Utah seller disclosures: what you must tell a buyer

Idaho and many other states have a statute that sets out a seller disclosure form, a delivery deadline and a buyer's right to rescind. Utah doesn't. No section of the Utah Code requires a homeowner to fill out a standard property condition form. That doesn't mean you can stay quiet. Your obligations come from three places:

• Utah case law on fraudulent nondisclosure, which requires a seller to disclose known material defects a buyer couldn't find with reasonable care.
• The purchase contract. Most Utah sales use the state-approved Real Estate Purchase Contract (REPC), and its Sections 7 and 10.3 make written disclosure a contract obligation.
• A short list of specific statutes, plus the federal lead-based paint rule for homes built before 1978.

Selling by owner doesn't change any of this. The duty belongs to you as the seller, not to an agent. For how disclosures fit into the whole sale, see /utah/sell-by-owner/.

This page is general information about Utah law and the state-approved REPC as of October 2026. It is not legal or tax advice. Read the cases, statutes and the actual contract you sign, and talk to a Utah real estate attorney about your situation, especially for estates, trusts, rentals, known defects or anything unusual.

The leading case is Mitchell v. Christensen, 2001 UT 80, decided by the Utah Supreme Court. A buyer bought a house with a backyard pool. She inspected it several times and hired a home inspector, and nobody saw any sign of a leak. After closing, leaks turned up in the pool's piping and body. She sued the sellers for fraudulent nondisclosure. The lower courts threw the case out under caveat emptor ("let the buyer beware"), reasoning that she should have hired a pool specialist. The Supreme Court reversed.

The court said a buyer claiming fraudulent nondisclosure must show three things: the information not disclosed was material, the seller knew it, and the seller had a legal duty to communicate it (¶ 9). On the duty question, it said a seller "is not obligated to reveal all that he or she knows about the property." The duty to disclose exists only where a defect is "not discoverable by reasonable care." If a defect can be found with reasonable care, caveat emptor still applies (¶ 11).

The key part is how the court measured reasonable care. The standard is whether the defect would be apparent to an ordinary prudent buyer with like experience, not to someone with specialized construction or real estate knowledge (¶ 12). The court said a different rule "would force purchasers to hire numerous expert home inspectors to search for hidden defects." A buyer may still need to ask more questions or bring in an expert when something puts a reasonable buyer on notice of a possible problem (¶ 13). In Mitchell nothing did, so the sellers had a duty to disclose the leaks if they knew about them (¶ 16).

Yazd v. Woodside Homes Corp., 2006 UT 47, was a suit against a developer-builder that allegedly knew of a soil report showing collapsible soil on neighboring land. In that builder case, the Supreme Court clarified what "material" means by dropping the word "some" from its earlier definition. Information is material if it is "important," measured by "the degree to which the information could be expected to influence the judgment of a person buying property or assenting to a particular purchase price" (¶¶ 33-34). The court also said the existence of a duty is the most important element, and that it arises from the relationship between the parties (¶ 35). Its holding is that a developer-builder may owe a buyer a duty to disclose known information, even about other land, that is material to the condition of the property sold. The court refined materiality under a heading limited to "matters that must be communicated by a builder-contractor," so treat Yazd as the court's latest statement of what material means, decided in a builder case, not as a rule written for ordinary homeowners.

Put together, the rule for an ordinary Utah homeowner looks like this:

• You must disclose material defects you actually know about that an ordinary buyer wouldn't find with a reasonable inspection. Common examples are a basement that floods in spring, a repaired but recurring roof leak, a cracked foundation hidden behind finished walls, or a sewer line you know is failing.
• "Material" means important enough to affect a buyer's decision to buy or the price they'd pay. Minor cosmetic issues usually aren't, and obvious ones a buyer can see aren't hidden.
• Knowledge is the trigger. The cases don't require you to investigate or test for problems you don't know about. Honest "I don't know" answers are better than guesses.
• A buyer's inspection doesn't automatically protect you. In Mitchell the buyer had a professional inspection and still had a claim, because the leak wasn't visible to her or the inspector.
• Covering up a defect, such as painting over water stains or telling a buyer something you know is false, is a different and more serious problem than silence. Don't do it.

These cases set out the general rules. Whether a particular defect was discoverable, material or known is decided on the facts, often by a jury. If you're unsure whether something needs to be disclosed, the safer course is to disclose it in writing.

The REPC is approved by the Utah Real Estate Commission and the Office of the Utah Attorney General. The current version is effective December 4, 2024. It states that "Utah law requires real estate licensees to use this form," and that buyer and seller may agree to change its provisions or use a different form. If a buyer's agent writes the offer, it will almost always be on this form. For a full walkthrough of the contract, see /utah/sell-by-owner/repc-explained/.

Section 7 lists the "Seller Disclosures." No later than the Seller Disclosure Deadline in Section 24(a), you must provide the buyer, on paper or electronically:

• (a) A written seller property condition disclosure, completed, signed and dated by you, as provided in Section 10.3.
• (b) A Lead-Based Paint Disclosure & Acknowledgement, completed, signed and dated by you, only if the home was built before 1978.
• (c) A Commitment for Title Insurance, as referenced in Section 6.1.
• (d) A copy of any restrictive covenants (CC&Rs), rules and regulations affecting the property.
• (e) A copy of the homeowners' association's most recent minutes, budget and financial statement, if there is an HOA.
• (f) A copy of any long-term lease or rental agreement that doesn't expire before Closing.
• (g) A copy of any short-term rental booking schedule, as of the Seller Disclosure Deadline, for guest stays after Closing.
• (h) A copy of any existing property management agreement.
• (i) Evidence of any water rights or water shares referenced in Section 1.4.
• (j) Written notice of any claims or conditions you know about relating to environmental problems and building or zoning code violations.
• (k) Written notice to the buyer if you are a foreign person under the federal FIRPTA withholding rules, so the buyer can arrange any required withholding.
• (l) Anything else the parties specify.

Section 10.3 adds your core promises about condition. You agree to (a) disclose in writing defects known to you that materially affect the value of the property and can't be discovered by a reasonable inspection by an ordinary prudent buyer, (b) carefully review, complete and provide the written property condition disclosure, (c) deliver the home in substantially the same general condition as on the date of Acceptance, ordinary wear and tear excepted, (d) deliver it broom-clean and free of debris and personal belongings, and (e) repair any moving-related damage at your expense. Section 10.3 survives Closing.

Notice that Section 10.3(a) uses nearly the same words as Mitchell. Signing the REPC turns the common-law duty into a written contract promise. Section 14 also makes the Seller Disclosures part of the contract itself, so what you write in them carries contractual weight.

Two more sections matter for disclosures. Section 12 limits what you can do between Acceptance and Closing without the buyer's written consent, including substantial alterations and new leases. Section 12.5 says that if the home is a short-term rental, you may not keep accepting short-term bookings after the Seller Disclosure Deadline without the buyer's written consent.

The REPC doesn't set a default number of days. You and the buyer write in a calendar date for each deadline in Section 24: (a) Seller Disclosure Deadline, (b) Due Diligence Deadline, (c) Financing & Appraisal Deadline and (d) Settlement Deadline. The Seller Disclosure Deadline usually comes first, often only days after Acceptance, so have your documents ready before you list.

Under Section 21, time is of the essence. Performance on a dated deadline is due by 5:00 PM Mountain Time on that date, and "days" means calendar days, counted from the day after the triggering event. Extensions must be agreed to in writing by all parties. Section 18 requires notices to be in writing, signed and received by the deadline.

The buyer's main protection is the Due Diligence Condition in Section 8.1. If the box is checked that the purchase IS conditioned on due diligence, the buyer's due diligence includes reviewing your Seller Disclosures and any tests or inspections the buyer wants. Section 8.1(a) lists examples: physical condition, hazardous substances, environmental issues or geologic conditions, square footage, the roof, walls and foundation, plumbing, electrical and mechanical systems, appliances, insurance costs, water source and quality, property lines, regulatory restrictions, HOA dues and utility costs, convicted sex offenders living nearby, and "any other matters deemed material to Buyer." The buyer pays for its own due diligence, and you must cooperate.

If the buyer decides, "in Buyer's sole discretion," that the results are unacceptable, Section 8.1(b) gives two options before the Due Diligence Deadline. The buyer can cancel by written notice, and the earnest money is released to the buyer without your further written authorization. Or the buyer can resolve its objections with you in writing, usually by negotiating a repair or credit. If the buyer does neither by the deadline, Section 8.1(c) treats the Due Diligence Condition as waived, and the earnest money becomes non-refundable except as the appraisal and financing provisions allow.

This is Utah's practical equivalent of a disclosure rescission right, but it's a contract right with a broad scope. The buyer doesn't have to point to a specific disclosure. Late disclosures cost you time: the buyer's review period runs to the same Due Diligence Deadline, so a buyer who gets your documents late may ask to push that deadline back, or may use the remaining time to cancel.

The REPC doesn't spell out a separate penalty for missing the Seller Disclosure Deadline. Failing to deliver is a failure to perform the contract, and Section 16.2 lists the buyer's remedies if the seller defaults, including cancelling with the return of the earnest money plus, if the buyer chooses, liquidated damages equal to the deposit. Section 15 may require mediation first, depending on which box you check. Ask an attorney how these provisions apply to a specific dispute.

Section 7(a) requires a written seller property condition disclosure but doesn't name a specific form. In practice, Utah sellers usually use the Seller's Property Condition Disclosure published by the Utah Association of REALTORS. It isn't a state form. It's a copyrighted trade association form, typically available through a REALTOR member, and its content is set by the association, not by statute. A brokerage that lists your home will usually give you the current version. You can use another written form if the buyer agrees, but buyers and their agents expect the standard one.

The form works as a long questionnaire. It covers the general subjects you'd expect: title and boundaries, water source and water rights, sewer or septic, the structure, roof and basement, systems and fixtures, HOA matters and hazardous conditions. The Utah Department of Environmental Quality notes that it asks whether there are any hazardous conditions on the property such as radon gas in the house or well, that answers are given as Yes, No or Do Not Know, and that the seller states the information is correct to the best of the seller's current actual knowledge, with important changes disclosed before closing.

How to fill it out well:

• Answer from what you actually know, and use Do Not Know when that's the truth. Don't guess to make the home look better.
• Explain every Yes. A short description of what happened, when, what was done about it and who did the work is far better than a bare checkmark.
• Attach what you have: repair invoices, warranties, permits, past inspection reports, radon or mold test results, and insurance claim records for the property.
• Think about Mitchell when you decide what's worth mentioning. If you know about a problem a buyer can't see, write it down.
• Update it in writing if something changes before Closing, such as a new leak or a failed appliance. Section 10.3(c) also requires you to deliver the home in substantially the same condition as at Acceptance.
• Keep a copy of exactly what you delivered and proof of the date the buyer received it.

Utah has no general disclosure act, but several statutes deal with particular issues. These are the ones we were able to confirm in the current Utah Code.

Methamphetamine contamination (Utah Code Title 57, Chapter 27). Under § 57-27-201, if an owner has actual knowledge that the property is currently contaminated from the use, storage or manufacture of methamphetamine, the owner must disclose that in a sale, lease or other transaction involving the property. "Contaminated" has the meaning in § 19-6-902, which includes pollution by hazardous materials from the use, production or presence of methamphetamine above the state's decontamination standards. A person may sue to enforce the chapter, and a court may award damages, court costs and reasonable attorney fees (§ 57-27-201(3)). A real estate licensee isn't liable for an owner's failure to disclose unless the licensee is also the owner (§ 57-27-202).

Stigmatized property (Utah Code § 57-1-37). Utah law says a seller's failure to disclose that a property is stigmatized is not a material fact that must be disclosed, and neither the owner nor the owner's agent is liable for not disclosing it. Section 57-1-1 defines stigmatized as the site or suspected site of a homicide, other felony or suicide; the dwelling of a person infected or suspected of being infected with HIV or another infectious disease the Department of Health and Human Services determines can't be transmitted by occupying a dwelling; or a property that was contaminated and that the local health department has since found to be decontaminated under the Illegal Drug Operations Site Reporting and Decontamination Act. That last category fits with the methamphetamine rule, which reaches only property that is currently contaminated and is expressly "subject to" § 57-1-37. The statute protects silence. It doesn't protect a false answer if a buyer asks you directly.

HOA and condominium documents (Utah Code §§ 57-8a-105.1 and 57-8-6.1). Before you sell a lot in a community association, or a unit in a condominium, to an independent third party, you must provide the buyer with a copy of the association's recorded governing documents and a link or other access point to the educational materials published by the state's Office of the Homeowners' Association Ombudsman. You must provide them before closing, and the association must give you the information on request. An independent third party is a buyer who isn't related to you, shares no financial interest with you and buys in good faith. The REPC separately requires the CC&Rs, rules and the HOA's most recent minutes, budget and financial statement by the Seller Disclosure Deadline (§ 7(d)-(e)). For unpaid assessments, a condominium manager or management committee must issue a written statement on request for a fee of up to $25 (§ 57-8-54), and a community association must do the same for up to $10 (§ 57-8a-206). For limits on HOA payoff and transfer-related fees, see /selling-costs/utah-closing-costs/.

Water rights and water shares. In Utah, water rights are often a separate property interest, and they matter to buyers of homes with irrigation or a well. Under Utah Code § 73-1-11, a water right appurtenant to land passes to the buyer of the land unless the seller reserves it, conveys part of it in the deed, or conveys it in a separate document before or at the same time. Water evidenced by shares of stock in a water company is not appurtenant to land. Unless the company's articles or bylaws provide otherwise, those shares transfer as § 73-1-10(2) provides, not automatically with the deed. The REPC handles this in Section 1.4: the price includes all water rights and water shares that are the legal source of your current culinary and irrigation water, unless they are listed as excluded. Section 7(i) requires you to provide evidence of them. Separately, Utah Code § 57-3-109 allows a water rights addendum, on a form approved by the Legislature, to be recorded with the deed. The statute says a person may submit one, the seller completes and signs it, and the buyer signs to acknowledge receipt. The county recorder then sends a copy to the state engineer. Your title company can tell you whether one is needed for your property.

Radon. Utah has no law requiring a seller to test for radon, and the Utah Department of Environmental Quality says so directly: "There is no state law requiring radon testing at the time of resale." A 2014 bill, S.B. 109 (introduced as Radon Testing for Home Purchase), would have enacted a Radon Testing and Disclosure Act, but the version that passed only created a public awareness campaign. If you have tested, the results are something you know, and the standard condition disclosure asks about radon. Disclose them and attach the report. Many buyers test during due diligence.

Wildland-urban interface. Utah Code Title 65A, Chapter 8, Part 4 sets up a program to evaluate and classify high-risk wildland urban interface property, with an annual fee set by the state forestry division and assessed and collected by counties, and requires the owner to be informed of the property's classification (§ 65A-8-402). We found nothing in that part requiring a seller to disclose the classification in a sale. If you've received a classification notice or a fee bill, that is information many buyers would consider important, and it bears on insurance costs, which the REPC lists as a due-diligence item.

Sex offender information. The REPC places this on the buyer. Section 8.1(a) lists "convicted sex offenders residing in proximity to the Property" as one of the buyer's due-diligence items, and the buyer checks the registry during due diligence.

Federal law applies in Utah the same way it does everywhere. Under 40 CFR Part 745, Subpart F (with a parallel HUD rule at 24 CFR Part 35), sellers of most housing built before 1978 must, before the buyer is obligated under the contract:

• Give the buyer the EPA lead hazard information pamphlet, Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home.
• Disclose any known lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards, including the basis for the determination and the location and condition of the surfaces.
• Provide any available records or reports about lead-based paint in the home.
• Include the Lead Warning Statement in the contract, with signed certifications.
• Give the buyer a 10-day opportunity for a lead inspection or risk assessment, unless you agree in writing to a different period or the buyer waives it in writing (40 CFR 745.110).

The timing is the trap for Utah sellers. The REPC lists the Lead-Based Paint Disclosure & Acknowledgement among the Seller Disclosures due by the Seller Disclosure Deadline, which falls after Acceptance. Federal law requires the disclosure before the buyer is bound. If an offer arrives before you've made the disclosure, you must complete it before accepting the offer and give the buyer a chance to review it and possibly change the offer (40 CFR 745.107(b)). For a pre-1978 home, have the lead form and pamphlet ready before you take offers.

The rule doesn't require you to test for lead or remove it. Keep a signed copy of the disclosure for at least three years after the sale (40 CFR 745.113(c)). Exemptions include foreclosure sales (40 CFR 745.101) and, unless a child under six lives or is expected to live there, zero-bedroom units and housing for the elderly or people with disabilities (40 CFR 745.103). EPA also lists housing a certified inspector has found free of lead-based paint, but the regulation's lead-free exemption is written for leases (40 CFR 745.101(b)), so don't rely on it for a sale without advice.

Every sale on the state-approved REPC is already an as-is sale in one sense. Section 10.2 says the buyer is purchasing the property in its "As-Is" condition without express or implied warranties of any kind, has the opportunity during due diligence to completely inspect it, and, if it goes ahead, relies wholly on its own judgment and its inspectors. Section 10.2 survives Closing.

As-is means you aren't promising the home's condition and aren't agreeing to make repairs. It doesn't let you hide what you know. The same contract, in Section 10.3, requires you to disclose in writing known defects that materially affect value and can't be found by a reasonable inspection, and that section survives Closing too. The two clauses work together: the buyer accepts the condition it can inspect, and you disclose the hidden problems you know about.

As-is language also doesn't erase the common-law claim. Mitchell was a home sale with an inspection right, and the court still held that the sellers would have had a duty to disclose known hidden leaks. How a court treats a particular as-is or waiver clause depends on its wording and the facts, so get legal advice before relying on special language you add to the contract.

• You can sell without making repairs, and you can say so up front.
• You can't skip the written property condition disclosure if you've signed the REPC. Section 7(a) requires it.
• You can't skip the lead disclosure for a pre-1978 home. It's federal law, and the contract can't waive it.
• You can't conceal a known defect or misstate a condition when asked.
• Price and marketing can reflect condition. Disclosing a problem honestly and pricing for it is usually cheaper than defending a claim after Closing. For pricing a home that needs work, see /utah/sell-by-owner/pricing/.

If you sell without the REPC, the contract items above apply only if your contract includes them. The common-law duty, the statutes and the federal lead rule still apply.

Because the Seller Disclosure Deadline can come a few days after Acceptance, prepare the package before your home goes on the market. A practical order:

• Complete the property condition disclosure and gather receipts, permits, warranties and any past inspection or test reports.
• If the home was built before 1978, fill out the lead disclosure and have the EPA pamphlet ready to hand to every buyer before you accept an offer.
• Request your HOA's recorded governing documents, rules, latest minutes, budget and financial statement, and note the ombudsman educational link the statute requires.
• Find your water rights or water share documents, or ask your water company or title company to help identify them.
• Open title with a title company early so the Commitment for Title Insurance is ready by the deadline.
• Collect any leases, rental booking schedules and management agreements.
• Deliver everything in a way you can prove, such as email with attachments or a signed receipt, and keep copies of exactly what you sent.

Many sellers make the condition disclosure available to buyers before offers come in. Buyers see the issues up front and price them into the offer, which leaves less to renegotiate during due diligence. For how offers and deadlines work in practice, see /utah/sell-by-owner/showings-and-offers/ and /utah/sell-by-owner/repc-explained/.

If you list through a brokerage on the MLS, the brokerage will usually supply the current forms and help you assemble the package, but the answers about your home are still yours. JupiDoor is a licensed Utah brokerage. Its flat-fee "Seller-Managed" option has the owner handle showings and negotiation while the brokerage lists the home on the MLS and handles the paperwork. See /utah/sell-by-owner/flat-fee-mls/ and /sell/.

Never skip a required disclosure to keep a deal together. If you've realized you left something out, tell the buyer in writing right away and talk to a Utah real estate attorney.