How to Complete and Deliver the NC Residential Property Disclosure Statement

If you’re selling a home in North Carolina, the NC Residential Property Disclosure Statement is a form you fill out yourself describing what you know about the property’s condition, then deliver to the buyer no later than the moment they make an offer. The official version is REC 4.22, published by the North Carolina Real Estate Commission, and it applies to almost every sale of a residential property with one to four units.¹ Get it wrong and you invite a lawsuit. Deliver it late and the buyer can walk away from the signed contract with their deposit.

Where to Get the Official Form

Download REC 4.22 directly from the Real Estate Commission’s forms page at ncrec.gov. The current version was revised in May 2024.² The statute requires the Commission to develop and maintain this form, so there is no acceptable substitute.³ Older PDFs floating around online or a form a friend used last year can create problems, so pull a fresh copy before you start.

The form is free. It does not need to be notarized or witnessed. You sign and date it; the buyer signs to acknowledge receipt. If more than one person is on the deed, every owner signs.²

How to Answer Each Question

Every item on the form takes one of four responses: Yes, No, No Representation, or Not Applicable.² Picking the right one is the whole job.

Yes (Y) means you know of a problem, defect, or malfunction with that item. If you answer Yes, you need to explain in writing in the space provided, or attach a report from a qualified professional (engineer, contractor, pest control operator, home inspector) describing the issue.
No (N) means you have no actual knowledge of a problem. It is not a guarantee that no defect exists. It just says you personally are not aware of one.
No Representation (NR) means you are declining to say anything about the item. The form openly warns the buyer that NR might mean you know something and are not sharing, or might mean you simply do not know. Picking NR puts the burden of investigation on the buyer.
Not Applicable (NA) means the question does not fit the property, like marking NA for the septic question when the home is on city sewer.

The form is based on what you actually know. You have no legal duty to climb into the crawl space or hire inspectors just to answer the questions. But answering No when you are aware of a defect is the fastest route to a fraud claim after closing. When you are genuinely uncertain, NR is safer than guessing No. When you know there is a problem, say so and explain it.

What the Form Asks About

The statute requires the form to cover at least six categories: water supply and sewage; roof, foundation, and other structural components; plumbing, electrical, heating, and cooling; wood-destroying insects; zoning and land-use restrictions; and environmental hazards including lead-based paint, asbestos, radon, methane, underground storage tanks, and toxic materials.³ The actual form groups these into sections on structure and exterior, HVAC and electrical, plumbing and water, fixtures and appliances, and land and zoning.

A few questions trip people up. The septic section asks for the number of bedrooms the septic permit allows and the date the system was last pumped. The water supply section asks whether the source is city, private well, shared well, or community system. The structural section asks the year the home was built and whether the exterior contains asbestos. Pull your permits, old inspection reports, and any records from past repairs before you sit down with the form.

The form also asks whether you currently live in the home. If you’ve never occupied it, answer every question based on whatever you do know; the answer is not automatically NR.²

Using an Expert Report Instead

If you are not sure about a technical item, you can satisfy your disclosure obligation by attaching a written report from a qualified expert. N.C.G.S. § 47E-6 lets you discharge your duty using a report from a public agency, an attorney, engineer, land surveyor, geologist, pest control operator, contractor, or home inspector, as long as the report covers something within that expert’s competence.¹ If you reasonably relied on the expert and were not grossly negligent, errors in the report are not on you.

The Second Form: Mineral and Gas Rights

North Carolina requires a separate Mineral and Oil and Gas Rights Mandatory Disclosure Statement for most residential transfers. REC 4.25 is also free from ncrec.gov.⁴ It asks whether you know of any prior severance of mineral or oil and gas rights from the property.⁵

You can answer No Representation on the severance questions, and if you do, you have no duty to investigate whether a prior owner sold off those rights. This form applies even in situations where the main property disclosure does not, including first sales of newly built homes and transactions where the parties agreed to waive the standard disclosure.⁵ If you’re skipping the main form for any reason, do not skip this one.

Lead-Based Paint Disclosure for Pre-1978 Homes

If the home was built before 1978, a separate federal rule stacks on top of the state forms. Under the EPA’s lead-based paint disclosure rule, you must:⁶

Disclose everything you know about lead-based paint and lead hazards in the home, including the location and condition of painted surfaces.
Hand over any records or reports you have about lead hazards.
Give the buyer a copy of the EPA pamphlet “Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home.”
Include the required lead warning statement in the contract.
Allow the buyer a 10-day window to conduct a lead inspection or risk assessment (the parties can agree in writing to a different timeframe, or the buyer can waive it).
Keep a signed copy of all lead disclosures for at least three years after closing.

The federal rule does not apply to homes built in 1978 or later, zero-bedroom units (unless a child under six lives there), short-term rentals of 100 days or less, housing certified lead-free by a certified inspector, or foreclosure sales.⁶

When You Must Deliver the Form

Deliver the completed, signed disclosure to the buyer no later than the time the buyer makes an offer.⁷ In practice that means attaching it to the listing or giving it out during showings, so prospective buyers have it before they sit down to write an offer. You can deliver it as a standalone document, inside the purchase contract, or as an addendum.

What Happens if You Deliver It Late

Delivering the disclosure after the buyer has already made an offer gives the buyer a right to cancel the resulting contract without penalty and get back any deposit. The cancellation window closes at whichever of these happens first:⁷

The end of the third calendar day after the buyer receives the disclosure.
The end of the third calendar day after the contract was formed.
Settlement or occupancy by the buyer (in a sale or exchange).
Settlement (in a lease with option to purchase).

The buyer cancels by delivering written notice to you or your agent, either by hand or by properly addressed U.S. mail with postage prepaid, inside that window. Miss the window and the buyer loses the right permanently. From your side, timing is the whole game: a late form hands the buyer an easy, no-cost exit from a contract you may badly want to keep.

Updating the Disclosure Before Closing

Your job is not finished when the buyer signs. If something on the form becomes materially inaccurate between delivery and closing, either because you learn something new or because conditions change, you have to promptly deliver a corrected statement.⁸ A pipe bursts in the week before closing; a pre-closing walk-through turns up termite damage you didn’t know about; a storm takes shingles off the roof. Each of these is a reason to update the form or make the repair.

Failing to correct a material inaccuracy or make the needed repairs opens up whatever contract remedies the buyer has, usually tied to the standard clause requiring the property to be in substantially the same condition at closing as on the offer date, minus normal wear and tear. That can mean renegotiation, a demand for repairs, or termination.

When the Form Isn’t Required

A handful of transfers are fully exempt from the property disclosure under N.C.G.S. § 47E-2(a):⁹

Court-ordered transfers, including estate administration, bankruptcy, eminent domain, writs of execution, and decrees for specific performance.
Foreclosure-related transfers: trustee or mortgagee deeds when the debt is in default, foreclosure sales, and deeds in lieu of foreclosure.
Transfers between co-owners who already share the property.
Transfers to a spouse or to someone in your direct line of ancestry or descent (parent, child, grandparent, grandchild).

The first sale of a newly built home that has never been occupied is exempt from the standard property disclosure but still requires the mineral and gas rights form.⁹ The same partial exemption covers some lease-with-option contracts and sales where both sides agree in writing to waive the standard disclosure. Outside those narrow categories, if the property has one to four units and you’re transferring it to a buyer, the form is required, whether you’re using an agent or selling it yourself.

1
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code Chapter 47E – Residential Property Disclosure Act
2
North Carolina Real Estate Commission. Residential Property and Owners’ Association Disclosure Statement
3
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 47E-4 – Required Disclosures
4
North Carolina Real Estate Commission. Mineral and Oil and Gas Rights Mandatory Disclosure Statement
5
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 47E-4.1 – Required Mineral and Oil and Gas Rights Disclosures
6
US EPA. Real Estate Disclosures about Potential Lead Hazards
7
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 47E-5 – Time for Disclosure; Cancellation of Contract
8
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 47E-7 – Change in Circumstances
9
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 47E-2 – Exemptions