Seller disclosure requirements in Georgia

Is a disclosure form required by law?

No Georgia statute I found creates a mandatory seller property-disclosure form. What sellers disclose is shaped by three things: court decisions on fraud, the contract the parties sign, and a few specific statutes.

In Dennis v. Wohlgemuth (Ga. Ct. App. 2022), the sellers completed “the required seller’s disclosures” because the purchase agreement said they would. That is a contract term. The court treated the form as part of the deal, and the buyer had a contract right to terminate after receiving it.

What is the seller’s legal duty?

The Court of Appeals describes the baseline this way: caveat emptor “is a common-law doctrine which serves as the general rule with regard to the purchase of realty.” The exception is fraud. When “the seller of a house knows the house has serious defects and fails to disclose the defects to the buyer who is unaware of the defects and could not have discovered them in the exercise of due diligence, the suppression of the facts constitutes fraud.”

Georgia courts recognize fraud in a home sale in three forms: a willful misrepresentation, active concealment (steps to hide a defect) and passive concealment (knowing of a defect and keeping quiet).

The duty has limits. The same court wrote that “all the seller is required to do is to disclose any defect that could not be discovered by a reasonable inspection,” and that the seller need not guarantee the quality of repairs. Its obligation “covers only hidden defects.”

What must the seller’s broker disclose?

A different rule applies to the listing broker. Under O.C.G.A. § 10-6A-5(b), a broker engaged by a seller must timely disclose to all parties:

1. Adverse material facts about the physical condition of the property and its improvements, including material defects and environmental contamination, that the broker actually knows and that “could not be discovered by a reasonably diligent inspection” by the buyer.
2. Material facts about adverse physical conditions in the immediate neighborhood, within one mile, that the broker actually knows and the buyer could not find through a diligent inspection or reasonably available public records, such as zoning ordinances, plats and flood-plain maps.

The statute also says a broker has no duty to discover these facts, must not knowingly give buyers false information, and is not liable for other omissions “absent a finding of fraud.” The law defines “material facts” as facts that “a party does not know, could not reasonably discover, and would reasonably want to know” (§ 10-6A-3(11)).

What sellers do not have to disclose

O.C.G.A. § 44-1-16 says no cause of action arises against an owner, broker or agent for failing to disclose that a property:

• is or was occupied by a person with a virus or disease that medical evidence shows is highly unlikely to be transmitted through occupancy; or
• was the site of a homicide, another felony, a suicide, or a death by accidental or natural causes.

There is a catch. The owner or broker must still answer truthfully, to the best of their individual knowledge, any question a buyer asks on those topics, unless federal or state law, including fair housing law, prohibits answering.

Federal lead-based paint rule (homes built before 1978)

Federal law adds a written disclosure for most housing built before 1978. According to the EPA, before the buyer signs a contract the seller and agent must:

• give the buyer the EPA lead pamphlet, “Protect Your Family From Lead In Your Home”;
• disclose any known lead-based paint or hazards and give the buyer all available records and reports;
• include a Lead Warning Statement in or attached to the contract;
• allow a 10-day period for a paint inspection or risk assessment, unless the parties agree otherwise in writing or the buyer waives it;
• keep the signed disclosure for three years.

The rule does not apply to housing built after 1977, to foreclosure sales, to zero-bedroom units such as lofts and dormitories, or to housing where a certified inspector found no lead-based paint. A seller, landlord or agent who fails to comply may face penalties.

Flood disclosure: a bill that has not become law

A 2025-26 bill, House Bill 618, would have required sellers of one-to-four family homes to say in writing whether they know of a flood, flood-related repairs or insurance claims during their ownership. The legislature’s own summary of acts enacted in 2026 does not list it, and the 2026 code-cleanup act repealed the reserved Code section it targeted (§ 44-1-18). I found no Georgia statute requiring flood-history disclosure. A flood that damaged the structure and that the seller knows about can still count as a defect under the fraud rule. See flood insurance before you buy in a low-lying area.

What happens if a seller does not disclose?

A buyer who proves fraud has two choices: affirm the contract and sue for damages, or promptly rescind the sale and sue in tort (Dennis, citing O.C.G.A. § 13-4-60). Proving it is hard. The elements include a false representation, the seller’s knowledge and justifiable reliance. A buyer who “could have protected” herself by due diligence cannot show reliance. In Dennis the buyers lost because the seller’s form and the buyer’s own inspector flagged the structural problems, and the buyer never followed up.

Buyers should hire an inspector, read every disclosure and ask follow-up questions in writing. Sellers should answer fully, and may want a real estate attorney. The home inspection cost guide explains what an inspection covers.