What a Massachusetts Seller Has to Disclose, and What a Buyer Has to Ask

Buyers who have bought elsewhere are often surprised by this: Massachusetts does not require a homeowner to fill in a property condition disclosure form. Many states hand every buyer a multi-page statement in which the seller answers questions about the roof, the basement and the plumbing. Here there is no statute requiring one, and a private owner selling their own house has no general duty to volunteer what they know about its condition.

That does not make silence safe or lying legal. What a seller says must be true, a handful of specific disclosures are mandatory, and the listing agent carries a duty the owner does not. Most of the protection a Massachusetts buyer gets comes from asking the right questions in writing, which is why the questions matter more here than almost anywhere else.

The Massachusetts starting point: no form and no general duty

The rule for a private seller is close to the old one, buyer beware, and two things keep it that way.

No statutory form. There is no Massachusetts equivalent of the disclosure statements other states mandate. Some listing agents offer a voluntary property condition statement; a seller may complete one, decline it, or answer some questions and not others.
Consumer protection law does not reach the private homeowner. The Supreme Judicial Court held in *Lantner v. Carson* (1978) that a homeowner selling their own house is not engaged in "trade or commerce", so Chapter 93A and its multiple damages do not apply to them as they would to a business.

What remains is the common law of misrepresentation, and it is real. A seller who answers a question falsely, tells a half-truth that misleads, or actively conceals a defect — paints over a water stain, rearranges boxes over a crack — can be liable for the buyer's losses, "as-is" clause or not. Selling as-is covers what those words do and do not protect.

The disclosures Massachusetts does require

Several items are compulsory, and none of them is optional because the house is old or the seller is in a hurry.

Lead paint. For a home built before 1978, the seller must give the buyer the Massachusetts Property Transfer Lead Paint Notification and disclose any known lead hazards and any lead inspection reports, and the buyer is offered a period to have the house inspected. The Massachusetts lead law covers what follows from that.
Title 5. A house on a septic system needs an inspection by a state-approved inspector, and the report goes to the buyer and to the board of health. Title 5 and septic systems covers the timing.
The smoke and carbon monoxide certificate, issued by the local fire department before transfer.
For a condominium, the 6(d) certificate and the association documents that come with it.
The home inspection disclosure. Since October 2025 the parties sign the Massachusetts mandatory residential home inspection disclosure, part of the rule that keeps the inspection out of the competition between offers. The 2025 inspection law explains it.

A false answer is the one thing a seller may never give

The absence of a disclosure duty is not permission to mislead, and the distinction is where most disputes start.

A seller may decline to answer. A seller may say "I don't know" if that is true. What a seller may not do is give an answer they know is wrong, or a true statement arranged to create a false impression — "the basement has been dry since we bought it" from someone who has run a dehumidifier and a pump every spring. Courts treat that kind of half-truth as a misrepresentation.

The practical advice for sellers is short: if you know about it and you are asked, say so. If you are not sure, say that. A defect the inspector finds anyway, after you have said there was none, damages your negotiating position and may expose you to a claim.

Why the listing agent's duty is stricter than the owner's

The agent is in trade or commerce even when the owner is not, so Chapter 93A applies to them in full. The Attorney General's regulations treat failing to disclose a fact that might have influenced a buyer not to go ahead as an unfair or deceptive practice, and licensees are held to that standard.

This has a consequence sellers sometimes miss: what you tell your listing agent, they cannot unknow. An agent told about a recurring leak cannot answer a buyer's question about water as though they had never heard of it. A seller who wants their agent to keep a known defect quiet is asking them to put their licence at risk, and a good one will decline.

Stigma: what the law says a seller need not mention

Massachusetts addresses one category directly. Under M.G.L. c. 93, § 114, enacted in 1998, the fact or suspicion that a property is "psychologically impacted" is not a material fact that must be disclosed. That covers a property that was the site of a felony, a suicide or a homicide, and one rumoured to host parapsychological or supernatural phenomena.

Two limits are worth knowing. The statute does not authorise a false statement, so a seller or agent asked directly must not answer untruthfully; the usual practical advice is to answer honestly or decline to answer. And it covers stigma only, never physical condition: a fire that damaged the structure is a condition question, whatever caused it.

UFFI, and the forms that outlived their law

Closing packages in Massachusetts often still include a statement about urea-formaldehyde foam insulation, a 1970s product. The statute that once required sellers to disclose it was repealed in 2002, and a later section limits lawsuits for not disclosing it. If a form asks, answer accurately anyway: a false answer on a document you sign is a false statement whatever law it once served.

The questions a buyer should put in writing

Because so little is volunteered, the buyer's side does the work. Ask through your agent, in writing, and keep the answers. The useful questions are specific:

Water. Has there ever been water in the basement, how often, and what was done? Is there a sump pump, and how often does it run? Water in the basement covers what the answers mean.
The roof and the systems. The age of the roof, the heating system and the water heater, and any work done on them.
Permits. Which renovations were done, by whom, and under which permits? Researching a house before you offer shows how to check the answer.
Insurance claims. Any claims on the property in recent years. A seller can obtain the claims-history report for their own house.
Oil tanks, current or removed, above or below ground.
Pests, and any treatment contracts.
Money owed to the town: betterments, pending assessments, or a special assessment voted by a condominium association. Betterments explains why this one surfaces late.
Neighbours: boundary disagreements, shared driveways, easements in use.

Then ask your attorney whether the important answers should appear as representations in the purchase and sale agreement, where a false one becomes a breach of contract rather than a lawsuit you have to build from scratch. The standard forms contain few seller representations, and adding the ones that matter to you is normal and negotiable.

None of this replaces an inspection. It tells the inspector where to look, and it gives you a written record if an answer turns out to be untrue. The home inspection guide covers the inspection itself.

For the seller, saying it up front is usually cheaper

Known defects nearly always come out in the inspection. Disclosed before offers, a problem is priced into the offers you receive. Discovered afterwards, it becomes a renegotiation at the moment you have the least leverage, sometimes with a buyer who now distrusts everything else you have said. A pre-listing inspection, covered in preparing a home for sale, is how sellers find out what will be found.

The seller's guide covers the wider sequence, and the buyer's guide the other side of it.

General information as of 2026, not legal advice. Disclosure obligations depend on the facts of a sale and the documents signed; a Massachusetts real estate attorney should review any question that matters to your transaction.