Missouri Seller Disclosure Rules in Plain English
Sellers ask us whether they can “just sell as-is and skip disclosure.” In Missouri those are two different ideas. As-is is about who does repairs after the contract. Disclosure is about telling the truth you already know.
I am David Dodge, Senior Buyer at House Sold Easy. Michael Slane and I buy St. Louis houses for cash, as-is, and we still ask what you know is wrong. We are not a law firm. This post walks the statutes in plain English. It is not legal advice. Read the Revisor links. If the file is messy, hire a Missouri real estate attorney.
The matching sell-now pages are sell your house as-is in St. Louis and can I sell a house as-is in Missouri?. Those pages are the offer path. This page is the rule explainer.
There is no single statewide seller form in Chapter 442
Chapter 442 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri covers ownership and conveyance of property. It does not set out a fill-in-the-blank statewide seller’s disclosure that every house sale must attach. What you often see in a listed sale is a Missouri Association of Realtors packet, or a similar brokerage form. That is contract practice. It is not a statute we can quote as “the official Missouri form.”
RSMo 339.190 talks about a “seller’s disclosure” in the context of when a real-estate licensee is immune from liability for what is in that document. A licensee is not the subject of an action for information in a seller’s disclosure unless the licensee is a signatory to it, or knew before closing that a statement was false, or acted in reckless disregard of whether it was true. That is a licensee rule. It is not a command that every for-sale-by-owner or cash seller use one official state PDF.
RSMo 339.770 is a different form entirely. In a residential transaction, a licensee must give a written copy of the current broker disclosure form prescribed by the Missouri Real Estate Commission at the first substantial contact with a person who has not already signed a written services agreement. That form is about agency (who the broker represents) not about the roof, the basement, or the sewer lateral.
If your agent or title company hands you a disclosure booklet, read it and answer it honestly. Do not copy a neighbor’s packet. Do not treat a blank page as a strategy.
What Missouri does require in writing
Two conveyance statutes in Chapter 442 are easy to miss because they are not part of a general “condition of the house” form.
Methamphetamine. RSMo 442.606 requires a seller or transferor who has knowledge to disclose in writing that the property was used as a site for methamphetamine production. The seller must disclose that knowledge even if the people involved were never convicted. The same section requires written disclosure when the premises was the residence of a person convicted of listed meth-related crimes, or was the storage site or laboratory for substances tied to those convictions, if the seller knew or should have known of the convictions. The listed crimes include creation of a controlled substance, certain paraphernalia and child-endangerment provisions, and other meth-related offenses the statute names. Read the section. Do not summarize it from memory at the closing table.
Radioactive or other hazardous contamination. RSMo 442.055 requires written disclosure to a prospective purchaser, lessee, or transferee when the owner, seller, landlord, or other transferor has knowledge that the premises is or was previously contaminated with radioactive material or other hazardous material. The statute defines “knowledge” as receipt of a report stating affirmatively that the premises is or was previously contaminated. Failure to disclose when that knowledge exists is a class A misdemeanor under that section.
If you have an environmental report in a drawer, do not hide it. Give it to the buyer and to title. If a written report landed on your kitchen table, the statute’s definition of knowledge is pointing at that paper.
Neither section is legal advice about your facts. Open the official text before you decide a cash sale is a way to stay silent.
What Missouri says you need not treat as a required disclosure
RSMo 442.600 says a parcel that “may be a psychologically impacted real property,” or that sits near one, is not a material or substantial fact that must be disclosed in a sale, exchange, or other transfer. “Psychologically impacted” includes a homicide or other felony, a suicide, or occupancy by a person infected with HIV or diagnosed with AIDS, or with another disease medical evidence has determined is highly unlikely to be transmitted through occupancy of a dwelling. The statute also says no cause of action arises against a real-estate agent or broker for failing to disclose that status.
Federal lead-based paint: most houses built before 1978
Federal law still requires lead-based paint disclosure on most target housing built before 1978. That is EPA’s Section 1018 rule, not a Missouri form. The official page is the EPA lead-based paint disclosure rule (Section 1018). St. Louis has a lot of pre-1978 brick. “As-is” does not waive that federal packet.
This post will not reprint the pamphlet. The dedicated explainer is lead paint disclosure when selling a St. Louis house. If your house is old enough that the paint might be original, assume the packet applies until title or your attorney says otherwise.
Use the official EPA page. Do not download a random “lead form” from a listing mill.
Occupancy reports are not the same as disclosure
A City Housing Conservation certificate or a municipal occupancy punch list is an inspection product. It can reveal defects. It does not replace the meth, contamination, or lead rules above, and it does not replace telling a cash buyer what you already know.
City occupancy inspections check against the International Property Maintenance Code. That is a minimum-standards look, not a warranty. Read St. Louis occupancy and inspection permits and selling a house with City code violations. If the inspector left a list, give us the list. Do not assume the certificate is a substitute for a seller’s statement about a known leak.
As-is still means tell what you know
On our cash sales you do not have to paint, roof, or empty the garage. You still should not hide a known material problem. Missouri’s Merchandising Practices Act (Chapter 407) is the state’s consumer-protection chapter. We are not going to brief every subsection here, and this is not a Chapter 407 opinion. The practical seller rule: if you know the basement takes water, say so. If a contractor told you the sewer is clay and broken, say so. We price as-is after a 30-minute walkthrough anyway.
Do I need repairs to sell? is the yes/no on work. The answer is no, not because disclosure vanished, but because we buy the house in current condition and put the work into the number.
If you already told a plumber the furnace died, tell us. Title companies read emails.
How this shows up in a House Sold Easy file
We have been buying houses in this metro since 2016. About 90% of our deals are on the Missouri side. The rest are Metro East. The disclosure conversation does not change because the house is in South City or unincorporated South County. The occupancy office changes. The statutes above do not.
- You call 636-525-1566 or send the address.
- We ask what you know is wrong, roof, basement, sewer, notices, reports.
- David Dodge or Michael Slane walks the house about 30 minutes. No cleaning required.
- Title collects the documents the file needs: payoff letters, a lead packet if the house is pre-1978, any municipal papers you already have, and whatever written meth or contamination disclosure the statutes require if those facts exist.
Process: how it works. Closing day: what happens at a cash closing. Typical close is about two weeks when title is ready. We typically cover our standard closing costs. Our office is at 1750 S Brentwood Blvd, Suite 503, Brentwood, MO 63144.
We do not hand you a fake “state form” with our logo on it. If you need counsel, hire counsel. People find us on Google at 4.7 from 65+ reviews because we stay in our lane: we buy the house.
Common mistakes we see
Treating a realtor booklet as optional, then answering it from memory a year after you moved out. If you do not know, say you do not know.
Confusing the broker disclosure form with a property-condition form. RSMo 339.770 is agency. It does not describe the water heater.
Assuming a cash buyer “does not care.” We care about title, authority to sell, and the environmental facts the statutes name. We do not care whether the kitchen is original.
Assuming City occupancy is the only paper that matters. Occupancy is a municipal product. Meth, contamination, and lead live elsewhere.
Common questions
Can I refuse to fill out an agent’s disclosure if I sell to you?
Our file is a cash purchase, not an MLS listing. Title and federal lead rules still apply. We will tell you what we need on your file. We will not coach you to skip a statute.
Do I have to disclose a death in the house?
RSMo 442.600 says psychological impact of that kind is not a required disclosure. Ask your attorney if a buyer asks a direct question.
Does “as-is” let me skip the lead packet on a pre-1978 house?
No. Federal Section 1018 is not a Missouri listing custom. See the EPA rule and the lead-paint post.
Is this legal advice?
No. Read the Revisor links. Hire counsel for your facts. House Sold Easy buys houses. We do not represent you.
Who writes the offer?
David Dodge or Michael Slane. Call 636-525-1566.