North Dakota Seller Disclosure Requirements: What Home Sellers Must Reveal

North Dakota requires one. Under N.D.C.C. § 47-10-02.1, an owner selling a one-to-four-unit home gives the buyer a written disclosure before final acceptance of the purchase agreement, unless the offer to purchase agreement provides otherwise. The section has no rescission clause; hidden-defect claims run through fraud law (Holcomb v. Zinke).

Section 47-10-02.1 has two tracks, depending on whether a licensee is involved

The statute covers “a residential dwelling with no more than four units located in this state being sold or exchanged by the owner.” Which version of the duty applies turns on who is in the deal.

• A broker, broker associate or salesperson represents or assists either party (subsection 1). The seller “shall prepare a written disclosure form,” and it “must be in the form of the written disclosure form established by the North Dakota real estate commission under subsection 4 or in a substantially similar form.” After the sale, the brokerage firm keeps a copy signed by the seller and the buyer.
• No licensee on either side (subsection 6). The seller still has to disclose “in writing,” but “the written disclosure may be in the form of a written property disclosure form.” The commission form is optional here.

The content standard is the same on both tracks: “all material facts the seller is aware could adversely and significantly affect an ordinary buyer’s use and enjoyment of the property or any intended use of the property of which the seller is aware.” Under subsection 1 the disclosure “must include latent defects, general condition, environmental issues, structural systems, and mechanical issues,” and the seller completes it “in good faith and based upon the best of the seller’s knowledge at the time of the disclosure.” The section was last amended by Senate Bill 2247 (2021 Session Laws chapter 334); before that, subsection 1 reached only “an owner-occupied primary residence.”

Nine kinds of transfer outside § 47-10-02.1

Subsection 7 lists them. The section does not apply to a transfer made:

1. pursuant to a court order;
2. between government agencies;
3. by a mortgagor in default to a mortgagee;
4. pursuant to a foreclosure sale;
5. by a mortgagee or deed-of-trust beneficiary who got the property by foreclosure, deed in lieu of foreclosure or collateral assignment of beneficial interest;
6. by a fiduciary administering a decedent’s estate, guardianship, conservatorship or trust;
7. between co-owners of the property;
8. to a spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandchild or grandparent; or
9. of “newly constructed residential real property with no previous occupancy.”

A builder’s spec home that someone has already lived in is not covered by item 9. A sale to a niece or nephew is not on the family list.

What happens if the disclosure comes late or never

The deadline is “before the parties sign the final acceptance of the purchase agreement,” and it opens with “Except as otherwise provided in an offer to purchase agreement.” A purchase agreement can therefore move the timing. Read your own contract before relying on the statutory default.

Section 47-10-02.1 gives the buyer no cancellation window and no damages formula. Its one enforcement clause, subsection 5, points at licensees: if a broker or salesperson “violates this section, the state real estate commission may investigate and take disciplinary action under section 43-23-11.1.” Subsection 3 adds that the brokerage firm’s duties under the section “do not supersede any other common law or statutory duties.”

SFN 62358, the commission’s form

The North Dakota Real Estate Commission publishes the form on its forms page as “Seller’s Property Condition Disclosure Form – with radon disclosure.” The current edition carries the footer “SFN 62358 (07/2025).” It is eight pages with yes / no / unknown answers in six parts: A. Structure, B. Water and Sewer, C. Electrical and Mechanical, D. Environmental Conditions, E. Land Use, F. Systems and Appliances. Part A asks, among other things, whether the property has been damaged by “frozen pipes,” whether there has been “damage from condensation or ice buildup,” and whether you have “been paid for damage claims by insurance coverage.”

The buyer’s signature block says the document “IS NOT INTENDED TO BE A WARRANTY OF ANY KIND OR A SUBSTITUTE FOR ANY INSPECTION OF THE PROPERTY.” Book an independent home inspection anyway.

Radon: a separate statement since August 1, 2025

Senate Bill 2204 added § 47-10-02.2, in force from August 1, 2025. Before executing an agreement to sell or transfer residential real property, “except as otherwise provided in an offer to execute a purchase agreement,” the seller must disclose in writing “any knowledge the seller has of radon concentrations in the property.” The seller or the seller’s agent hands over a capital-letter warning whose text is fixed in the statute, and the buyer signs a copy. If the seller knows the property has been tested for radon, the seller also provides, before the agreement is signed, a copy of the test results “reasonably available to or in the seller’s possession” and evidence of mitigation. Those results and that evidence do not “constitute a promise, warranty, or representation” that the results are accurate or the mitigation is effective.

Two limits cut the other way. Subsection 4: the section “does not create a contingency on the purchase of the property or any right to rescind a contract for purchase unless the contingency or right to rescind is an express term of the contract.” Subsection 5: a seller or agent who complies “is not liable for any claim or action based on the presence of radon gas or radon progeny.”

Homes in an HOA or condominium: § 47-10-02.3

Also new on August 1, 2025 (Senate Bill 2229). “By a mutually agreed upon date or within ten days of executing an agreement,” the seller gives the buyer the association’s paperwork. The list runs from subdivision a to o: current assessments, fees and anything unpaid; approved special assessments; the bylaws, rules and declaration, with minutes of the last two meetings; reserve and capital funds; whether the association uses a reserve study; operating and reserve budgets and the year-to-date financial statement; insurance documents; unsatisfied judgments and pending lawsuits; uncured violations on the home or unit; transfer fees; the association’s remedies for nonpayment; its assessment collection policy; leasing restrictions; amenities; and contact information. The documents “must include information from at least the ninety days immediately preceding the effective date of the agreement.” The association has ten days from the seller’s request to furnish them and may charge a reasonable fee, which must be disclosed before final acceptance of a purchase agreement.

The seller is not liable if the association is late with the documents. Either way, the contract “is voidable by the buyer until the documents have been provided and for five days after receipt of the documents or until conveyance, whichever occurs first.” The buyer is not liable for an unpaid assessment or fee “greater than the amount provided in the documents.” If, after delivering the association or condominium information and before closing or possession, “whichever comes first,” the seller becomes aware of “any change of material fact that would affect the information,” the seller must furnish “a written amendment disclosing the change of material fact.”

Hidden defects after closing: fraud, not the disclosure statute

The North Dakota Supreme Court case on point is Holcomb v. Zinke, 365 N.W.2d 507 (N.D. 1985). The buyers of a house in rural Jamestown found its sewage, water and heating systems defective after they moved in. The Supreme Court held that “in cases of passive concealment by the seller of defective real property, there is an exception to the rule of caveat emptor.” That exception imposes “a duty on the seller to disclose material facts which are known or should be known to the seller and which would not be discoverable by the buyer’s exercise of ordinary care and diligence.” It affirmed rescission of the sale on a constructive-fraud theory. The court also warned that “Mere failure to disclose any or every fact about real property will not justify rescission. Not all facts are material.”

The statute of limitations for fraud is in § 28-01-16. Six years, and the claim is “not to be deemed to have accrued until the discovery by the aggrieved party of the facts constituting the fraud.”

Agents carry their own duty under § 43-23-12.1. Toward an unrepresented party, they must “disclose to the customer any adverse material facts actually known by the licensee” about title, physical condition and defects. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, they are not obligated “to discover defects in any real property.” That duty belongs to the licensee, not the seller.

Houses built before 1978: the federal lead rule

Lead-based paint disclosure comes from federal law (40 CFR part 745, subpart F), not from North Dakota. Before the buyer is obligated under the contract, the seller gives the EPA pamphlet and discloses known lead-based paint and hazards along with available records. The seller must also allow “a 10-day period (unless the parties mutually agree, in writing, upon a different period of time)” for a lead inspection, which the buyer may waive in writing. Foreclosure sales are exempt. So are housing for the elderly or persons with disabilities and 0-bedroom dwellings, unless a child under 6 lives or is expected to live there.

More on buying and selling in North Dakota

• Home selling guide and selling a house as-is
• Home buying guide and the buyer’s checklist
• Inspection red flags and selling a house with mold
• North Dakota real estate overview, closing costs, homeowner’s insurance
• Neighbors: Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana

Questions North Dakota sellers and buyers ask

I’m the personal representative selling my father’s house. Do I owe the buyer the SFN 62358 form?

No. Subsection 7(f) excludes transfers “by a fiduciary administering a decedent’s estate.” That exclusion is written into § 47-10-02.1 only; the radon section, § 47-10-02.2, contains no exemption list of its own.

We’re selling on our own, no agents. Is a written disclosure still required?

Yes, unless the sale falls under one of the nine subsection 7 exemptions. Under subsection 6, facts meeting the statutory standard go to the buyer “in writing” before the parties sign the final acceptance of the purchase agreement, “except as otherwise provided in an offer to purchase agreement.” The commission’s form is allowed but not required when no licensee is involved.

The buyer read our disclosure and wants out. Can they walk away?

Not because of anything in § 47-10-02.1: that section adds no cancellation right, so an exit over what the disclosure says has to come from the purchase agreement. The radon section says it creates no right to rescind “unless the contingency or right to rescind is an express term of the contract.” One statutory exit does exist for homes in an HOA or condominium: under § 47-10-02.3(6) the contract “is voidable by the buyer until the documents have been provided and for five days after receipt of the documents or until conveyance, whichever occurs first.”

We found water in the basement a year after closing. How long do we have?

For a fraud claim, six years from discovery of the facts constituting the fraud (§ 28-01-16(6)). Under Holcomb you would need to show the seller knew or should have known of a material defect you could not have found with ordinary care.