One of the most nervous questions sellers ask me is some version of “do I really have to tell them about that?” Usually it’s the foundation work, the roof that leaked once, or the time the street took on water. The short answer is yes — Texas law requires almost every home seller to hand the buyer a written Seller’s Disclosure Notice, and the Texas seller’s disclosure is one place where being upfront protects you far more than staying quiet. Here’s what the form is, what you actually have to reveal, what changed on it in 2026, and where sellers get into trouble.
Quick frame: Texas Property Code §5.008 requires sellers of a single-family home to give the buyer a written disclosure of the property’s condition on or before the effective date of the contract. You’re disclosing what you know — not guaranteeing perfection. The form was expanded in 2026, so it asks more than it used to. Some sellers are exempt, and a few specific things you’re never required to reveal.
What the Texas seller’s disclosure notice is
The Seller’s Disclosure Notice is a standardized form where you report the condition of the home as you know it — what systems and features are present, what’s working, and what defects or past problems you’re aware of. The requirement comes from Texas Property Code §5.008, which sets the floor for what the notice has to cover.
Two forms are in circulation, and which one you sign matters. The Texas Real Estate Commission promulgates its own version, form 55-1. Texas REALTORS® publishes a parallel version, TXR 1406, currently revised 06-15-26. That’s the one most sellers working with a REALTOR® actually sign, including mine. The law allows a substantially similar notice, and both of these clear the statute comfortably. Both were expanded in this cycle, so whichever lands in front of you asks the same new questions.
The key word throughout is knowledge. You report what you actually know about the house. Nothing in §5.008 requires you to go hire inspectors and turn up problems you were unaware of. If you’re on the buying side of one of these, the companion piece is what the disclosure tells a buyer — and the right to terminate if it shows up late.
What you actually have to disclose
The form walks you through the house section by section. In plain terms, you’re telling the buyer about:
- Systems and features: what the home has — HVAC, roof, water heater, appliances, pool, septic or sewer — and whether any are not in working order.
- Known defects: issues you’re aware of with the foundation, roof, walls, plumbing, electrical, drainage, and similar — including past problems that were repaired.
- Water and flooding: prior flooding into the structure or onto the property, where the home sits relative to the 100-year and 500-year floodplains, the floodway and any reservoir flood pool, and whether you’ve ever filed a flood-insurance claim or received federal disaster assistance. This runs longer than any other part of the form, and Houston buyers read it harder than any other part — I went through what each of those checkboxes actually means line by line.
- Other material facts: termite or wood-rot history, prior repairs, pending assessments, HOA matters, and anything else that could reasonably affect a buyer’s decision.
If you genuinely don’t know the answer to something, “unknown” is an acceptable response — the form isn’t asking you to certify what you couldn’t reasonably know.
What changed on the 2026 form
If you last sold a house a few years ago, the notice in front of you now asks for more than you remember. TREC’s Sunset review directed the agency to make its forms tell buyers more about what affects a property’s value or desirability, and both versions of the disclosure were expanded to match.
The biggest addition is that insurance now has a section of its own. Section 5 asks whether the property is currently covered by insurance, by flood insurance, and by windstorm insurance, and then whether you have “been unable to insure the Property for any reason.” That last question is new, and it’s the one sellers hesitate over. If you’ve been turned down, non-renewed, or priced out of coverage, that’s what it’s asking about. Given what’s happened to Houston-area premiums and carrier appetite in the last few years, this question will come up far more often than TREC probably imagined, so I gave it its own walkthrough: the new insurance questions and what Section 5 now asks.
Section 3 grew as well. There’s now a line for a private road on or adjoining the property “that a buyer will be financially responsible for maintaining,” which matters on acreage and on some of the older unincorporated tracts outside the city limits, where road upkeep quietly becomes the owner’s problem. Underground and aboveground storage tanks each picked up a line, along with a specific one for aboveground tanks that “hold 500 gal. or more and have stored petroleum products or other chemicals.” Check any of those and the form points you to 30 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 334 for what else you may owe. Conservation easements were added too, defined right on the form as an easement that “restricts the use of all or a part of the property to protect natural resources, wildlife habitat, open space, or historical sites.”
The last addition to Section 3 is Alkali-Silica Reaction, sometimes called “concrete cancer,” a slow chemical reaction inside concrete that shows up in foundations and pool shells.
What you don’t have to disclose
Texas law specifically protects a few things. You have no duty to disclose that a death occurred on the property by natural causes, suicide, or an accident unrelated to the property’s condition, and no duty to disclose a prior occupant’s HIV or AIDS status. The distinction that trips people up: a death tied to a condition of the property is different — if someone drowned in the creek out back, the hazard itself is something a buyer should know about. When in doubt, I’d rather talk it through than guess.
Who’s exempt from the requirement
A handful of sales fall outside §5.008. The common exemptions include foreclosure and lender sales, transfers by a court-appointed executor or trustee administering an estate, transfers between co-owners or to a spouse or direct family member, certain transfers tied to divorce, and brand-new homes that have never been occupied. Most ordinary resales are not exempt — and even when an exemption technically applies, disclosing known problems anyway is often the smarter move for limiting later disputes. If you’re selling a home you inherited or one held in a trust, that’s worth a specific conversation.
Why honesty is the cheaper path
Sellers worry that disclosing a flaw scares buyers off. In practice the opposite usually happens: a clear, honest form builds trust and keeps the deal from blowing up later. Hiding a known defect is what creates real exposure — a buyer who discovers a concealed problem after closing can come back at you, and “I didn’t put it on the form” is not the defense people hope it is. A disclosed issue is negotiated once, in the open; a hidden one can follow you for years. It’s the same reason pricing honestly from the start matters, which I cover in how a proper CMA prices your home, and it’s part of the wider cost-and-risk picture in what it really costs to sell a Houston home.
How I help you fill it out
The disclosure form looks intimidating, but most of it is straightforward once you go through it together. My job is to make sure you complete it accurately and completely, point out the spots sellers commonly overlook, and help you document repairs so a past problem reads as “handled,” not “hidden.” Getting it right is one of the first things we do when we plan selling your Houston home — and if you’re still choosing who to work with, here are the questions to ask a real estate agent before you sign a listing agreement.
Not sure what you need to disclose?
Let’s walk through the Seller’s Disclosure Notice together so it’s accurate, complete, and protects you. No pressure and no obligation, across Greater Houston, Cypress, and Katy, and also Bryan–College Station.
Talk Through Your Disclosure
Call or Text (281) 500-7077
Kevan Pewitt · Real Estate Broker and REALTOR® · Houston Prime Realty
Last updated: August 2026 · Section references are to the Texas REALTORS® Seller’s Disclosure Notice, form TXR 1406 (06-15-26); TREC publishes a parallel form, 55-1. This is general information on Texas disclosure practice, not legal advice. The forms are revised periodically — confirm the current notice and your own situation with your real estate agent or a Texas real estate attorney.
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