Transactions
What is disclosure?
Disclosure is the seller's obligation to inform buyers of known material defects and other legally specified facts about a property, before the buyer commits to purchase.
What must be disclosed varies substantially by jurisdiction, but the common core is known material defects — problems affecting value or safety that the seller is aware of and a buyer would not readily discover.
The standard is generally knowledge, not diligence: a seller is not usually required to investigate, but concealing something known is a different matter and carries real liability after closing.
Agents have their own obligations that can extend beyond the seller's, and these persist even where a buyer waives inspection. Over-disclosure is nearly always the safer error.
Related terms
A contingency is a condition written into a purchase contract that must be met for the sale to proceed, allowing the buyer to withdraw without losing their deposit if it is not.
Fiduciary duty is the legal obligation an agent owes a client to act in that client's best interest — including loyalty, confidentiality, full disclosure, obedience to lawful instruction, and reasonable care.
A property is under contract when a seller has accepted an offer and both parties are bound by a purchase agreement, but the sale has not yet completed because contingencies or closing steps remain.
Title insurance protects a buyer or lender against financial loss from defects in a property's ownership record — undisclosed heirs, forged documents, unpaid liens or boundary errors that surface after purchase.