What Do Sellers Have to Disclose in Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania sellers have to disclose every material defect they know about, on a signed and dated property disclosure statement the buyer gets before anyone signs the agreement of sale. A material defect is a problem that would significantly hurt the home’s value or create an unreasonable risk to people on the property. Sellers don’t have to go looking for problems, but they can’t hide or misstate the ones they know.

Most sellers want to do this right. They just aren’t sure where the line is. Is a 20-year-old furnace a defect? What about the time the basement flooded in 2019 and got fixed? Here’s how the law actually reads.

What Counts as a Material Defect in Pennsylvania?

The Real Estate Seller Disclosure Law defines it as a problem with the property that would have a significant adverse impact on its value or that involves an unreasonable risk to people on the property.

Then it adds a line that saves sellers a lot of worry. A system or structural part being near, at or past the end of its normal useful life isn’t, by itself, a material defect. An old roof is just old. A roof that drips into the back bedroom every time it storms? Disclose it.

What the form asks about

The state’s disclosure form has to cover a long list, including:

• Roof, basement and crawl spaces
• Termites, dry rot and pests
• Structural problems, additions and remodeling
• Water and sewage systems, plumbing, heating, air conditioning and electrical
• Soils, drainage, boundaries and sinkholes
• Hazardous substances
• Condo and HOA details
• Legal issues affecting title
• Storm water facilities, and who maintains them

It also asks whether you have any background in contracting or engineering and when you last lived there. In older Philly rowhomes, the plumbing and water/sewer questions can be the hardest to answer, so if you’re not sure about something, say so honestly rather than guessing. The law lets you answer based on the best information you have.

When Does the Buyer Get the Disclosure?

Before the agreement of sale is signed. Not at inspection, not at settlement. You can amend it in writing up until that signing. After that, if something you disclosed becomes inaccurate before settlement, say a pipe bursts in February, you’re required to tell the buyer.

Delivery can go to the buyer or to the buyer’s agent, and one copy to one buyer counts for everyone taking title with them.

Does Selling As-Is Get You Out of Disclosure?

No, and it’s a common misconception. “As-is” means you’re not offering to fix things. It doesn’t erase what you know. The law applies to residential transfers with only two carve-outs:

1. Transfers by a fiduciary handling a decedent’s estate, guardianship, conservatorship or trust.
2. Unoccupied new construction where the buyer gets at least a one-year written warranty, the home passed a building code inspection, and a certificate of occupancy was issued.

That first one matters if you’re an executor. Our post on selling an inherited house in Philadelphia gets into estate sales. Even exempt sellers aren’t off the hook for fraud, though. The statute says plainly that it doesn’t limit any other disclosure duty meant to prevent fraud or misrepresentation.

Selling a condo?

You only disclose on your own unit. Common elements are handled through the condo resale rules, which usually means the association’s resale certificate. Our Philadelphia condo guide covers that side.

Do You Have to Disclose a Death in the House?

Under Pennsylvania’s disclosure law, no. In Milliken v. Jacono, the state Supreme Court ruled that a murder-suicide in a home was a psychological stigma, not a material defect. Some sellers mention it anyway because they’d rather the buyer hear it from them. That’s a judgment call. Talk it through with your agent.

What About Lead Paint?

That’s a separate federal rule, and it applies to most homes built before 1978, which takes in a lot of Philadelphia’s older housing. Sellers have to share any known information about lead-based paint and give buyers the EPA’s lead pamphlet before the contract is signed. The EPA’s real estate disclosure page spells out the details.

What Happens If a Seller Doesn’t Disclose?

The sale doesn’t get undone just because someone skipped the form. But a seller who willfully or negligently fails to disclose can owe the buyer actual damages, and the buyer has two years after final settlement to sue.

Agents are only liable if they actually knew about a defect that wasn’t disclosed. And buyers can’t sue over defects that were disclosed before signing, or ones that showed up after the agreement or after settlement.

Where sellers get some cover

If an error on your form came from a home inspector, contractor or public agency, and you didn’t know it was wrong, the law protects you. That’s one reason a pre-listing inspection can pay for itself. It turns guesses into documented answers. Our posts on common inspection failures and what buyers see in an inspection report show what tends to come up.

A few more reads for sellers: what sellers forget, what has to stay with the house and seller closing costs in Philadelphia. You can read the full Real Estate Seller Disclosure Law on the General Assembly’s site. This is general information, not legal advice.

Pennsylvania Seller Disclosure FAQ