What Must a Home Seller Disclose in California?

The TDS is the centerpiece of the disclosure package. It is a statutory checklist where the seller writes down what they know about the condition of the home's major systems and features: the roof, plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling, appliances, and anything that has leaked, broken, or been repaired. It is based on the seller's actual knowledge, not a buyer's or inspector's report. We sit with every seller and go question by question so the form is completed from known facts, not remembered guesses.

California law directs buyers to certain hazard zones, and a notice becomes part of the package when the property maps into them: special flood areas, high and very high fire hazard severity zones, earthquake fault zones, seismic hazard zones, and wildland fire areas, and some properties also carry state flood and mudflow designations. What applies depends on the address, and properties just a street apart can map differently. Qualified third-party providers commonly run these checks and return a property-specific report, and a specialty inspection report often comes with the designation when it applies to the property. We read the report with you and explain what it actually says before anything is signed.

Some neighborhoods sit in Community Facilities Districts, more commonly known as Mello-Roos, where a special tax is added on top of the base property tax. Whether a home sits inside one of these districts shows up in the title report and the tax report, and the amount varies by district and by year, so we never quote a number from memory. We help you read the reports, understand what the district covers, and talk with buyers about the responsibility that comes with the property.

The seller gives the buyer a written notice about the California Megan's Law database and the phone number a caller can use for questions, so the buyer can research public records for themselves. It is a notification about a database, not advice about specific neighbors, and neither the seller nor the agent researches or vouches for who lives nearby. We make sure the notice is in the package, hand it over on time, and explain what it does and does not do. The buyer decides for themselves whether to use it.

For homes built before 1978, federal rules apply on top of California's forms. Under EPA rules the seller hands the buyer the 'Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home' pamphlet, discloses any known lead-based paint hazards, and gives the buyer a chance to investigate at the buyer's own expense, with both sides acknowledging the disclosure in writing. This is a federal packet that travels with the sale and has its own timing, so we confirm build dates early and never leave the paperwork for the last minute.

Not every home in Southwest Riverside County is on a sewer line. Some properties rely on private wells, shared wells, septic systems, or septic obligations shared with a neighbor, and each of those situations brings its own paperwork: shared well agreements, well records, septic compliance, or signed-off sewer obligations. The exact documents vary by property, and a seller cannot be expected to know someone else's records, but where private water and waste systems exist, the related paperwork belongs in the file. We ask the questions early so nothing surfaces as a surprise at the end of escrow.

California has specific requirements for smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms in homes that are being sold, and a seller may need to confirm or satisfy them before the new owners take over. What exactly is required depends on the home itself, including its age, layout, and attached features, so the checklist is property-specific rather than one-size-fits-all. The requirements are usually simple to meet, and they belong on the early to-do list instead of the final surprises. We add the device check to your timeline before you list.

Whether a death on the property needs to be disclosed is governed by the rules of California law and the specific circumstances, not by opinion or rumor. State law gives timeframes around occupant deaths and specific protections for certain health-related information, and the correct answer depends on the facts. If a buyer asks directly, an honest answer is the safe answer. Because the rules hinge on the circumstances, an unusual situation is sometimes worth a note to an attorney, and we will say so plainly rather than guess at the answer.

Some sale types follow their own rules instead of the full package. Court-ordered sales, certain foreclosure and lender-involved transfers, and some trust or estate dispositions can fall into a different disclosure treatment, and the exemptions depend on the exact sale type and the circumstances. The safe path is always to confirm the exact situation rather than assume an exemption exists, and we will tell you when a sale looks like one of these categories. If the classification is in doubt, that specific answer is worth a conversation with the attorney before anything is signed.

The goal is to get the material facts you already know onto the table up front, and in most sales the seller finishes their part when the package is complete. But escrow is long, and problems can surface after the forms are written: the buyer's inspector may find something, a neighbor or contractor shares history, or a report raises a question nobody had asked. At that point, the buyer's own contingencies take over and drive the next step, while the seller's job is to answer honestly and quickly. When wording feels delicate, the exact phrasing of the corrected disclosure is a conversation for the seller and their attorney; our part is to make sure the update reaches the right people on time.

We are not attorneys, and we do not give legal advice. What we are is the brokerage team that helps you gather the right forms, answer the questions you know, and run through what everything means so nothing slips through in escrow. We organize the package, track what was delivered and when, coordinate the third-party reports and HOA documents when they belong, and bring in the right professionals when a question crosses into their lane. It is a team process, and our lane is making sure the paperwork is complete, honest, and on time.