Connecticut Seller Disclosure Requirements: What Home Sellers Must Reveal

Yes. Under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 20-327b, a seller of a one-to-four-unit home must give the buyer the state’s written Residential Property Condition Report before the buyer signs any binder, contract to purchase or option. If the report is not furnished, § 20-327c requires the purchase agreement to make the seller credit the buyer $500 at closing.

Who has to fill out Connecticut’s condition report

The Uniform Property Condition Disclosure Act reaches “transfers by sale, exchange or lease with option to buy, of residential real property consisting of not less than one nor more than four dwelling units which shall include cooperatives and condominiums” (§ 20-327b(c)). It applies “with or without the assistance of a licensed real estate broker,” so a for-sale-by-owner seller is covered too.

Timing is set in subsection (a). The report goes to the prospective purchaser “at any time prior to the prospective purchaser’s execution of any binder, contract to purchase, option or lease containing a purchase option.” A copy with the buyer’s written receipt is attached to the written offer, binder or contract, and a copy signed by both sides is attached to the purchase agreement.

The DCP form, revised July 2025, and what changes on October 1, 2026

The Commissioner of Consumer Protection prescribes the report (§ 20-327b(d)), but the statute dictates its questions in order. Among the instructions the statute writes into it: “YOUR REAL ESTATE LICENSEE CANNOT COMPLETE THIS FORM ON YOUR BEHALF.” Its sections are General Information, Leased Equipment, Mechanical/Utility Systems, Water System, Sewage Disposal System, Asbestos/Lead and Building/Structure/Improvements. Several questions are specific to Connecticut:

• any testing, inspection or repair of the foundation, and any knowledge “related to the presence of pyrrhotite in a foundation”;
• whether a radon test was done (“If YES, attach a copy of the report”) and whether a radon control system is or was in place;
• whether a private well was tested for “contaminants/volatile organic compounds”;
• underground storage tanks, including the date of removal and who removed one;
• a dam on the property that is or must be registered with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection;
• village districts, historic districts and the National Register, special tax districts and expected municipal assessments.

Public Act 25-33 added a “Flood Risk Awareness” section, effective July 1, 2025. It asks whether the property is in a FEMA-designated floodplain, whether the seller or, to the seller’s knowledge, a prior owner received federal or state disaster aid for flood damage, whether flood insurance is in force, whether an elevation certificate exists, whether the seller ever filed a flood claim, and whether a structure has had “water penetration or damage due to seepage or a natural flood event.” The Department of Consumer Protection’s current PDF is marked “Revised 07/2025.”

One more item arrives this fall. Public Act 26-31, section 2 (approved May 27, 2026, effective October 1, 2026), adds a special statement for condominiums and other common interest communities. If the community has more than twelve units, the buyer is advised to obtain a “Resale Certificate” and to request a report of the association’s reserve funds. In smaller communities that do not provide a certificate, the buyer is told to consult trade professionals, attorneys, real estate professionals, financial analysts and residents. Under § 20-327b(f), a revised report takes effect for new listings “thirty days following posting of the notice” on the department’s website.

The nine exempt transfers in § 20-327b(b)

1. a transfer from one or more co-owners solely to one or more of the co-owners;
2. a transfer to the seller’s spouse, mother, father, brother, sister, child, grandparent or grandchild “where no consideration is paid”;
3. newly built residential property “for which an implied warranty is provided under chapter 827”;
4. transfers by executors, administrators, trustees or conservators;
5. transfers by the federal government, its political subdivisions, or any corporation, institution or quasi-governmental agency it charters;
6. transfers by the State of Connecticut;
7. transfers by a Connecticut political subdivision, subject to the foundation rule below;
8. property under a contract or option entered into before January 1, 1996;
9. property acquired by strict foreclosure, foreclosure by sale or deed in lieu of foreclosure, subject to the same rule.

Court-ordered transfers are not on this list. They used to be; Public Act 19-192 deleted that exemption.

Items 7 and 9 have a carve-back. If the home is in a municipality that the Capitol Region Council of Governments has found “affected, or potentially affected, by crumbling foundations,” an owner that took title by foreclosure or deed in lieu, or a town or other political subdivision that acquired the home, must still give a separate “Residential Foundation Condition Report” (§ 20-327b(g)–(h)). That report asks three questions: pyrrhotite, foundation damage or deterioration, and repairs or remediation.

The $500 credit, and why it does not end the seller’s exposure

Section 20-327c(a) requires every purchase agreement covered by the Act to “include a requirement that the seller credit the purchaser with the sum of five hundred dollars at closing should the seller fail to furnish” the report. Public Act 12-122 raised the figure from $300 to $500, effective July 1, 2012.

The credit is not a buy-out. Under § 20-327c(b), a seller who pays it is not excused from disclosing a defect that (1) is subject to disclosure under § 20-327b, (2) “is within the seller’s actual knowledge,” and (3) “significantly impairs” the home’s value, the health or safety of future occupants, or its useful life. A buyer may, “without limiting any other remedies,” sue in the judicial district where the property lies “to recover actual damages” for that nondisclosure (§ 20-327c(c)).

The Act also sets the limits of what a seller promises. Section 20-327d says it creates no “new implied or express warranties” and does not require the seller to “secure inspections, tests or other methods of determining the physical conditions of the property.” Section 20-327e confines the answers to “the seller’s actual knowledge,” with “no constructive knowledge” imputed. The Appellate Court read the Act the same way in Giametti v. Inspections, Inc., 76 Conn. App. 352 (2003): the report “does not, however, require a vendor to assume the role of warrantor of conditions of which the vendor was in fact unaware,” and the statute “does not preclude existing common-law actions for misrepresentations made by a vendor.”

Brokers answer under a separate rule. The form states that it “in no way relieves a real estate broker of the broker’s obligation under the provisions of section 20-328-5a of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies to disclose any material facts.” That is a licensing duty on the agent. The seller’s own duty comes from the Act.

Other Connecticut notices tied to a home sale

• Hazardous waste facilities (§ 20-327f). A seller who gives written notice, before or when the contract is signed, that the § 22a-134f lists of hazardous waste facilities are available is “deemed to have fully satisfied any duty to disclose the presence” of those facilities.
• Hunting and shooting (§ 20-327g). The same safe harbor applies to a written notice that the town clerk may have a list of local properties where hunting or shooting sports regularly take place.
• Fair housing form (§ 20-327h). The Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities’ one-page disclosure, signed by the buyer, is attached to the purchase agreement at closing. Leaving it off “shall not void an otherwise valid purchase agreement.”
• Deaths, felonies and reportable diseases (§§ 20-329cc to 20-329ff). These are “nonmaterial” facts that need not be disclosed, and no cause of action arises from silence. But if a buyer making a bona fide offer says in writing that a suspected homicide, other felony or suicide on the property matters to the decision, “the owner through his or her agent shall report any findings” in writing, or the agent must say in writing that the owner refuses.

Pre-1978 houses also carry the federal lead-paint rule, which Connecticut law does not replace. Under 40 CFR 745.107 and 745.110, before the buyer is bound the seller gives the EPA pamphlet, discloses known lead-based paint and available reports, and allows “a 10-day period (unless the parties mutually agree, in writing, upon a different period of time)” for an inspection; the buyer may waive it in writing. Foreclosure sales are outside the rule (§ 745.101).

More reading: selling a home, step by step, Connecticut closing costs, the Connecticut homeowner insurance guide, Connecticut real estate, the buyer’s checklist, home inspection, 20 inspection deal-breakers, selling a house with mold. Nearby states: New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island.

Connecticut disclosure questions

Can I just give the buyer the $500 and skip the report?

No. Section 20-327b says the seller “shall provide” the report; the credit is what the contract owes when that duty is missed. Paying it does not cover a known defect that significantly impairs value, safety or useful life, and the buyer can still sue for actual damages (§ 20-327c(b)–(c)).

I’m the executor selling my mother’s house. Do I fill it out?

No. Transfers “made by executors, administrators, trustees or conservators” are exempt under § 20-327b(b)(4). A buyer of an estate property may therefore get no report, so an inspection matters more.

Our contract says “as is.” Does that block a claim over a wrong answer on the report?

Not necessarily. In Hull v. Fonck, 122 Conn. App. 286 (2010), the contract had the buyer accept the house “in the present condition on an ‘as is’ basis.” The Appellate Court still affirmed a verdict for negligent misrepresentation in the § 20-327b report, because the defect “was known to the seller and not readily discoverable by the purchaser.” For the seller’s side of an as-is listing, see our as-is guide.

We’re selling a condo in a 40-unit complex. Anything new?

Yes. Public Act 26-31, effective October 1, 2026, adds a statement to the report advising the buyer in a community of more than twelve units to get the association’s Resale Certificate and request a report of its reserve funds. It reaches your listing once the Department of Consumer Protection posts the revised form: under § 20-327b(f) a revised report takes effect for new listings thirty days after that notice, and the form on the department’s site in September 2026 was still marked “Revised 07/2025.” The form also asks whether the community charges dues or fees.