligated, then keep the signed lead disclosure for 3 years after the sale.
Disclosing early also changes the negotiation: buyers price a known defect into the offer instead of reopening the deal after inspection, which is why addressing buyer repair requests starts with what you put in writing.
How does your disclosure affect financing and your net proceeds?
Disclosed conditions travel into your buyer’s loan file, and some of them stop it. On an FHA-insured purchase, required repairs are limited to what protects the health and safety of the occupants, the security of the property, and its structural integrity, and an appraiser who observes such a condition reports the appraisal subject to repair.2 A roof leak or a dead furnace on your form is something the appraiser is likely to see anyway, and fixing it before listing keeps the financed buyer pool intact instead of narrowing you to cash.
That’s where a disclosure stops being paperwork and becomes math. Every repair you concede, credit you grant, and price cut you take lands in the wire you receive at closing, minus your mortgage payoff, a number our breakdown of when a seller gets money after closing assembles line by line.
Align Lending is a mortgage broker, not a listing brokerage, so our role sits on the financing side of your sale. If the disclosure will cost you repairs or a credit and you’re buying next, the questions are whether that changes your down payment, whether you need bridge financing to buy before you sell, and what payoff your next approval should assume.
What Michigan sellers should know
Michigan puts more of the disclosure process in statute than most states, which makes the rules easy to follow.
- One form, prescribed by law: The Seller’s Disclosure Statement is written into the Act itself, so its 36 appliance entries, 12 property-condition questions, and 11 Other Items questions are identical statewide.
- Local governments can add to it: A city, township, or county may require additional disclosures on a different form. Macomb County requires a well and septic evaluation before a property served by them can close, and Washtenaw County runs its own time-of-sale inspection program.3
- Well and septic answers are on the form regardless: It asks for well type, depth, age, and repair history, whether the water has been tested, and septic tank and drain field condition. EGLE puts about 25% of Michigan residents on a private well.
- Radon is named on the form: The Environmental Problems question lists radon gas, and the EPA recommends fixing a home at 4 pCi/L or higher, so a prior test result is a disclosable fact. See the EPA’s radon action level and testing guidance.
- Three standing buyer notices ride along: The form tells buyers to obtain inspections covering indoor air and water quality and household mold, that sex offender registry information is public under 1994 PA 295, and that Michigan property tax obligations can change significantly on transfer.
Other states differ, and a few permit a limited disclaimer form in narrow circumstances. Nolo’s overview of how seller disclosure law works in practice is a starting point outside Michigan, and the National Association of Realtors keeps a research and statistics library on transaction practices. Confirm your state’s rule with a local attorney.
How Align keeps your sale and purchase on one timeline
Selling and buying at once means two closings that have to line up. Samantha builds your next loan around your sale date, together with your agent, so the two dates are planned as one.
She handles your loan herself, with a processor supporting her behind the scenes, and her loans averaged under 14 days from application to clear to close over the last 12 months, across more than 100 loans.
Sources: Align Lending loan records, 12 months to October 2026.
FAQ: Seller’s disclosures
Here are answers to common questions about seller’s disclosures.
What has to be disclosed when selling a house?
Known material defects that affect the property’s value or a buyer’s use of it: foundation cracks, roof leaks, plumbing and electrical problems, heating and cooling failures, water intrusion, mold, radon or asbestos, pest damage, past repairs and whether permits were pulled, and known boundary or zoning issues. Follow your state’s form exactly, and see selling a home with mold issues for the category buyers ask about most.
What happens if a seller doesn’t disclose a problem?
You can be sued for damages, and the claim can arrive well after closing. Michigan’s Act preserves every other legal obligation regarding fraud, misrepresentation, and deceit, so the form is not a liability shield if you concealed something you knew. When in doubt, disclose it and ask a Michigan real estate attorney, then review common seller mistakes to avoid.
Can I sell a house as-is without a seller’s disclosure?
In Michigan, no. An as-is clause means you won’t make repairs; it doesn’t exempt you from the statutory form or from liability for concealing a known defect. The Act’s exemptions are a fixed list of 9 transfer types. A pre-listing home inspection is the cleanest way to learn what you’re selling before you write “as-is” anywhere.
When does the seller give the buyer the disclosure?
Before the binding purchase agreement is executed, under Michigan law. If it arrives later, the buyer may terminate in writing within 72 hours of personal delivery or 120 hours of registered mail, and that right ends at transfer. Delivering early cuts late renegotiation. The buyer’s side of the same document is in how to handle seller disclosures.
The bottom line on seller’s disclosures
A seller’s disclosure is a signed written statement of a property’s known defects and conditions, delivered before the buyer is bound. Michigan requires the statutory Seller’s Disclosure Statement on any transfer of 1 to 4 residential dwelling units, and its 59 line items are answered from what you actually know. Deliver it before you sign a binding purchase agreement, because a late delivery gives the buyer 72 hours to terminate in writing, or 120 hours by registered mail. Selling as-is doesn’t remove the duty, and honest disclosure is what protects you.
If you’re selling one home and financing the next, talk to Align Lending, we’ll model your net proceeds against a real approval and shop your purchase across our lender network so you see the numbers side by side. Call 248-506-5727 or start online today.
Footnotes:
1. This is general information, not legal advice. Whether a particular condition must be disclosed, whether a transfer is exempt, and what remedies a buyer may pursue depend on facts specific to your transaction and on case law that changes. Consult a licensed Michigan real estate attorney before relying on any statement in this article. Return to text.
2. Align Lending is not acting on behalf of or at the direction of FHA or HUD. FHA property requirements and appraisal repair standards are set by HUD in Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1 and are subject to change. Appraisal outcomes depend on the individual property and appraiser. Return to text.
3. Local time-of-sale requirements are adopted by county or municipal health departments under the authority Michigan law gives cities, townships, and counties to require disclosures in addition to the state form. These programs, their fees, and the properties they cover change; confirm current requirements with the health department for your county before you list. Return to text.
Sources: application of the seller disclosure requirements to the transfer of any interest in real estate of not less than 1 or more than 4 residential dwelling units, MCL 565.952. The 9 categories of exempt transfer, including court-ordered and probate-administration transfers, foreclosure and deed-in-lieu transfers, transfers by a nonoccupant fiduciary administering a decedent’s estate, guardianship, conservatorship, or trust, co-tenant and family transfers, divorce-related transfers between spouses, governmental transfers, and builder transfers of newly constructed uninhabited property, MCL 565.953. Delivery to the buyer or the buyer’s agent before execution of a binding purchase agreement or installment sales contract, and the buyer’s right to terminate within 72 hours of personal delivery or 120 hours of registered mail delivery, expiring at transfer by deed or installment sales contract, MCL 565.954. No liability for an error, inaccuracy, or omission outside the transferor’s personal knowledge, and no violation for failing to disclose what only inspection of inaccessible areas or expert knowledge could reveal, MCL 565.955. Inaccuracy caused by later events, and use of “unknown” when information is unavailable, MCL 565.956. The prescribed Seller’s Disclosure Statement, including its purpose paragraph, the “not a warranty” and “not a substitute for any inspections” language, the disclosure-only notice, the instruction to answer all questions and check NOT AVAILABLE or UNKNOWN, the 36-entry appliances, systems and services checklist, the 12 numbered property-condition items covering basement water, insulation and UFFI, roof leaks and age, well type and testing, septic condition, heating type and age, plumbing material, electrical problems, infestation history, environmental problems naming asbestos, radon gas, formaldehyde, lead-based paint, fuel or chemical storage tanks and contaminated soil, flood insurance, and mineral rights, the 11 numbered Other Items covering shared features, encroachments, easements, zoning violations and nonconforming uses, common areas and homeowners’ associations, work done without permits or licensed contractors, settling, flooding, drainage, structural or grading problems, major fire, wind, flood or landslide damage, underground storage tanks, farm, landfill, airport or shooting range proximity, outstanding utility and municipal assessments, and pending litigation, the seller’s commitment to immediately disclose changes to structural, mechanical and appliance systems before closing, and the standing buyer notices on professional inspections including indoor air and water quality and household mold, mildew and bacteria, on sex offender registry information under 1994 PA 295, MCL 28.721 to 28.732, and on the possibility that property tax obligations change significantly on transfer, MCL 565.957. Authority of a city, township, or county to require additional disclosures and a different form, MCL 565.959. Good faith defined as honesty in fact in the conduct of the transaction, MCL 565.960. Preservation of all other disclosure obligations regarding fraud, misrepresentation, or deceit, MCL 565.961. Written amendment of a disclosure, subject to the delivery and termination rules, MCL 565.962. Delivery by personal delivery, facsimile, or registered mail, MCL 565.963. Transfer not invalidated solely by noncompliance, MCL 565.964. Agent not liable for a transferor’s violation absent knowing concert, MCL 565.965. Effect of an “as is” clause on innocent misrepresentation versus fraud claims arising from a Seller’s Disclosure Statement, Roberts v Saffell, 280 Mich App 397 (2008), aff’d 483 Mich 1089 (2009). Lead hazard information pamphlet, disclosure of known lead-based paint and hazards and available records, the 10-day inspection or risk assessment opportunity, the Lead Warning Statement, and the 3-year retention of the signed disclosure for target housing built before 1978, 42 U.S.C. § 4852d and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Real Estate Disclosures about Potential Lead Hazards.” Recommendation to fix homes at 4 pCi/L or higher, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “What is EPA’s Action Level for Radon and What Does it Mean?” Approximately 25% of Michigan residents served by private residential wells and nearly 1.12 million households on private wells, Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), Drinking Water and Environmental Health Division. FHA required repairs limited to protecting the health and safety of the occupants, the security of the property, and its structural integrity, HUD Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1. Time-of-sale well and septic evaluation requirements, Macomb County Health Department, Environmental Health Services, Property Transfers, and Washtenaw County Environmental Health, Time of Sale Program.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal, financial, or tax advice. Disclosure requirements, statutory forms, local time-of-sale ordinances, and program rules change and vary by property, county, and state; confirm your obligations with a licensed Michigan real estate attorney and your county health department. Figures shown are illustrative, are not a rate quote or an offer of credit, and are subject to change. Align Lending is an independent Michigan mortgage broker, NMLS #2041154.
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