South Carolina Seller Disclosure Requirements Explained

Every seller I work with asks a version of the same question: how much do I actually have to tell them? The honest answer is that South Carolina's disclosure law is narrower than most people expect and broader than most people hope — and the parts that get sellers into trouble are almost never the parts they were worried about.

The governing law is the South Carolina Residential Property Condition Disclosure Act, Title 27, Chapter 50, Article 1 of the Code of Laws. This walks through what it requires, what it doesn't, and the three Grand Strand-specific disclosures that live outside it entirely. My complete guide to selling a home in Myrtle Beach covers where disclosure sits in the overall process; if you're on the other side of the table, the buying guide covers what to do with the form once you receive it.

Who the Law Applies To, and What the Form Covers

Under § 27-50-20, the Act applies to transfers of residential real property "consisting of at least one but not more than four dwelling units," in three transaction types: a sale or exchange, an installment land sales contract, or a lease with an option to purchase contract. A house, townhouse, condo unit, or duplex is in; five units or more, and this article isn't your statute.

Under § 27-50-40(A), the owner "shall furnish to a purchaser a written disclosure statement," on the form promulgated by the South Carolina Real Estate Commission. The statute requires the Commission to post that form for free download on its public website — you'll find it with the Commission's other forms at llr.sc.gov/re/resources.aspx, and it may be delivered electronically. The statute says the statement "must include, but is not limited to" these nine categories:

Note "but is not limited to" — the nine items are a floor, not a ceiling. Categories 7 and 9 matter disproportionately on the Grand Strand, and I come back to both below.

The Third Box: "No Representation"

This is the provision sellers understand least, and it's short. § 27-50-40(B) requires that the form "give the owner the option to indicate that the owner has actual knowledge of the specified characteristics or conditions, or that the owner is making no representations as to any characteristic or condition." § 27-50-40(C) adds that the rights of the parties "in connection with conditions of the property of which the owner has no actual or constructive knowledge are not affected by this article."

Two things follow. "No representation" is a legitimate answer where you genuinely don't know — an estate sale, a property you never occupied, a system you've never had inspected. And it is not a hiding place: checking it on something you actually know about isn't a shield, it's a knowing misstatement, and § 27-50-65 is waiting. Answer what you know, honestly and specifically. Use "no representation" where it's true, never as strategy.

When You Have to Deliver It

§ 27-50-50(A): the owner "shall deliver to the purchaser the disclosure form required by this article before a real estate contract is signed by the purchaser and owner, or as otherwise agreed in the real estate contract." In a normal listed sale here, that means the disclosure goes out with the listing so buyers have it before they write.

What failing to deliver it does not do is also spelled out, in § 27-50-50(B): failure to provide the form does not void the agreement, does not create a defect in title, and does not "present a valid reason to delay or otherwise interfere with the closing of a real estate transaction by a party including a closing attorney or lender." That surprises people on both sides of the table — a missing disclosure is neither a get-out-of-contract card nor a title problem. But § 27-50-50(C) closes with a sentence worth reading twice: "This article does not limit any other remedy available to the purchaser under law." The Act's silence isn't immunity.

The Fifteen Exempt Transfers

§ 27-50-30 lists transfers the Act does not apply to. Several come up regularly around here:

• transfers pursuant to court order — estate administration, writ of execution, foreclosure sale, trustee in bankruptcy, receiver, eminent domain, specific performance — and transfers to a mortgagee where the debt is in default;
• transfers by a fiduciary administering a decedent's estate, guardianship, conservatorship, or trust, or to a residential trust;
• transfers from co-owners solely to other co-owners; solely to a spouse or a person in the lineal line of consanguinity; or between spouses under a divorce decree, support order, or marital property distribution order;
• transfers by virtue of the record owner's failure to pay taxes; to or from the federal government; or to the State, its agencies, or political subdivisions including school districts;
• the first sale of a dwelling never inhabited — new construction;
• real property sold at public auction;
• transfers "between parties when both parties agree in writing not to complete a disclosure statement"; and
• transfers of a vacation time sharing plan under § 27-32-10(9) or a vacation multiple ownership interest under § 27-32-250.

Two deserve emphasis. New construction is exempt — buying a house nobody has ever lived in means no state disclosure form is coming, which makes your own inspection the only real information you'll have. And parties can mutually agree in writing to skip the form: a real option in a genuine estate or investor sale, but a deliberate decision to make with your closing attorney, not a shortcut.

If Something Changes After You Deliver It

§ 27-50-60 creates an ongoing duty most sellers don't know they have. If the owner discovers, after delivering the disclosure, "a material inaccuracy in the disclosure statement or the disclosure is rendered inaccurate in a material way by the occurrence of some event or circumstance," the owner "shall correct promptly the inaccuracy by delivering a corrected disclosure statement to the purchaser or make reasonable repairs necessitated by the occurrence before closing."

If the HVAC dies in week three of a contract, or a storm damages the roof, or you learn something new about the water system, that's this section. Correct it or repair it — the statute lets you do either, but doing neither is a violation.

What You're Liable For — and What You're Not

Knowing misstatements carry real exposure. Under § 27-50-65, an owner who knowingly violates or fails to perform any duty prescribed by the article, or who discloses material information on the form he knows to be false, incomplete, or misleading, "is liable for actual damages proximately caused to the purchaser and court costs," with reasonable attorney fees available to the prevailing party. That word — knowingly — is doing the work. This is not strict liability for everything wrong with your house; it targets what you knew and misstated.

The buyer still has to inspect. § 27-50-80 states the Act "does not limit the obligation of the purchaser to inspect the physical condition of the property and improvements," and that a licensee, listing or selling, "has no duty to inspect the onsite or offsite conditions of the property and any improvements."

Your agent's role is defined too. Under § 27-50-70(A), a listing agent — or any licensee working for any party — must inform each owner covered by the listing agreement, in writing, of the owner's obligations under the Act; having done so, the agent isn't liable for the owner's refusal or failure to provide a statement. Under § 27-50-70(B), a licensee isn't liable to a purchaser where the owner provided a false, incomplete, or misleading form and the licensee didn't know or have reasonable cause to suspect it.

Some things you never have to disclose. § 27-50-90 covers "psychologically affected" property: no cause of action arises for failing to disclose that the property was occupied by someone infected with a virus or disease medical evidence shows is highly unlikely to transmit through occupancy, that a death occurred on the property or its manner, or public information from the sex offender registry. The limit is in § 27-50-90(C): that shelter "does not preclude an action against an owner of real estate who makes intentional misrepresentations in response to direct inquiry from a purchaser." You don't have to volunteer it. You cannot lie about it when asked.

"As Is" Doesn't Cancel the Form

§ 27-50-110 says nothing in the article "is intended to prevent the parties to a contract of sale from entering into agreements of any kind or nature with respect to the physical condition of the property to be sold including, but not limited to, agreements for the sale of real property 'as is'."

So yes, you can sell as-is. But as-is is a contract term about who pays for repairs — it isn't an exemption from § 27-50-30, and it isn't a defense to § 27-50-65. Unless your transaction is on the exempt list or both parties agree in writing to skip the form, you still complete the disclosure, honestly.

Three Grand Strand Disclosures That Live Outside This Statute

1. Beachfront setback lines

If you own oceanfront property, a separate statute applies. Under S.C. Code § 48-39-330, a contract of sale or transfer of real property located in whole or in part seaward of the setback line or the jurisdictional line must contain a disclosure statement that the property is or may be affected by the setback line, the baseline, and the seaward corners of all habitable structures referenced to the South Carolina State Plane Coordinate System (N.A.D.-1983), and must include the local erosion rate most recently made available by the department for that zone. The statute accepts "language reasonably calculated to call attention to" those items, and notes its provisions "are regulatory in nature and do not affect the legality of an instrument violating" them. Raise it with your closing attorney early — the required content includes a coordinate reference and an erosion rate, not just a sentence. It also sits alongside a separate set of federal and municipal rules on the same property, which I cover in understanding flood zones.

2. Vacation rental agreements

This is the Grand Strand disclosure that causes the most avoidable damage, and it has its own article — the South Carolina Vacation Rental Act, Article 2 of the same chapter. Under § 27-50-250(A), a buyer of residential property subject to a vacation rental takes title subject to the vacation rental agreement and the rental management agreement for all rental periods that begin no later than ninety days after the buyer's interest is recorded. For rentals beginning more than ninety days after recording, no party has the right to enforce the agreement or the occupancy, and the tenant is due a refund of payments within forty-five days of recording. Worth telling a buyer up front: a property that stays a rental is assessed at 6% rather than the 4% legal residence ratio, which is a meaningful difference in the annual tax bill.

The seller's duties under § 27-50-250(B) are specific and time-bound:

• Before ratification of any contract of sale, disclose to the buyer in writing all future time periods the property is subject to a vacation rental.
• Within fourteen consecutive days after entering into a contract of sale or transfer of interest, whichever is earlier, disclose the buyer's name and address in writing to the rental management company.
• Within fourteen consecutive days after the transfer of interest, disclose to the rental management company the buyer's name, address, and the date the transfer was recorded.

A grantor or grantee who knowingly violates any duty in the article is liable for actual damages proximately caused to the tenant and court costs, with attorney fees available to the prevailing party. As with the main Act, § 27-50-270 says failure to disclose a vacation rental agreement to the purchaser, closing attorney, lender, or title insurer does not void the sales agreement, create an encumbrance or title defect, or create a cause of action against those parties for failing to discover it. That's not a reason to skip it — it's a reason to understand the exposure lands on the seller. If you're selling a rental, see also my investment property guide.

3. Homeowners associations — read this one precisely

§ 27-50-40(A)(9) requires the disclosure statement to state whether the property is subject to governance of a homeowners association under Chapter 30 of Title 27, and to note that this "carries certain rights and obligations that may limit the use of his property and involve financial obligations."

That's the whole disclosure obligation: whether an HOA governs the property. It is not an obligation to produce the association's governing documents, budget, reserve study, or dues history. The South Carolina Homeowners Association Act provides access rights to existing members of an association — it is not a buyer-disclosure statute.

Producing HOA documents to a buyer is nonetheless standard practice in Grand Strand transactions, typically handled through the purchase contract rather than by statute. As a seller, expect to be asked. As a buyer, ask in writing and put a contingency around reviewing them — my condo buying guide covers which documents to request and what to look for.

Federal: Lead-Based Paint on Pre-1978 Homes

Separate from South Carolina law, federal rules under 40 CFR Part 745, Subpart F apply to target housing, defined as housing constructed prior to 1978 (with exceptions for housing for the elderly or persons with disabilities and 0-bedroom dwellings, unless a child under six resides or is expected to reside there).

Before the buyer is obligated under a purchase contract, § 745.107 requires the seller to provide an EPA-approved lead hazard information pamphlet and disclose any known lead-based paint or hazards. Under § 745.110, the seller must permit the purchaser a 10-day period — unless the parties mutually agree in writing to a different period — to conduct a risk assessment or inspection, which the purchaser may waive in writing. Section 745.113 requires the contract to include an attachment with the statutory Lead Warning Statement and the seller's disclosure or statement of no knowledge.

Note the interaction: lead-based paint is also item 6 on the state form, and answering it there does not satisfy the separate federal attachment requirement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to disclose problems I already fixed? Past infestation is expressly disclosable where the damage has not been repaired. For repaired items generally, disclosing the issue and the repair is both honest and better protection than silence — a documented, properly repaired problem is a much smaller negotiating item than a discovered one.

Can I just check "no representation" on everything? You can check it where you genuinely have no knowledge. Using it to avoid disclosing something you know about is a knowing misstatement under § 27-50-65, which carries liability for actual damages, court costs, and possibly the buyer's attorney fees.

I inherited the house and never lived in it. What do I do? Check whether your transfer is exempt — § 27-50-30(3) exempts transfers by a fiduciary administering a decedent's estate. If yours isn't exempt, "no representation" is a legitimate answer for conditions you have no knowledge of. Confirm which applies with your closing attorney.

Am I still liable after closing? The Act creates liability for knowing violations and knowing misstatements, and § 27-50-50(C) preserves any other remedy a purchaser has under law. Closing doesn't erase what you knew and didn't say.

What if I discover something between contract and closing? Section 27-50-60 requires you to promptly deliver a corrected disclosure statement or make reasonable repairs necessitated by the occurrence before closing.

Get the Disclosure Right the First Time

The disclosure form is one of the few documents in a South Carolina transaction where an extra hour up front reliably prevents a problem months later. Every seller I list with gets the written notice § 27-50-70 requires, and we go through the form together, item by item, before the property hits the market.

If you're thinking about selling on the Grand Strand — a primary residence, an inherited property, or a rental with bookings on the calendar — get in touch and we'll work through what your situation actually requires. If you're buying your next place at the same time, what to bring to closing covers the other side of the table. My client resources page has the closing attorneys I work with, and current listings will show you what you're selling into.

This article explains what the statutes say; it is not legal advice. South Carolina requires a licensed attorney to conduct your closing, and disclosure questions specific to your property should go to that attorney.

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