What Pennsylvania Sellers Must Disclose

Pennsylvania requires sellers to put it in writing. The form is the Seller's Property Disclosure Statement. Under the Real Estate Seller Disclosure Law (68 Pa.C.S. 7301 et seq.), a seller must deliver a signed, dated property disclosure statement disclosing known material defects that are not readily observable before the agreement of sale is signed, based on actual knowledge and with no duty to inspect or investigate.

What the disclosure covers — and what it is

Expect the Seller's Property Disclosure Statement before the agreement of sale, covering known material defects including, under current practice, whether the property is in a flood zone or has flooding problems. Note that Pennsylvania's expanded statutory flood questions (flood history, claims, assistance, FEMA zone and insurance requirement) are not required on the form until July 2028.

Flooding: the answer that matters most

Pennsylvania law specifically requires flood disclosure: the seller has to tell you about flood risk or history. Read that answer carefully, then verify it against the official map — FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer is the map your lender will use, and a seller's 'never flooded' is not the same as 'not in a flood zone.'

The Pennsylvania traps inside the paperwork

School districts can appeal a recently sold, underassessed home. Pennsylvania taxing bodies, including school districts and municipalities, may file their own assessment appeals and routinely target homes that recently sold well above their base-year assessed value, so a low inherited assessment is not guaranteed to survive.

Expanded flood disclosure not required until July 2028. A 2026 law (House Bill 1704) will require sellers to disclose past flood damage and dates, FEMA 100- and 500-year zone status, flood insurance requirement or history, government flood assistance and prior flood claims, but sellers need not comply on the revised form until July 2028.

What no disclosure will ever tell you

A disclosure is the seller's knowledge, on the seller's timeline. It says nothing about the street's crime trend, the registry, the tax bill you will pay after the sale, permits pulled (or never pulled) for the renovation in the photos, or the rezoning working its way through the planning office. In Pennsylvania, property tax reassessment works like this: A sale does not reset a Pennsylvania assessment - values stay at the county's base year - so the seller's bill is usually a good preview of yours. The risk is not the sale itself but a taxing body appeal or a future countywide reassessment — which is why the seller's current bill is a poor guide to yours. Pull those records yourself; they are all public.

Your checks, in order

• Read the disclosure line by line, and get 'unknown' answers in writing anyway — an unknown is a flag, not a pass.
• Run the exact parcel on FEMA's flood map.
• Estimate your post-sale tax bill with the Pennsylvania records guide — never budget from the seller's bill.
• Check the address against the official Pennsylvania registry.
• Ask the county for open and expired permits on the address before you waive anything.

Frequently asked questions

Is a seller disclosure form required in Pennsylvania?

Yes — the Seller's Property Disclosure Statement. Under the Real Estate Seller Disclosure Law (68 Pa.C.S. 7301 et seq.), a seller must deliver a signed, dated property disclosure statement disclosing known material defects that are not readily observable before the agreement of sale is signed, based on actual knowledge and with no duty to inspect or investigate.

Does a Pennsylvania seller have to disclose flooding?

Yes — Pennsylvania requires flood disclosure. Verify it on the FEMA map anyway; the disclosure is the seller's statement, the map is the lender's rulebook.

The seller answered 'unknown' to half the form. Now what?

'Unknown' is legal in most regimes and useful to nobody. Treat every unknown as a job: inspection, permit search, and the county record file. If the seller genuinely doesn't know, the records usually do.

Sources: pa.gov · amp.insurancejournal.com · proppeal.com · nolo.com · publicrecordcenter.com