NJ seller disclosure statement: who completes it, when it's due and what the licensee must check

Who completes the NJ seller disclosure statement

The seller fills it in and signs it. The licensee never answers for the seller. The Seller's Property Condition Disclosure Statement is a Division of Consumer Affairs form, and its whole design rests on the seller's own knowledge: the seller answers yes, no or unknown, explains every yes, and signs a statement that the answers are accurate and complete to the best of the seller's knowledge. The form says plainly that it is not a warranty.

What changed recently is the licensee side. P.L. 2024, c.32, approved July 10, 2024 and effective August 1, 2024, wrote a list of brokerage duties into the License Act at N.J.S.A. 45:15-16.87. One of them says that where the firm's principal is the seller in a residential transaction, the firm must obtain a signed property condition disclosure statement, with the seller filling in the information and signing it. If the seller is not represented by a brokerage firm (and is not working with one as a transaction broker), the law says the seller must give the statement to the buyer before the buyer becomes obligated under any contract to buy. DOBI's Bulletin 24-11, dated August 1, 2024, repeats both points and confirms the form is the one set out at N.J.A.C. 13:45A-29.1(d).

The form also covers people who never lived in the house. An executor, administrator or trustee who has never occupied the property can sign a separate statement on the form saying they lack the personal knowledge to complete it. That is the form's own accommodation, not a blanket exemption from disclosing what they do know.

What the form asks

The current Consumer Affairs form runs 117 numbered items. The sections, with their item numbers:

Two things on the form matter more than any single question. First, the preamble tells the seller there is an obligation to disclose any known material defects even if the form does not ask about them. The form is a floor, not a fence. Second, if a seller is relying on someone else's information, such as a contractor's report, the form asks the seller to say whose and what. The flood section has its own statute and its own deadline; our NJ flood disclosure law post covers it in detail, so we will not repeat it here.

Is the disclosure statement required by law?

This is where most study materials go out of date, so take it in layers.

1. The form itself. N.J.A.C. 13:45A-29.1 sets out the statement's contents. That rule was written to implement N.J.S.A. 56:8-19.1, which protects licensees from Consumer Fraud Act liability when they pass along a seller's information properly. On its own, the rule does not order every seller to use the form.
2. The 2024 law. Since August 1, 2024, a brokerage firm representing a residential seller must obtain a signed statement, and a seller without a brokerage firm must give it to the buyer before the buyer is bound (N.J.S.A. 45:15-16.87). In a brokered residential sale, the form is now a statutory duty, not a courtesy.
3. The flood section. Since 2024 every seller of New Jersey real property must answer the flood questions on the property condition disclosure statement before the buyer is bound (N.J.S.A. 56:8-19.2), whether or not a licensee is involved.
4. Fraud law underneath it all. The Consumer Fraud Act, N.J.S.A. 56:8-2, makes it unlawful to knowingly conceal, suppress or omit any material fact, with intent that others rely on it, in connection with the sale of real estate. Leaving a known defect off the form, or skipping the form, does not get around that.

What is not settled: the 2024 law's text is written as a list of brokerage duties, and it does not plainly speak to a sale where neither side uses a licensee. The Real Estate Commission has not yet written rules for this part of the law. In its rule adoption effective January 20, 2026, the Commission declined a commenter's request to add the duty to obtain a signed statement to N.J.A.C. 11:5-6.4, said it was beyond that rulemaking, and said it anticipates a future rulemaking to implement those changes, among others. If you are a seller with no agent, our suggestion (not a legal requirement we can point to) is simple: complete the form anyway, and get legal advice on anything unusual.

The licensee's inspection duty

Your own duty does not depend on the seller's form. Commission rule N.J.A.C. 11:5-6.4(b) requires every licensee to make a reasonable effort to find out all material information about the physical condition of every property they take on as an agent or transaction broker, and about the financial qualifications of every person for whom they submit an offer. At a minimum, that effort includes:

• Asking the seller or the seller's agent about any physical conditions that may affect the property.
• A visual inspection of the property to find any readily observable physical conditions affecting it.

Then N.J.A.C. 11:5-6.4(c) says what to do with it: disclose all information material to the physical condition that you know, or that a reasonable effort would have revealed, to your client and, when appropriate, to the other parties. Information is material if a reasonable person would attach importance to it in deciding whether or how to proceed, or if you know or have reason to know that this particular person cares about it. The 2024 law puts the same reasonable-effort duty into statute at N.J.S.A. 45:15-16.87, and adds that the licensee is not held to the standard of a licensed property inspector unless they are one.

The buyer's acknowledgment on the form makes the same point from the other side: the seller's broker's visual inspection is not a professional home inspection by a licensed home inspector. That is why buyers still hire one.

When the seller's answers don't match what you see

This is the scenario the exam likes best. The rule is short: you cannot pass along answers you have reason to doubt. Under N.J.S.A. 56:8-19.1, a licensee has no Consumer Fraud Act liability for false information only if they had no actual knowledge of the problem and made a reasonable and diligent inquiry. Information from the seller's disclosure statement qualifies only if the licensee told the buyer the seller was the source and visually inspected the property with reasonable diligence to check its accuracy.

Illustration: Nadia lists a 1960s ranch. The seller answers no to every basement water question. On her walk-through Nadia sees a white tide line on the block walls, a dehumidifier running and new drywall cut 18 inches above the floor. Here is what that looks like done right:

1. Ask the seller about each thing you saw, in writing if you can, and note the answers.
2. Ask the seller to correct or explain the form. Water, dampness or past water repairs belong on it.
3. If the seller refuses, you still have to disclose what you observed and know. Your duty runs to the other parties when appropriate, and it cannot be waived.
4. Tell the buyer which information came from the seller, and suggest a professional inspection.
5. If the form shows water leakage, dampness, mold or repairs for a water problem, refer the buyer to the Mold Guidelines for New Jersey Residents pamphlet, and give a copy if asked (N.J.S.A. 56:8-19.1).
6. Take it to your broker. A seller who insists you hide a known defect is asking you to break the law.

Buyer's agents have a version of this too. If you notice a readily observable problem the listing side did not mention, you tell your buyer. For how agency roles shape who you work for, see designated agency vs dual agency.

Stigmatized property: deaths, crimes and neighbors

New Jersey handles stigma in Commission rule N.J.A.C. 11:5-6.4(d), not in a separate stigma statute. The rule says social conditions and psychological impairments are not physical conditions, so the inspection and disclosure duty in (b) and (c) does not require you to volunteer them.

So the exam answer turns on one word: asked. Silence is allowed until someone asks; once they ask, you answer with what you know, and the rule does not make that depend on the seller's permission. The two carve-outs exist to keep you out of steering and out of Megan's Law notification, which belongs to the county prosecutor. Every residential contract or lease a licensee prepares must carry a statement, in print as large as the main text, that the county prosecutor decides whether and how to notify the public about sex offenders and that licensees cannot get that information for buyers or tenants (N.J.A.C. 11:5-6.4(e)). For the fair housing side of neighborhood questions, see the Law Against Discrimination.

Off-site conditions

Some things that affect value are not on the lot at all. New Jersey's New Residential Construction Off-Site Conditions Disclosure Act, N.J.S.A. 46:3C-1 et seq., defines nine off-site conditions: federal Superfund (National Priorities List) sites, sites on DEP's master list of known hazardous discharge sites, overhead electric transmission lines of 240,000 volts or more, electrical transformer substations, underground gas transmission lines, large sewer pump stations and trunk lines, sanitary landfills, public wastewater treatment facilities and airport safety zones. Municipal clerks keep lists of these conditions. The Commission rule uses the same nine in its own off-site notice requirements.

For new construction, giving the statutory notice counts as full disclosure of off-site conditions, even if a clerk's list is missing or wrong, and is a defense to a claim that the seller failed to disclose them (N.J.S.A. 46:3C-10). The Commission rule likewise treats the licensee's new-construction notice as meeting the licensee's off-site disclosure duty. On a resale the printed notice is not enough when you actually know about a condition: you tell the buyer before they sign.

Lead paint, radon and the other disclosures

The property condition statement is one of several disclosure systems that can apply to the same sale. A few to keep separate:

• Lead-based paint. For most housing built before 1978, federal law requires sellers, landlords and their agents to disclose known lead-based paint and hazards, hand over available records, give the EPA pamphlet and, for sales, give buyers a 10-day chance to test. That is a separate federal form with its own rules, and we will cover it in its own post.
• Radon. The form's radon section asks about testing and mitigation and includes a waiver, because N.J.S.A. 26:2D-73 otherwise keeps radon test and treatment information confidential.
• Flood risk. Its own statute, its own section of the form and a landlord version too. The flood post linked above covers it.
• Fuel tanks. The form asks about above- and below-ground tanks and closure certificates for unused ones (items 54, 55, 80 and 81).

For the broader New Jersey picture, the NJ disclosures study guide puts these side by side, and property disclosures covers the national rules.

How this shows up on the PSI exam

The national portion's Property Disclosures section lists the seller's property condition disclosure requirements, property conditions that may warrant inspections or a survey, environmental issues requiring disclosure, and disclosure of material facts and material defects. The New Jersey portion includes disclosure requirements under the statutes and rules governing licensee activities. The general national rule is that sellers and their agents must disclose known material defects and cannot misrepresent. New Jersey adds specifics worth memorizing: inquiry plus a visual inspection as the minimum effort, a signed statement obtained by the listing firm since August 1, 2024, the stigma rule that turns on whether someone asks, and the off-site notice.

Watch for answer choices that turn a licensee into a home inspector, or that let a licensee stay silent because the seller said so. Both are wrong. When you are ready, try a full practice exam.