The law
What a Tennessee seller must put in writing
Under the Tennessee Residential Property Disclosure Act, in an ordinary home sale the owner gives the buyer one of two documents. The first is a disclosure statement on the condition of the property, including any material defects the owner knows about. The second is a disclaimer saying the property is sold as is, which the Act allows only where the buyer agrees to waive the disclosure.
The Act does not make an owner investigate. It covers what the owner knows. A crack you have watched grow, a repair you paid for and a report you were handed are all things you know.
A separate section applies whichever document is used. Before a contract is signed, the seller must disclose in writing any known sinkhole on the property, whether or not it is drawn on the recorded plat. The same section requires a seller who knows that the house was moved from one foundation to another to say so.
Both sides of the table
Practical steps
If you are selling
- Gather every paper on the foundation: inspection reports, engineer's letters, the repair contract, the permit and final inspection, the warranty.
- Ring the installer and learn whether its warranty can move to the purchaser, and by what procedure.
- Decide with your agent whether to repair before listing or to disclose and let the price reflect it. A written proposal from a repair company gives both sides a figure to work from.
- Answer the disclosure form from what you know. Guessing in either direction causes trouble later.
If you are buying
- Treat the disclosure form as the seller's knowledge, not as an inspection. The Act itself tells buyers they may wish to get professional advice.
- If the home inspector flags the foundation, book a structural engineer or foundation company at once so the result arrives inside your inspection period.
- Ask for the paperwork on any earlier repair, and call the company named on the warranty to confirm it will honour a transfer.
- Look at the recorded plat and the yard for mapped or visible depressions. Around Murfreesboro that is a normal question, not an insult.
After a repair
A repaired foundation and its paper trail
Buyers and lenders are generally more comfortable with a problem that was found, engineered, permitted and repaired than with fresh paint over an old crack. What persuades them is the file: who diagnosed it, what was installed and where, who inspected it, and what warranty remains.
If you are having work done with a sale in mind, tell the company. Ask for a pier location drawing and the installation log, and make sure the permit is closed out.
Questions
About selling and buying
Can I sell as is and say nothing?
The disclaimer route exists, but only where the buyer waives the disclosure, and the written sinkhole disclosure applies regardless. Speak to an agent or attorney before relying on it.
The seller's form says no known foundation problems, but I can see cracks. What now?
The form reports what the seller knows. Have the house inspected by someone qualified during your inspection period and negotiate from that report.
Who pays for the inspection in a sale?
Whoever orders it, normally. A buyer usually pays for an engineer's report on a house under contract. Repair companies set their own charges for sale-related inspections.
One phone call
Speak with a foundation repair company near Murfreesboro
Mention the crack, the dip or the lean, name the room, and give the month you first spotted it. Whoever picks up belongs to a Middle Tennessee foundation outfit whose only tie to this website is the referral. They can pencil in an inspection and follow it with a written price.
A house that is cracking as you listen, a wall on the point of failing, gas in the air: everybody outside first, then 911 and the gas company.
Expect the call to be recorded. Two short pages cover the rest: who pays for referrals and what becomes of call details.