Seller Disclosure in Colorado: What the SPD Form Requires

A Colorado seller must disclose every adverse material fact about the property that the seller actually knows, in writing, on the Colorado Real Estate Commission's Seller's Property Disclosure form before the buyer signs the contract. The seller does not have to inspect, guess or research; the seller has to tell the truth about what they know, from the crack in the foundation to the radon test in the basement drawer.

This is the general Colorado guide. A home with major defects needs the companion post on what to disclose when selling a house in poor condition. The Kenna Real Estate Group at Keller Williams DTC walks every seller through the form section by section before the listing goes live, and the how to sell a house in Colorado guide shows where it sits in the timeline.

What the Seller's Property Disclosure is and who fills it out

The SPD is a Commission-approved form that the seller completes personally. Colorado brokers are barred from filling it in for the seller; the listing agent delivers it and explains it, but every checkbox and every comment is the seller's. The buyer receives it with the listing or before signing the Contract to Buy and Sell, and the contract sets a deadline for the seller to deliver it. A seller who answers a question with "do not know" when they do know has made a false statement.

Each section asks the same thing in a different room: are you aware of any problem, past or present, with this item? Answer yes, no, or do not know, and use the comment lines. More words protect the seller; fewer words protect no one.

The SPD form section by section

• Structural conditions: foundation, floors, walls, ceilings and drainage. On the Front Range this is the expansive bentonite clay question: heaving slabs, stair-step cracks, doors that stick in spring, French drains and piers that were added. Disclose the engineer's report if one exists.
• Roof: age, leaks, past hail claims and repairs. A roof replaced after the 2023 or 2024 hail storms goes in the comments with the year and the contractor.
• Appliances: anything included that does not work as designed.
• Electrical and telecommunications: aluminum branch wiring, a Federal Pacific or Zinsco panel, ungrounded outlets, a service upgrade. A seller unsure of a panel's condition hires a residential electrician for an hour before listing and discloses the finding.
• Mechanical: furnace, air conditioning, water heater, humidifier, sump pump, sprinkler system and their known problems.
• Water supply and sewer: the source of water, well permit, septic system, sewer line backups and any sewer scope on file.
• Environmental: radon test results and mitigation, mold, asbestos, lead-based paint, underground storage tanks, flooding and drainage, methamphetamine, mine subsidence and expansive soils.
• Common interest community: whether the home is in an HOA, dues, special assessments proposed or approved, violations and pending litigation.
• General and legal: zoning violations, unpermitted work, easements, encroachments, boundary disputes, leased solar panels and other equipment leases, pending assessments and lawsuits.

What actual knowledge means

The form asks for the seller's current actual knowledge. It does not ask what a reasonable owner should have noticed, and it creates no duty to hire an inspector. Three points follow from that:

• Fixed is still known. A basement that flooded in the 2013 storms and was repaired is a yes with a comment, not a no.
• Told is known. A prior inspection report, an insurance adjuster's note, a neighbor's warning about the shared fence line, or a plumber's mention of a bellied sewer line all count.
• Estates and investors still answer. A personal representative who never lived in the house answers what they know and marks the rest do not know; that is honest, and it puts the buyer on notice to inspect harder.

Radon: required since August 2023

Since August 2023 every Colorado seller of a residential property must give the buyer a radon warning statement, disclose any known radon test results and any mitigation system, and provide the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's radon brochure. The language is built into the Commission's disclosure form. Colorado sits in the EPA's highest radon zone, and a test result above 4.0 pCi/L in the drawer is an adverse material fact whether or not the seller mitigated. The radon and the Denver home purchase post shows how buyers test during inspection.

Lead-based paint: every home built before 1978

Federal law requires the seller of any home built before 1978 to give the buyer the EPA lead pamphlet, a signed lead-based paint disclosure listing known paint hazards and any reports, and a 10-day window to test, which the buyer can shorten or waive in writing. That covers most of Denver's Baker, Berkeley, Park Hill and Washington Park housing and the pre-war blocks of Littleton, Golden and Fort Collins. A seller who knows of lead paint, from a prior test or a renovation contractor's notice, lists it.

Methamphetamine

A Colorado seller who knows the property was used to manufacture, process or store methamphetamine must disclose it, and the Colorado contract gives the buyer the right to test for contamination. The exception: a property that was cleaned to the state's standards by a certified contractor, with the clearance documentation, is treated as remediated and the prior use does not have to be disclosed. Keep the clearance paperwork with the title documents; it will be asked for.

Water, well and sewer

The Colorado contract carries its own source of potable water disclosure: municipal, well, cistern or other. A well transfers with a Division of Water Resources permit and the change-of-owner form, and the SPD asks about the well's yield and water quality tests. A septic system in Jefferson, Boulder, Larimer and several other counties needs a transfer inspection and a use permit before closing. A sewer backup, a scope that found roots or a belly, or a repair on the line between the house and the main is disclosed in the water and sewer section; in Denver's pre-1960 neighborhoods it is the most common item buyers sue over.

Pests, water damage and past repairs

Past infestations count when the seller knows of them, including termite treatment, rodent problems in an attic or crawlspace, and bat colonies in mountain-adjacent homes in Evergreen and Boulder. Water damage from a burst pipe, an ice dam, a failed water heater or the May 2023 storms is disclosed along with the repair and whether an insurance claim was filed; the buyer's insurer will see the claim history anyway. Other states have tightened the same rules: North Carolina's Real Estate Commission added a flood-history question to its form in 2024, and the Colorado form already asks about flooding and drainage. The post on water damage history before closing shows what buyers look for.

HOA, metro district and oil and gas

For a home in a common interest community the contract requires the seller to deliver the governing documents, the most recent financials and budget, meeting minutes and the HOA status letter by a deadline, and the seller pays or splits the HOA transfer fees. The contract also carries the special taxing district notice; a metro district levy is not a defect, but its size is disclosed through the tax bill. The contract's oil and gas activity notice covers surface use and mineral rights, which matter in Weld and Adams counties and in parts of Aurora and Broomfield. The Denver HOA rules and fees guide lists the documents and the metro district tax guide explains the levy.

What does not have to be disclosed in Colorado

Colorado statute says that a death on the property, including a homicide or suicide, a felony committed there, or a prior occupant's diagnosis with HIV are not material facts and do not have to be disclosed. A seller asked directly is still barred from lying, so the answer is "I am not required to answer that" rather than a false no. Cosmetic wear, the age of a working furnace, the neighbor's dog and the seller's reason for selling are not adverse material facts either. Nearby registered offenders are not the seller's duty; buyers check the public registry themselves.

Is Colorado buyer beware?

Partly. Colorado buyers carry the duty to inspect, and the contract gives them an inspection objection deadline to do it. The old rule of caveat emptor still covers defects a competent inspection would find. It does not cover defects the seller knew and concealed. Colorado courts hold a seller liable for fraudulent concealment when the seller knew of a latent defect, knew the buyer did not, and stayed silent or painted over it.

What happens after closing if something was hidden

The buyer who finds a covered-up defect writes a demand letter with the contractor's estimate. The Colorado contract requires mediation before either side files suit. If the seller knew, the claim is fraudulent concealment or negligent misrepresentation, and the buyer recovers the cost of repair or the loss in value, and in some cases attorney fees under the contract's prevailing-party clause. The listing agent faces the same claim when the agent knew. The defense that wins is the SPD comment line: a defect written on the form in February cannot be hidden in June.

Selling as-is does not remove the duty

An as-is sale in Colorado means the seller will not repair or credit inspection items. It does not remove the SPD, the radon and lead disclosures, or the duty to disclose known adverse facts. A seller who wants no repair negotiation writes that in the listing, fills out the form completely and prices for condition. The selling page covers how the Kenna Real Estate Group prices an as-is home from sold comps.

What the listing agent must disclose

Colorado brokers must disclose adverse material facts they actually know to the buyer, whether or not the seller wants them to, and must not fill in or alter the seller's SPD. The broker also gives the buyer the Commission's brokerage relationship disclosure. A seller who tells the agent about a defect has put the agent under the same duty, which is one more reason the form is the place to write it.

Where to go next

• How to sell a house in Colorado
• The Colorado Home Seller's Guide
• Inspection red flags that kill Denver home sales
• What to disclose when selling a house in poor condition
• Kenna Real Estate Group agents
• Search every home for sale in Colorado

Talk to the Kenna Real Estate Group

The Kenna Real Estate Group at Keller Williams DTC sits with every seller and the SPD before the listing goes live, orders the sewer scope and radon test ahead of the buyer, and prices the home so the disclosures are priced in instead of negotiated later. Call or text 303-955-4220. A live person answers. Not a robot, not a phone tree. When the next home is part of the plan, search every home for sale in Colorado.