Texas requires a seller of residential property to give the buyer a written notice of the property's condition. It is a short form and it creates real liability, and sellers get into trouble with it in predictable ways.
What the notice is
The seller's disclosure notice asks you to report the condition of the property and any known defects, item by item. Structural, roof, foundation, systems, appliances, and a set of specific questions about things like flooding, prior repairs, termites, litigation and known problems.
The standard is what you actually know. You are not required to inspect, investigate or hire anyone. You are required to answer honestly about what you know.
Timing matters: the notice is generally due to the buyer on or before the effective date of the contract. If it comes late, the buyer may have a right to terminate.
Where sellers get in trouble
Answering "unknown" about something they know. This is the big one. Unknown means unknown. If you had the slab piered in 2019, that is not unknown.
Disclosing the repair but not the problem. "Replaced flooring in 2021" without mentioning why. If it was a water leak, say so.
Forgetting insurance claims. A hail claim, a plumbing leak claim, a fire. These are known events and they belong on the form.
Being vague to be safe. Vagueness is not protection. A specific, complete disclosure is far better legal footing than a thin one.
Filling it out fast. Take an hour. Walk the house. Think about the last five years.
Things people specifically forget in Central Texas
Foundation work of any kind, including cosmetic crack repair. Any past drainage or standing water issue. Roof replacement after hail, and whether a claim was filed. Prior termite treatment. Tree root or irrigation-related slab issues. Any unpermitted work — an enclosed patio, a converted garage, a shed on a slab.
Unpermitted improvements are worth flagging specifically. Buyers find out, and finding out from the disclosure is very different from finding out from the appraiser.
The exemptions are narrower than people think
Certain transfers are exempt from the notice requirement — some estate and trust transfers, transfers between co-owners or to a spouse in certain circumstances, foreclosure and a few others.
Important: being exempt from the form does not exempt you from liability for misrepresentation. You still cannot affirmatively lie about the property's condition. If you believe an exemption applies to you, confirm it with a Texas real estate attorney rather than assuming.
Disclosure is a selling tool, not just a legal chore
Sellers treat this as risk to be minimized. It works better as trust to be built.
A buyer who receives a thorough, specific disclosure that says "roof replaced 2022 after hail, claim filed, transferable warranty attached" reads that as a well-maintained house with an owner who is straight with them. A buyer who gets a form full of "unknown" starts looking for what is being hidden — and their inspector looks harder.
The same logic applies to what you fix beforehand. Fix the cheap and visible, disclose and price the large.
Practical advice
Fill it out early, before you list, not the night you get an offer. Gather your receipts, warranties and claim records while you do it. Attach them.
If you are unsure whether something is disclosable, disclose it. Nobody has ever been sued for saying too much.
And this is a legal document, not just a form — I am a REALTOR, not an attorney, and for anything genuinely ambiguous the right call is a Texas real estate attorney. If you want help thinking through what belongs on yours, ask me.
