A Utah residential real estate purchase agreement (“Contract for Sale and Purchase of Real Estate”) is a contract which commits a buyer to an offer to purchase real estate, according to specific terms agreed by the buyer and seller. Negotiated specifics include the purchase price, financing method, closing date, and more.
Do Sellers in Utah Have To Disclose Property Defects?
Utah does not require real estate sellers to disclose material defects in a property. A few states, including Utah, hold to a “caveat emptor” (“may the buyer beware”) rule, where the buyer has responsibility to investigate and resolve issues with the property, although many transactions will still use a standardized disclosure form to give the buyer proper information.
This means even if the buyer doesn’t perform full due diligence, they may not have the legal option to reverse a real estate transaction. For example, if the seller says the condition of the roof is fine to the best of their knowledge, and the buyer doesn’t perform a roof inspection, the buyer won’t be able to reverse the purchase if the roof later turns out to have structural issues.
In particular, Utah exempts the following facts from any duty to disclose:
- Whether the property has been the site of a homicide, suicide, or felony
- Whether anyone at the property was ever diagnosed with HIV or another disease not related to management of real property
- Whether the property was found to be contaminated, if it has been properly decontaminated under the Illegal Drug Operations Site Reporting and Decontamination Act
Required Seller Disclosures in Utah
Utah sellers of residential real estate must make the following disclosures, as appropriate, in order for a real estate purchase agreement to be considered legally binding:
- Seller’s Property Condition Disclosure Form: Discloses material defects with a property that are known to the seller at the time of sale, and details any potential issues and conditions that may affect the value of the property.
- Lead-Based Paint Disclosure: Any home constructed earlier than 1978 must come with a disclosure upon the transfer of the property which includes any information about the presence of lead on the premises, as well as educational materials that communicate the health risks associated with lead exposure.
Sources
- 1 Utah Code § 57-1-1
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“Stigmatized” means:
(a) the site or suspected site of a homicide, other felony, or suicide;
(b) the dwelling place of a person infected, or suspected of being infected, with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or any other infectious disease that the Utah Department of Health determines cannot be transferred by occupancy of a dwelling place; or
(c) property that has been found to be contaminated, and that the local health department has subsequently found to have been decontaminated in accordance with Title 19, Chapter 6, Part 9, Illegal Drug Operations Site Reporting and Decontamination Act.
[See Utah Code § 57-1-37(1) (“The failure of an owner of real property to disclose that the property being offered for sale is stigmatized is not a material fact that must be disclosed in the transaction of real property.”)]
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