The Form Names Radon. It Never Mentions Mold.
Pennsylvania prescribes the exact wording of the seller's property disclosure statement in regulation, at 49 Pa. Code § 35.335a. Read the whole thing and you will find asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls, radon, lead paint and urea-formaldehyde foam insulation all named explicitly in the hazardous substances section. The word mold does not appear anywhere on the form.
A lot of sellers take that silence as an answer. It is not one. The form is a floor, not a ceiling — the regulation says a disclosure statement must “at a minimum” contain those disclosures. And the statement opens by telling the seller plainly: “A seller must disclose to a buyer all known material defects about property being sold that are not readily observable.”
Mold reaches that form by three separate routes. The general duty to disclose known material defects. The basement and crawl space questions, which ask about water directly. And the catch-all at the end of the hazardous substances section asking whether you know of any other environmental concerns that might affect the property.
What the Form Actually Asks — Word for Word
These are the questions that matter if there has ever been water where it should not have been. The wording below is quoted directly from the current regulation.
| Section | The question, as written |
|---|---|
| Opening statement | “A seller must disclose to a buyer all known material defects about property being sold that are not readily observable.” |
| (3) Roofs | “Has the roof ever leaked during your ownership?” and “Do you know of any problems with the roof, gutters or downspouts?” |
| (4) Basements and crawl spaces | “Are you aware of any water leakage, accumulation or dampness within the basement or crawl space?” |
| (4) Basements and crawl spaces | “Do you know of any repairs or other attempts to control any water or dampness problem in the basement or crawl space?” — if yes, describe “the location, extent, date and name of the person who did the repair or control effort.” |
| (13) Land | “Do you know of any past or present drainage or flooding problems affecting the property?” |
| (14) Hazardous substances | Names “asbestos, polychlorinated byphenyls (PCBs), radon, lead paint, urea-formaldehyde foam insulation (UFFI), etc” — mold is not listed. |
| (14) Hazardous substances | “Do you know of any other environmental concerns that might impact upon the property?” |
Quoted from 49 Pa. Code § 35.335a (Seller property disclosure statement), text as published by the Pennsylvania Code. Highlighted rows are the ones a mold or moisture history bears on most directly. This is a description of the form, not legal advice.
Why the Water Questions Matter More Than the Mold Question
Mold is a symptom. Water is the defect. That is true structurally, and it turns out to be true on the disclosure form as well — which is why the absence of the word mold matters less than sellers hope.
If a basement has taken on water, if a sump pump has been installed, if anyone has ever attempted to control dampness down there, the form asks about it directly and by name. It then asks who did the work and when. A seller who has had a wet basement corrected has something to answer regardless of whether mold ever grew.
This cuts both ways, and it is genuinely good news for sellers. A documented moisture correction — grading, drainage, a vapour barrier, a remediation invoice with dates and a contractor's name — is a much stronger answer than a blank line. It tells a buyer the problem was identified and dealt with, rather than leaving them to imagine the worst.
If You Are Selling
Deal with it before you list. A moisture problem found on your timetable is a repair. The same problem found by a buyer's inspector eleven days before settlement is a renegotiation, and the discount a nervous buyer asks for is almost always larger than the cost of the work.
Keep the paperwork. Scope, invoice, dates, contractor name, and any post-remediation verification. The form asks for exactly those details, and having them turns an alarming disclosure into a routine one.
Fix the water, not just the stain. A buyer's inspector will find a freshly painted basement wall interesting rather than reassuring, and a moisture meter does not care what colour the wall is.
If You Are Buying
Read sections 3, 4, 13 and 14 together rather than separately. A yes on roof leaks, a sump pump, a past dampness repair and a flood-zone answer are individually unremarkable and collectively a picture.
A blank or no answer is not proof of a dry building. The disclosure records what the seller knows, and an owner who has never finished the basement or looked behind the panelling may genuinely not know. That is what the inspection is for.
If the form discloses a past water or dampness repair, ask for the documentation the form itself asks the seller to describe — location, extent, date and who did the work. If that paperwork does not exist, treat the repair as unverified rather than as done.
Common Questions
Can you sell a house with mold in Pennsylvania?
Yes. Nothing in Pennsylvania law prevents you from selling a property that has mold. What the law requires is disclosure of known material defects that are not readily observable. In practice mold found during a buyer's inspection becomes a negotiation — over price, over remediation, or over documentation that the work was done and the moisture source corrected. Sellers who deal with it before listing are negotiating from a much stronger position than sellers who find out about it with a settlement date approaching.
Does Pennsylvania's disclosure form ask about mold?
Not by name. The form prescribed at 49 Pa. Code § 35.335a names asbestos, PCBs, radon, lead paint and urea-formaldehyde foam insulation in its hazardous substances section, but it does not use the word mold anywhere. That absence misleads a lot of sellers. Mold is still reached by three separate routes on the same form: the overarching duty to disclose known material defects, the basement and crawl space questions about water leakage and dampness, and the catch-all question about other environmental concerns.
What exactly does the form ask about water and dampness?
Section 4, Basements and crawl spaces, asks whether the property has a sump pump, then asks directly: “Are you aware of any water leakage, accumulation or dampness within the basement or crawl space?” and “Do you know of any repairs or other attempts to control any water or dampness problem in the basement or crawl space?” If you answer yes to the second, the form asks you to describe “the location, extent, date and name of the person who did the repair or control effort.” Section 3 asks separately whether the roof has ever leaked during your ownership.
What does “not readily observable” mean?
It is the phrase that does most of the work. The statement opens by saying a seller must disclose all known material defects that are not readily observable. Growth behind a finished basement wall, under flooring or inside a wall cavity is the textbook example of a defect a buyer walking through the property would not see. Visible growth on an open foundation wall is a weaker case for non-disclosure, because a buyer can see it — but that is a thin distinction to rely on, and it is not one worth betting a closing on.
Do I have to test for mold before selling?
No. The disclosure obligation is about what you know, not about going and finding out. The form even asks separately whether the property “has been tested for any hazardous substances” — acknowledging that many sellers have not. Testing is a choice. What you cannot do is test, learn the result, and then answer as though you had not.
What if I remediated mold years ago?
Disclose it, and keep the paperwork. A past problem that was properly corrected and documented is a far easier conversation than one a buyer's inspector discovers with no history attached. The form specifically asks about repairs or attempts to control water or dampness problems and asks for the date and who did the work, which is precisely the situation a remediation invoice covers.
Sources, and What This Page Is Not
The form text quoted here is 49 Pa. Code § 35.335a, the regulation that prescribes the minimum content of a seller's property disclosure statement in Pennsylvania. The underlying disclosure obligation comes from Pennsylvania's Real Estate Seller Disclosure Law. Both are public and both are worth reading in full if you are on either side of a transaction.
This is a description of what a public form says. It is not legal advice, we are not attorneys, and how any of it applies to a specific sale is a question for a Pennsylvania real estate attorney or your agent. Forms and regulations also change — the text here was checked against the published Pennsylvania Code on 16 September 2026.
Talk to Someone Who Does the Work
Describe the problem and the water history. We will tell you honestly whether it needs us.