Idaho Seller Disclosure Requirements: What Home Sellers Must Reveal

· ✓ Last verified Oct 4, 2026 · March 6, 2026 · by AskDoss Editorial Team ·Home Selling · 7 min read

Yes. Idaho’s Property Condition Disclosure Act (Idaho Code §§ 55-2501 to 55-2518) requires the seller of a one-to-four-unit property to deliver a signed disclosure form within ten days of accepting the buyer’s offer. A buyer may then rescind within three business days of receiving it, but only over a specific disclosure.

The Act dates from 1994; its sections were last amended in 1997 and 2002, and the Legislature’s compilation published in July 2026 shows no later change. The form itself is printed in the statute. If you plan to sell a home in Idaho, that form is the starting point.

The form written into § 55-2508

Section 55-2504 says anyone who intends to transfer residential real property, “including nonowner occupied rental property,” must “complete all applicable items” on the form prescribed by § 55-2508. The statute reaches sales, exchanges, installment sale contracts, leases with an option to purchase, other options and ground leases coupled with improvements, of real property with “not less than one (1) nor more than four (4) dwelling units.” The definition in § 55-2503 adds “an individually owned unit in a structure of any size” and property with “a combined residential and commercial use.”

The statutory SELLER PROPERTY DISCLOSURE FORM asks nine questions:

  1. Is the property in an area of city impact, or adjacent or contiguous to city limits, and so subject to annexation?
  2. If outside city limits, does it receive city services?
  3. Is a written consent to annex recorded with the county recorder?
  4. Which included appliances and service systems are not functioning properly?
  5. Problems with basement water, foundation, roof condition and age, well, septic system, plumbing, drainage, electrical and heating.
  6. Conditions affecting title, “such as encroachments, easements, zoning violations, lot line disputes.”
  7. Known hazardous materials or pest infestations.
  8. Substantial additions or alterations made without a building permit.
  9. “Any other problems, including legal, physical or other not listed above that you know concerning the property.”

A different form is allowed if it carries the same information and the five purpose statements of § 55-2507 (§ 55-2506). Those statements matter to both sides: the form covers information “actually known by the transferor,” it “is not a warranty of any kind” by the seller or any agent, and it “is not a substitute for any inspections.” Water rights, mine shafts and wildfire exposure are not questions on the statutory form; item 9 still reaches any problem you know about.

Sixteen transfers the Act leaves out (§ 55-2505)

  • (1) Transfers under court order, including a probate court sale during estate administration, a writ of execution, a bankruptcy trustee’s transfer, eminent domain and a specific-performance decree.
  • (2) Deed in lieu of foreclosure or in satisfaction of the mortgage debt; (3) a transfer to a deed-of-trust beneficiary by a trustor in default.
  • (4) A foreclosure sale; (5) a power-of-sale sale “occurring within one (1) year of foreclosure on the default”; (6) a resale by the mortgagee or beneficiary that bought at such a sale or took a deed in lieu.
  • (7) A fiduciary’s transfer while administering a decedent’s estate, a guardianship, a conservatorship or a trust; (16) any transfer from a decedent’s estate.
  • (8) Co-owner to co-owner; (9) to the transferor’s spouse or a lineal blood relative; (10) between spouses or former spouses under a divorce, annulment or separation decree or settlement.
  • (11) To or from the state, a political subdivision or another governmental entity.
  • (12) Newly built, never-inhabited property, “except that disclosure of annexation and city service status shall be declared” (questions 1 to 3).
  • (13) To a buyer who has lived in the home as a personal residence for one year or more right before the transfer.
  • (14) From a seller who both has not lived there within the prior year and acquired it “through inheritance or devise.”
  • (15) From a relocation company within one year from the date the previous owner occupied the property.

Ten days to deliver, three business days to object

The seller must deliver “a signed and dated copy of the completed disclosure form to each prospective transferee or his agent within ten (10) days of transferor’s acceptance of transferee’s offer” (§ 55-2509). The statute does not say calendar or business days for this deadline. Delivery may be personal, by ordinary or certified mail, or by fax (§ 55-2510), and the buyer acknowledges receipt by signing, dating and returning a copy.

A buyer who receives the form, or an amendment, after signing the purchase agreement may rescind by a written, signed and dated notice (§ 55-2515). Three conditions attach:

  • the rescission “must be based on a specific objection to a disclosure,” and the notice must name that disclosure;
  • it must reach the seller or the seller’s agent “within three (3) business days following the date on which the transferee or his agent receives” the form;
  • if no signed notice arrives within that period, “transferee’s right to rescind is waived.”

A timely rescission carries no liability, including for specific performance, and the seller “shall return, any deposits.” When facts change before closing, the seller “shall amend the disclosure statement prior to closing,” and the buyer’s rescission right on an amendment “is strictly limited to the amendments” (§ 55-2513).

When an Idaho seller owes damages

A missing or faulty form does not undo the sale: no transfer “shall be invalidated solely because of the failure of any person to comply.” But “any person who willfully or negligently violates or fails to perform any duties” under the Act “shall be liable in the amount of actual damages suffered by the transferee” (§ 55-2517). The Act names no attorney-fee or multiple-damages award.

Section 55-2511 limits that exposure. Neither the seller nor the seller’s agents are liable for an error, inaccuracy or omission “if the error, inaccuracy or omission was not within the personal knowledge of the transferor or was based upon information timely provided by public agencies or other persons specified in subsection (3) of this section,” meaning a hired inspector or other professional, “and ordinary care was exercised in obtaining and transmitting it.” If an item is unknown when the form is due and the seller’s agent “has made a reasonable effort to ascertain it,” the seller may give an approximation that is clearly identified as such, reasonable and based on the best information available (§ 55-2512).

The Act does not replace other law: it “does not limit” disclosure duties “created by any other section of the Idaho Code or the common law” (§ 55-2514). A fraud claim in Idaho must be filed within three years, and the claim is “not to be deemed to have accrued until the discovery” of the facts constituting the fraud (Idaho Code § 5-218(4)).

Deaths, crimes and nearby sex offenders

Idaho Code chapter 28 of title 55 labels these “psychologically impacted” facts: an occupant’s disease that is “highly unlikely to be transmitted” through occupancy; a suspected suicide, homicide or felony with no physical effect on the property; and “a registered or suspected sex offender occupied or resides near the property” (§ 55-2801). No cause of action arises against the owner or the owner’s representative for not disclosing them (§ 55-2802). If a buyer making a bona fide offer tells the owner’s representative in writing that these facts matter, the representative must ask the owner and, with the owner’s consent, report back, or say the owner declined (§ 55-2803).

Licensees have their own duty

The Act does not “limit or reduce the duties that a real estate licensee owes” (§ 55-2518). Under the Idaho Real Estate Brokerage Representation Act, a brokerage must disclose to its client, and to an unrepresented buyer or seller it deals with, “all adverse material facts actually known or which reasonably should have been known by the licensee” (§§ 54-2087(4)(a), 54-2086(1)(d)–(e)). That duty sits on the licensee, not on the seller.

Lead paint in older Idaho houses

For target housing built before 1978, federal rules add a separate layer. The seller provides the EPA lead hazard pamphlet, discloses known lead-based paint and hands over available reports (40 CFR 745.107). The buyer gets a 10-day window for a lead inspection or risk assessment “unless the parties mutually agree, in writing, upon a different period of time,” or may waive it in writing (40 CFR 745.110). Sales at foreclosure are excluded (40 CFR 745.101).

Idaho seller and buyer questions

I rent the house out and have never lived in it. Do I still fill out the form?

Yes. Section 55-2504 names “nonowner occupied rental property.” Answer from what you know as owner: the form covers information “actually known by the transferor” (§ 55-2507).

I inherited my father’s house. Am I exempt?

Only if both conditions of § 55-2505(14) hold: you acquired it through inheritance or devise, and you have not lived there as a personal residence within one year before the transfer. A sale made by the estate itself is exempt under items 7 and 16.

The buyer wants out a week after getting the form. Can they?

Not under the Act. The three-business-day window runs from receipt, and after that the right “is waived.” Contract contingencies, such as an inspection clause, are a separate question.

Can I sell “as is” and skip the form?

No. An as-is sale is not among the sixteen exemptions. The form is still due; an as-is term in the contract does not remove the duty under § 55-2504. Our as-is guide covers the rest.

Sources and related pages

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