What Texas law requires of a seller
Under Section 5.008 of the Texas Property Code, whoever sells residential property with a single dwelling unit has to hand the buyer a signed notice describing its condition. A ready-made version, form 55-1, sits on the Texas Real Estate Commission's site.
The notice records the seller's knowledge as of the signing date and nothing beyond it. Where the seller truly has no idea, "unknown" is a lawful answer. Printed in capitals across the form is a reminder that it is no warranty and no stand-in for the buyer's own inspections.
Foundation questions on the form
- Known defects
- The seller marks whether they are aware of defects in a list that includes the foundation or slab, walls, ceilings, floors, doors and windows.
- Settling and soil movement
- A later question bundles settling and soil movement together with landfill and fault lines.
- Previous repairs
- The seller is asked about previous structural or roof repair.
- Drainage
- Improper drainage gets a tick box of its own.
- Permits
- The form asks about room additions, structural modifications or other alterations or repairs made without necessary permits.
- Coastal property
- It warns that property on the Gulf side of the Intracoastal Waterway may need a beachfront construction certificate or dune protection permit for repairs.
Timing, and the buyer's way out
Delivery is due no later than the contract's effective date. Sign before the notice turns up and the buyer gains a seven-day window, counted from the day it does arrive, to cancel without stating a reason.
The statute carves out certain deals: foreclosures, bankruptcy trustees, estates being wound up, one co-owner buying out another, and brand-new houses nobody has occupied. Run any exemption you hope to lean on past a lawyer or broker first.
Practical steps
What each side should gather
Sellers
Decide early and document it
Have the house measured before you list, so you know what you are disclosing. If you repair, keep the engineer's plan, the closed permit and the warranty, and find out how the warranty transfers. If you sell as it stands, a written evaluation lets buyers price the issue instead of fearing it.
Buyers
Use the option period
If the disclosure or your home inspection mentions movement or past repair, bring in an engineer or a foundation company while you can still walk away. Ask the seller for the repair records, and call the company that did the work to confirm the warranty and the steps to transfer it.
Read this page as a plain-English outline of the statute. Decisions in a live sale belong with your broker, title officer or lawyer.
Questions from buyers and sellers
The house was repaired years ago. Is that a bad sign?
Not necessarily. A documented repair with an engineer's plan, a closed permit and a transferable warranty can be reassuring. The test is whether the floors still sit where that repair put them, and a fresh set of elevation readings answers it.
Can I sell without fixing the foundation?
Yes. Texas requires disclosure of what you know, not repair. Whether a buyer's lender will finance the house is a separate question for the lender.
Ready for someone to measure the house?
Dial the number and say what you have noticed. A foundation repair firm covering your part of the Coastal Bend answers, books a visit, and afterward sends its report and price under its own name. That firm is a separate business from this website.
Wall, ceiling or floor shifting while you watch? Gas in the air? Get everybody outdoors, then phone 911 or the gas utility.
House foundations only
Call (361) 217-1905Corpus Christi Foundation Repairs refers callers and repairs nothing itself. Calls may be recorded. Details: referral disclosure.