The California seller disclosure checklist

California requires a seller of a 1–4 unit residential property to deliver a Transfer Disclosure Statement (TDS), a Natural Hazard Disclosure (NHD), and in practice a Seller Property Questionnaire (SPQ) on virtually every sale. They overlap a little, but each has a distinct job.

The TDS, required under Civil Code §1102, asks you to identify known defects: structural components, roof, plumbing, electrical, mechanical systems. It is about the physical condition of the house as you know it.

The SPQ, a California Association of Realtors form, sits alongside the TDS rather than replacing it. It asks about history rather than condition — past repairs, remodeling including unpermitted work, insurance claims, HOA disputes, boundary disagreements, pest treatments. It documents what has happened at the property during your ownership.

The NHD, governed by Civil Code §1103 through §1103.14, discloses whether the property sits in any of six statutorily defined hazard zones: a Special Flood Hazard Area, a Dam Inundation Zone, a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, a Wildland Fire Area, an Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zone, or a Seismic Hazard Zone. Most sellers satisfy this by ordering a report from a third-party NHD company, which the statute expressly permits.

This is the single most common misunderstanding, and it is expensive. Selling as-is means you are not agreeing to make repairs. It does not reduce your obligation to disclose what you know. The forms are required either way.

The logic is straightforward once you see it: as-is governs who fixes things. Disclosure governs whether the buyer knew what they were buying. A buyer can accept a house exactly as it stands and still have a claim if you concealed a known problem.

A for-sale-by-owner seller in California is held to the same disclosure standard as a licensed professional. Not knowing that a requirement existed is not a defense. If anything the exposure is higher, because there is no agent reviewing your forms before they go out.

That asymmetry is worth pricing. Disclosure mistakes surface after closing, when your leverage is gone and the remedy is a lawsuit. It is one of the few places in a sale where a few hundred dollars of professional review protects against a genuinely large downside.

Unpermitted work is the leader by a wide margin. A converted garage, an enclosed patio, a bathroom a previous owner added — the SPQ asks directly, and 'I assumed it was permitted' is a weak answer. Check with your city's building department if you are unsure.

Water intrusion is second. A leak you fixed years ago is still a known past condition. Neighbor disputes, deaths on the property within the statutory window, and known issues you learned about but never repaired round out the list.

The reliable instinct: when you find yourself wondering whether something needs disclosing, that hesitation is itself the answer. Disclose it. Over-disclosure has almost no downside; the reverse has a large one.