Oregon Seller Disclosure Requirements: What Home Sellers Must Reveal
Yes. ORS 105.465 requires the seller of a one-to-four-unit Oregon home to give each buyer who makes a written offer the ORS 105.464 disclosure statement, unless an ORS 105.470 exclusion applies or the buyer says the home will not be a residence for the buyer or the buyer’s spouse, parent or child. The buyer then has five business days after delivery to revoke, unless the buyer had already delivered a written waiver.
The form lives inside the statute itself, so the Legislature changes it by bill. The most recent change came from Senate Bill 83 (Oregon Laws 2025, chapter 590, section 15), which took effect when the Governor signed it on July 24, 2025 and deleted the question “Has the property been classified as wildland-urban interface?” This page follows the 2025 edition of ORS chapter 105.
Homes and buyers covered by ORS 105.465
The law covers four kinds of property:
- real property “consisting of or improved by one to four dwelling units”;
- a condominium unit not already subject to disclosure under ORS 100.705;
- a timeshare not already subject to disclosure under ORS 94.829;
- a manufactured dwelling “owned by the same person who owns the land” under it.
It does not apply to a leasehold. There is also a buyer-side switch: the law drops away if the buyer tells the seller the property will be used for something other than “a residence for the buyer or the buyer’s spouse, parent or child,” and that statement “shall be conclusive.” An investor buying a rental can therefore take the home without the form.
ORS 105.470 lists four exclusions, and only four:
- the first sale of a dwelling never occupied, provided the seller gives the buyer, on or before the date the buyer is legally obligated to buy, the statement “THIS HOME WAS CONSTRUCTED OR INSTALLED UNDER BUILDING OR INSTALLATION PERMIT(S) #___, ISSUED BY _____”;
- sales by financial institutions that acquired the property as custodian, agent or trustee, or through foreclosure or a deed in lieu;
- receivers, personal representatives, trustees, conservators and guardians, “if appointed by a court”;
- sales or transfers by government agencies.
A seller claiming one of these still fills out Section 1 of the form, initials the exclusion, signs it, and has the buyer acknowledge the claim.
Inside Section 2 of the ORS 105.464 statement
Section 2 is headed “SELLER’S PROPERTY DISCLOSURE STATEMENT (NOT A WARRANTY),” and its answers are given “ON THE BASIS OF SELLER’S ACTUAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROPERTY AT THE TIME OF DISCLOSURE.” The instructions say “Do not leave any spaces blank.” Ten headings follow: title; water (including water rights and whether irrigation water was used “during the last five-year period”); sewage system; dwelling insulation; dwelling structure; dwelling systems and fixtures; common interest (HOA assessments and litigation); seismic; general; and full disclosure by sellers.
Questions that deserve a careful read before you sign:
- Seismic: “Was the house constructed before 1974?” and, if yes, “has the house been bolted to its foundation?”
- Land division: “Is the property being transferred an unlawfully established unit of land?”
- Woodstoves: make, permit, and whether an EPA or DEQ certification label is affixed.
- Drug sites: “Has the property ever been used as an illegal drug manufacturing or distribution site?” and whether “a Certificate of Fitness” was issued.
- Hazards: designated floodplain, “designated slide or other geologic hazard zone,” and testing or treatment for “asbestos, formaldehyde, radon gas, lead-based paint, mold.”
Question 10.A is the catch-all: “any other material defects affecting this property or its value that a prospective buyer should know about.”
The five-business-day revocation right
ORS 105.475 is the core of the Oregon law. If, when the seller issues the statement, the buyer has not already delivered to the seller a written statement waiving the right to revoke, the buyer “shall have five business days after delivery of the seller’s property disclosure statement to revoke the buyer’s offer by delivering to the seller a separate signed written statement of revocation disapproving the seller’s disclosure.” Miss that window and the right “expires.” Close the sale and it “is terminated.”
One wrinkle: the capital-letter notice printed in the ORS 105.464 form says “FIVE DAYS” without the word “business,” while ORS 105.475(1), the section that creates the right, says “five business days.” A buyer who revokes within five calendar days of delivery is inside both readings.
A seller who “fails or refuses” to provide the statement gives the buyer a revocation right that lasts until closing (ORS 105.475(4)). Revocation voids the offer and entitles the buyer to “immediate return of all deposits and other considerations” held by any party or escrow agent. A delivered statement becomes “part of and incorporated into the offer and the acceptance” (subsection 7). If delivery is disputed, the seller has the burden of proving it, and the buyer carries the burden for the revocation notice (ORS 105.485).
After closing: ORS 105.490 keeps other claims alive
The disclosure law has no damages formula of its own. Instead, ORS 105.490 says it does not “limit or alter any preexisting common law or statutory right or remedy including actions for fraud, negligence or equitable relief.” A buyer who finds a hidden defect after closing has lost the revocation right but not those claims.
The statement’s answers are “the representations of the seller only” (ORS 105.480). Neither a lender nor a real estate licensee “is bound by or has any liability with respect to” its errors or omissions.
Agents, and what Oregon says is not material
Under ORS 696.870, a seller’s licensee must tell the seller about these duties, and a buyer’s licensee must tell the buyer about the buyer’s rights under it. Separately, ORS 696.805(5)(c) makes a seller’s agent “disclose material facts known by the seller’s agent and not apparent or readily ascertainable to a party.” Both bind the licensee, not the seller, and the Real Estate Commissioner can discipline a licensee who breaks them (ORS 696.301).
ORS 93.275 names, among others, incidents that “are not material facts” in a real property transaction. For the first four, even “the fact or suspicion” is covered: a death on the property or a neighboring one “by violent crime, by suicide or by any other manner”; a crime or other occurrence that does not affect physical condition or title; an owner’s or occupant’s blood-borne infection; a registered sex offender living in the area. The fifth is a notice that a neighboring property was found unfit for use under ORS 453.876.
Federal rule for homes built before 1978
Lead-based paint disclosure is federal, under 40 CFR 745 subpart F, and runs alongside the state statement. Before the buyer is bound, the seller provides the EPA pamphlet, reveals any known lead paint or hazards and the records on them, and allows a 10-day inspection window, “unless the parties mutually agree, in writing, upon a different period of time”; the buyer can waive it in writing (40 CFR 745.110). Foreclosure sales are exempt (745.101). Housing for the elderly or persons with disabilities, and 0-bedroom dwellings, are not “target housing” unless a child younger than 6 lives there or is expected to.
Oregon disclosure FAQ
Can a buyer back out after reading the form?
Yes, within five business days after it is delivered, by handing the seller a separate signed written revocation, unless the buyer had already delivered a written waiver to the seller. The deposit comes back and the offer is void (ORS 105.475).
The seller never gave us a disclosure statement. Is it too late to walk away?
Not before closing, if the sale is covered by ORS 105.465 and not excluded. When a seller fails or refuses to provide the statement, the buyer may revoke at any time until the transaction closes (ORS 105.475(3)-(4)).
I’m settling my mother’s estate. Do I fill out Section 2?
Not if a court appointed you personal representative; ORS 105.470 excludes court-appointed personal representatives and trustees. Initial that exclusion in Section 1 and have the buyer acknowledge it. The exclusion text says “if appointed by a court,” so a seller acting without a court appointment does not fit it.
I’m buying a duplex as a rental. Will I get the form?
Not necessarily. If you tell the seller you won’t use the property as a residence for yourself, your spouse, a parent or a child, ORS 105.465 stops applying, and your statement is conclusive. The ORS 105.475 revocation right goes with it.