California Real Estate Disclosure Requirements

California disclosure law rests on a simple principle: the seller must tell the buyer what the seller knows, and must deliver specific statutory forms whether or not the buyer asks. Some duties come from the Civil Code, some from the Health & Safety Code, some from federal law. Failing to deliver a required disclosure can support buyer remedies including damages and, in some circumstances, rescission — so the safe practice is to over-deliver and document.

Required by Civil Code §1102, the TDS is the seller's own statement of the property's known condition — systems, appliances, structural issues, additions and permits, nuisances, litigation, and shared features such as fences or driveways.

• The seller completes it personally; agents complete their own visual inspection sections.
• Both the listing and buyer's agents owe a reasonably competent and diligent visual inspection of accessible areas.
• Delivering an amended TDS can restart a buyer's statutory right to terminate, so amend promptly and precisely.

Required by Civil Code §1103, the NHDS answers six statutory hazard-zone questions: special flood hazard area, dam inundation area, very high fire hazard severity zone, wildland fire area (State Responsibility Area), earthquake fault zone, and seismic hazard zone.

Sellers and agents who rely in good faith on a third-party expert report gain a statutory safe harbor: the expert, not the agent, answers for the accuracy of the determinations. That is why a professional NHD report is standard practice rather than optional.

For plain-English explanations of the zones behind those answers, read our guides to fire hazard severity zones, earthquake fault lines, and seismic hazard zones — including liquefaction.

• Supplemental property tax notice. Buyers must be told that a reassessment after closing will generate one or more supplemental tax bills beyond the amount shown in escrow.
• Mello-Roos / Community Facilities District. Sellers must make a good-faith effort to obtain and deliver the district's notice of special tax, including the amount and duration.
• 1915 Bond Act assessments. Improvement-bond assessments carry a parallel disclosure duty, including whether the lien can be paid off.

California requires working smoke alarms in prescribed locations, carbon monoxide alarms in dwellings with fuel-burning appliances or attached garages, and water heaters braced, strapped, or anchored against seismic movement. Sellers sign a written statement of compliance, and the obligation is the seller's — not the buyer's to discover after closing.

Federal law (Title X) applies to housing built before 1978. The seller must disclose known lead-based paint and hazards, provide any available records and reports, deliver the EPA pamphlet Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home, and give the buyer a 10-day opportunity to conduct a lead inspection or risk assessment unless the buyer waives it in writing.

• Death on the property (three-year rule). A death occurring on the property within the previous three years is a material fact requiring disclosure. Older deaths generally need not be volunteered, but a direct buyer question must be answered truthfully and nothing may be concealed.
• Megan's Law database notice. Every residential purchase agreement must carry the statutory notice pointing buyers to the California sex offender registry. Agents do not research or report registry results — the notice itself satisfies the duty.

Several disclosures apply only in specific circumstances, and the hazard-related set has expanded in recent legislative sessions as California responded to wildfire and flood risk.

• Wildfire hardening and defensible space. Sellers of homes in high or very high fire hazard severity zones face disclosure and, for older homes, documentation duties concerning hardening features and defensible-space compliance.
• Flood disclosure for rentals. Landlords must inform tenants when a rental unit sits in a mapped flood zone.
• AB 1280 hazard-disclosure updates. Recent legislation continues to expand and standardize how hazard-zone information is presented to buyers; agents should confirm they are using current C.A.R. or equivalent forms for every 2026 transaction rather than a saved prior-year packet.
• Local and city ordinances. Many jurisdictions add point-of-sale requirements — sewer lateral inspections, retrofit certificates, energy or water conservation compliance.
• HOA / common interest development documents. Sellers in a CID must deliver governing documents, budgets, reserve information, and assessment and litigation disclosures.