2.3 South Carolina Property Condition Disclosure

The Statute: Residential Property Condition Disclosure Act

South Carolina's seller-disclosure law is the Residential Property Condition Disclosure Act, codified at S.C. Code Title 27, Chapter 50. It requires the owner of residential real property to deliver a completed and signed Residential Property Condition Disclosure Statement to the purchaser before a real estate contract is signed (Section 27-50-50), or as otherwise agreed in the contract.

The law reaches more than a simple cash sale. It applies to:

• Sales and exchanges of residential real property
• Installment land sale contracts
• Lease-with-option-to-purchase agreements

Section 27-50-30 exempts certain transfers from the statement requirement, including court-ordered transfers (foreclosures, probate), transfers between co-owners or to a spouse/relative, transfers by a fiduciary administering an estate or trust, and transfers of newly constructed property never occupied. Memorize the pattern: the exemptions cover transfers where the transferor would not realistically have lived-in knowledge of the property's condition.

The Owner's Two Response Options (Section 27-50-40)

This is the most commonly mis-taught point. Under Section 27-50-40, for each characteristic or condition the owner may indicate either:

1. That the owner has actual knowledge of the characteristic or condition (and then describes it), OR
2. That the owner is making NO REPRESENTATION as to that characteristic or condition.

The owner is not required to inspect or investigate the property. Choosing "no representation" is a lawful option for items the owner genuinely does not know about. The statement is the owner's honest report of knowledge — it is expressly not a warranty or guarantee of condition.

Key trap: An exam item may offer "Yes / No / Unknown / Not Applicable" as the answer. The statutory framing is actual knowledge versus no representation; the owner's obligation is good-faith honesty about what they actually know, with no duty to dig deeper.

Worked scenario: A seller inherited a house, never lived there, and genuinely does not know whether the roof leaks. The seller may lawfully mark the roof item "no representation." That is not concealment — it accurately reflects the seller's lack of actual knowledge. Contrast a seller who knows the roof leaks every spring but marks "no representation" to dodge it: that is bad-faith misrepresentation and exposes the seller to liability under Section 27-50-65, because the choice misstated what the seller actually knew.

What Must Be Disclosed

The statement covers the property's known characteristics and conditions across these categories:

Effect of Late or Non-Delivery (Section 27-50-50)

A point candidates routinely get wrong: if the owner fails to deliver the statement, the consequences are limited. Under Section 27-50-50, failure to provide the disclosure form does NOT:

• Void or make the real estate contract unenforceable
• Create a defect in title
• Provide a valid reason to delay or interfere with closing (by a party, closing attorney, or lender)

The Act does not limit any other remedy the purchaser may have at law (for example, fraud or misrepresentation claims). There is no automatic statutory "three-day right to cancel" for a late statement — that figure is a distractor.

The Licensee's Independent Duty

The owner completes the form, but the licensee has a separate, independent duty to disclose material adverse facts the licensee actually knows — facts that affect the value or desirability of the property.

Worked scenario: The owner marks the basement item "no representation," but the listing agent personally watched water pour in during a storm last spring. The agent must disclose that known material fact to buyers regardless of the owner's entry — the licensee's actual knowledge triggers an independent duty.

Federal Lead-Based Paint Disclosure

For any dwelling built before 1978, the federal Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act (Title X) overrides state exemptions:

Exam tip: Lead-based paint disclosure is FEDERAL and applies nationwide, even on transfers that are exempt from the South Carolina statement (such as some court-ordered or estate transfers).