No home is like another, but there’s one thing that’s the same for every residential real estate sale: the Washington Seller Disclosure Statement, also referred to as FORM 17. Since 1995, by Washington State law, sellers must disclose to buyers what they know about the real estate property.
Some sellers are exempted from the law: for example, the executor of an estate of a deceased home owner or the custodian of a living trust, usually a financial institution. For more information, you may download this brochure that explains the Washington Seller Disclosure Statement in detail. It is provided by the Washington Center of Real Estate Research.
A missing Form 17 can turn into a recipe for disaster. Although there are no penalties for the seller who is not providing the disclosure statement, the law allows the buyer to walk away from the purchase at any time during the process. This may be as late as a few days before the closing of a transaction is scheduled.
Likewise, not disclosing a known condition (material fact) can have legal and financial consequences for the seller. There are three ways to answer each question on the five-page form: “YES,” “NO,” or “DON'T KNOW.” If any question marked with an asterisk is answered “YES,” the answer must be explained in writing. For example, among those 30-plus questions with an asterisk are: “Are there any pending or existing assessments against the property?”; “Has the roof leaked?”; “Has the basement flooded or leaked”; “Have ther been any conversions, additions or remodeling?”
The real estate agent is not permitted to assist the seller in filling out Form 17. In fact, the buyer is required to acknowledge this by signing below a statement that reads in part: “... acknowledges ...that the disclosures made herein are those of the seller only, and not of any real estate licensee or other third party.”
Once the Form 17 has been provided to the buyer the answers become kown to the real estate licensees representing the seller and the buyer. Having learned of material facts through Form 17, the real estate licensees must disclose them.
Two recent additions to Form 17 (June 6, 2006) deal with Sex Offender Registration and Proximity to Farming. Both statements are “Notices to the Buyer” and advice the buyer to become informed about these subject matters. Neither requires the seller or any real estate licensee to provide relevant information.
The seller must sign and date the form to “affirm that the foregoing answers and explanations (if any) are complete and correct to the best of the Seller's knowledge...”
© 2006, Gerhard N. Ade
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