Residential Property Condition Disclosure Report (plus, since July 1, 2025, a separate Residential Foundation Condition Report required in limited circumstances) - both issued by the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) — Connecticut General Statutes Chapter 392, primarily Sec. 20-327b (Residential condition reports; exemptions) and Sec. 20-327c (Credit due purchaser at closing if report not furnished; exception; civil action for nondisclosure). Originally enacted as Public Act 95-311, commonly called Connecticut's "Uniform Property Condition Disclosure Act." Amended by P.A. 12-122 (2012, raised the credit from $300 to $500), P.A. 19-192 (2019, added pyrrhotite/foundation disclosure and restructured exemptions), P.A. 23-84 (2023, technical/structural reorganization, eff. April 1, 2024), and P.A. 25-33 / Substitute SB 9 (2025, adds flood-risk disclosure and a new Foundation Condition Report; signed by Gov. Lamont June 10, 2025).
Connecticut is not a pure "caveat emptor" state on paper, but functions in practice as a soft, low-teeth version of one. Sec. 20-327b requires anyone selling (or leasing with an option to buy) residential real property of four dwelling units or less, including condos/co-ops, to give the prospective buyer a written Residential Property Condition Disclosure Report before the buyer signs a binder, purchase contract, or option. Crucially, the seller's only mandatory legal consequence for simply not providing the report at all is a flat $500 statutory credit to the buyer at closing (Sec. 20-327c) — raised from $300 by P.A. 12-122, effective July 1, 2012 (note: outdated copies of the DCP form and several websites still incorrectly show $300; one official-looking DCP-hosted PDF found during this research still displays the old $300 figure, illustrating how stale versions persist online). Because a seller can lawfully skip the disclosure entirely by simply crediting the buyer $500 off the purchase price at closing, Connecticut real estate practitioners commonly describe disclosure there as "functionally optional for a fixed price," unlike states with mandatory, higher-liability disclosure regimes. That written report also carries built-in disclaimers: it does not create a warranty, and it is expressly not a substitute for inspections. That said, sellers face real exposure beyond the form: Sec. 20-327c independently creates a civil right of action letting a buyer sue for actual damages if the seller had actual knowledge of a material defect substantially affecting value, health/safety, or the property's remaining useful life and failed to disclose it — regardless of whether the disclosure form was completed. Real estate licensees also remain separately obligated to disclose known material facts under DCP regulations (Regs. Conn. State Agencies Sec. 20-328-5a), and common-law fraud/negligent-misrepresentation claims are not foreclosed by the statute. Two substantive, well-documented content requirements make Connecticut's regime more detailed than a bare caveat-emptor rule: (1) since P.A. 19-192 (2019), the disclosure report must ask about known pyrrhotite ("crumbling foundation") mineral contamination and related foundation deterioration, reflecting Connecticut's specific crumbling-concrete-foundation crisis affecting an estimated 30,000+ eastern CT homes; and (2) since P.A. 25-33 (2025), the report must add a "Flood Risk Awareness" section covering FEMA flood-zone designation, prior flood/disaster-assistance history, flood insurance status, and availability of elevation certificates — reported effective dates in secondary sources range from mid/late 2025 to July 1, 2026, so sellers and agents should confirm the current effective date and current DCP form version directly with CT DCP before relying on it. No PFAS/AFFF-specific residential seller disclosure requirement was found in current CT law; that appears to be a separate, unrelated regulatory track (e.g., a July 2026 PFAS consumer-product labeling rule) and should not be conflated with the property disclosure statute.
P.A. 12-122 (eff. July 1, 2012) raised the non-disclosure credit from $300 to $500 — a change still not reflected on some circulating copies of the DCP form and on various third-party websites. P.A. 19-192 (2019) added the pyrrhotite/crumbling-foundation disclosure questions and reorganized the statutory exemptions, and separately strengthened protections by barring insurers from cancelling/non-renewing policies solely due to a crumbling foundation and by creating a civil right of action for foundation-related nondisclosure. P.A. 23-84 (technical changes, effective April 1, 2024) reorganized subsections of Sec. 20-327c without altering the substantive $500 credit or civil-action framework. Most significantly, Public Act 25-33 (Substitute SB 9), signed by Governor Lamont on June 10, 2025 as part of a broader climate-resilience package, adds a new "Flood Risk Awareness" disclosure section to the Residential Property Condition Disclosure Report and creates or references a separate "Residential Foundation Condition Report" required in limited circumstances; secondary sources give inconsistent effective dates (some cite July 1, 2025, others describe phase-in through July 1, 2026 alongside related flood-insurance-notice mandates for lenders and landlords), so the precise current effective date and final DCP form language should be confirmed directly against the current DCP-published form and the enrolled bill text before use in any transaction.
Facts on this page reflect research current as of 2026-07-05. Programs, rates, and laws change — confirm current figures with the relevant state agency before relying on them.