Alaska Seller Disclosure Requirements: What Home Sellers Must Reveal

Yes. Alaska Statute 34.70.010 makes the seller of a house, duplex, or condo deliver the Real Estate Commission’s disclosure statement before the buyer makes a written offer. If it arrives after the offer, the buyer may cancel in writing within three days of hand delivery or six days of mailing.

AS 34.70 at a glance

The chapter is twelve short sections, read here from the Alaska Legislature’s print of AS 34.70 in September 2026. The Alaska Supreme Court dates it to July 1, 1993.

• Property (34.70.200(2)–(3)). Real property whose primary purpose is a single-family dwelling or “two single-family dwellings in one building,” including a manufactured home that has become real property. Condo and common-interest units count.
• Transfers (34.70.200(4)). Sale, exchange, installment land sale contract, lease with an option to purchase, other option, or ground lease coupled with improvements.
• Delivery (34.70.010). “By mail or in person,” before the buyer’s written offer. Delivery to the buyer’s spouse counts unless the parties agreed otherwise first.
• Form (34.70.050) and standard (34.70.060). The Real Estate Commission’s form 08-4229, Rev. 05/2024, filled out in good faith.

Only two sales escape the chapter

AS 34.70 has no carve-out for estates, trustees, foreclosures, or relatives. It has exactly two exits:

• Written waiver (34.70.110). The chapter does not apply “if the transferor and transferee agree in writing that the transfer will not be covered under this chapter.” The Commission’s form adds that signing a waiver “does not affect other obligations for disclosure,” which tracks 34.70.070.
• First sale of a never-occupied home (34.70.120). Both conditions have to be met: it is “the first transfer of the property” and the property “has never been occupied.” A house anyone has already lived in does not qualify, even if it is nearly new.

What form 08-4229 asks an Alaska seller

The Residential Real Property Transfer Disclosure Statement runs 13 pages. Part I flags defects and any repairs “within the last five years.” Part II lists documents on hand, such as a well log or resale certificate. Part III is the long one: septic, well flow rate, ice damming, frozen lines and heat tapes, water in the crawl space, encroachments, flood zone.

Several questions are specific to this form. It asks whether the seller knows of “permafrost or other soil problems” that caused settling or heaving, whether the property sits in an avalanche or mudslide area, and whether a waste disposal site or gravel pit lies “within a one-mile radius.” The environmental question names radon gas, fuel tanks, and “by-products from the production of methamphetamines.” An “Other” block asks about a murder or suicide on the property “within the preceding 3 years” and about human burial sites.

No public-records search or professional inspection is required to fill it out, the form says. For genuine unknowns there is a UNK column, and 34.70.040(b) allows a labeled “approximation” after “a reasonable effort to ascertain the information.”

Three days, six days, and amendments

Under AS 34.70.020, if the statement “or material amendment” reaches the buyer after a written offer, the buyer “may terminate the offer by delivering a written notice of termination to the transferor or the transferor’s agent within three days after the disclosure statement or amendment is delivered in person or within six days after the disclosure statement or amendment is delivered by deposit in the mail.” The text says “days,” not business days. Deliver in person and get a dated receipt so nobody argues about which clock runs.

After delivery, a seller has to send an amendment if the information “becomes inaccurate as a result of an act or agreement” (34.70.040(a)). The amendment must be in writing (34.70.080). Page 13 of the form is the amendment sheet. Page 1 adds that inspection reports “generated by a purchase agreement” become an addendum to the disclosure once delivered to the buyer.

Liability under AS 34.70.090 and Amyot v. Luchini

Once a defect is written into the statement, the seller “is not liable for a defect or other condition” disclosed there (34.70.030). A missing or wrong statement does not undo the sale (34.70.090(a)); it costs money instead:

• negligent violation: “the amount of the actual damages suffered” (34.70.090(b));
• wilful violation: “up to three times the actual damages” (34.70.090(c));
• on top of either, a court “may also award the transferee costs and attorney fees to the extent allowed under the rules of court” (34.70.090(d)).

In Amyot v. Luchini, 932 P.2d 244 (Alaska 1997), a Fairbanks buyer tried to hold sellers strictly liable for an innocent error. The court held that the chapter “precludes claims of innocent misrepresentation” about conditions on the mandatory form and that such misstatements “must at least be negligently made” to be actionable.

Notices the buyer receives, and the agent’s separate duty

Section 34.70.050 makes the form tell buyers that checking for convicted sex offenders nearby, and for agricultural operations that may produce “odor, fumes, dust, blowing snow” and the like, is their job. For offenders, the form points to trooper posts, municipal police departments, and the Department of Public Safety website.

Licensees answer to a different statute. AS 08.88.615(a)(4) requires a licensee to disclose “all material information known by the licensee regarding the physical condition of real estate” when it “substantially adversely affects the real estate” or would defeat the purpose of the deal. Under 08.88.615(c), a licensee must also tell a buyer before an offer about a murder or suicide on the property if it occurred “within one year before the date that the licensee first showed the real estate to the buyer” and the licensee knows about it. The one-year rule binds the agent; the seller’s form asks the wider three-year question.

Condos and HOA communities: AS 34.08.590

Unless the sale needs a public offering statement or is exempt under AS 34.08.510(b), a unit owner who is reselling must also give the buyer the declaration, bylaws, rules, and an association certificate covering items such as dues, special assessments, reserves, and pending lawsuits. The association has 10 days after a written request, and payment of a reasonable fee, to produce the certificate. If the certificate is late, the buyer’s contract “is voidable by the purchaser until the certificate has been provided and for five days after the certificate was provided or until conveyance, whichever occurs first.”

Houses built before 1978

Lead paint is a federal rule, not part of AS 34.70. Under 40 CFR part 745, subpart F, the seller provides the EPA pamphlet and discloses known lead-based paint before the buyer is obligated. The seller must also allow “a 10-day period (unless the parties mutually agree, in writing, upon a different period of time)” for an inspection, and the buyer may waive that in writing (§ 745.110). Foreclosure sales are exempt (§ 745.101). Housing for the elderly or persons with disabilities and 0-bedroom units fall outside “target housing” unless a child under 6 lives or is expected to live there.

Alaska seller disclosure FAQ

I’m selling my late father’s house as his personal representative. Do I still fill out 08-4229?

Yes, unless the buyer signs a written waiver under 34.70.110. An estate sale is still a “transfer” by sale, and the chapter has no personal-representative exemption. Answer from what you actually know and use UNK for the rest.

The buyer’s inspector found a problem after I delivered the form. What now?

Under the form’s own terms, that report becomes an addendum once delivered to the buyer. In Diblik v. Marcy, 166 P.3d 23 (Alaska 2007), the court treated the buyer’s receipt of a written repair report before closing as “sufficient disclosure for the purposes of the statute.” Where a new fact comes from your own act or agreement, use the page 13 amendment. A material amendment delivered after the offer gives the buyer a fresh three- or six-day window.

I checked “No” on water in the crawl space and the buyer found it flooded in spring. What is my exposure?

The answer turns on fault. If you had no reason to know, Amyot bars a claim for innocent misstatement. If you were negligent, the buyer can recover actual damages. If the violation was wilful, up to three times actual damages, plus costs and fees the court rules allow.

More reading: selling a home step by step, booking a home inspection, inspection red flags, the buyer’s checklist, Alaska closing costs, Alaska real estate overview. Other West Coast rules: Washington, Oregon, Hawaii.