Reviewed September 4, 2026. These articles provide general planning information. The contract, title records, property evidence, professional advice and applicable authority control each transaction.

Sellers often ask whether they must “disclose everything.” Others have heard “buyer beware” and assume the buyer alone carries the risk. Neither slogan is a safe way to handle a real property with real facts.

Ontario disclosure questions are fact-specific and legally complex. The practical starting point is accurate information, organized records and early legal advice where the duty is uncertain.

Build a factual property record

Separate what you know into clear lanes:

  • what you or others observed;
  • work that was completed and the documents available;
  • a diagnosis or recommendation from a professional;
  • repairs attempted and whether further work was recommended; and
  • conditions that remain unresolved.

Do not conceal or misrepresent a condition. Give the agent complete, accurate facts and documents; obtain legal advice about what the seller must disclose in the circumstances. The agent also has separate statutory duties.

Seller duties and agent duties are not identical

RECO explains that a seller’s legal disclosure obligation is based on Ontario case law rather than TRESA. It describes a patent defect as one discoverable through reasonable observation and inquiry; sellers generally have no duty to disclose a patent defect, but must not conceal it or misrepresent the property.

RECO describes a latent defect requiring seller disclosure as one not discoverable through reasonable care that makes the property unfit for habitation, dangerous or potentially dangerous. Whether a specific condition meets a legal test requires advice on the actual facts.

A registrant’s TRESA obligations are separate. Whether a fact is material depends on whether it would affect a reasonable person’s decision to acquire or dispose of the interest, or the terms they would accept, assessed in the particular transaction.

Use forms and records carefully

A property-information statement can help organize what a seller knows, but it is not proof that no defect exists. Be clear whether a statement is prepared for the agent’s use or is intended for interested buyers, and follow current RECO guidance.

An invoice proves what it records. An inspection report speaks to its own scope and date. A buyer’s condition or waiver is not a universal release from disclosure or misrepresentation risk.

Early organization makes the next conversations more precise. Pair this guide with the seller document-file checklist and the broader Sudbury seller checklist.

Sources reviewed September 4, 2026: RECO Bulletins 7.3 and 7.4; RECO property-information-statement guidance.

If you are preparing to sell and are unsure how a known property issue should be handled, I can help you organize the real-estate questions to discuss with your lawyer.

Expect Moore for Your Real Estate.
— Chad Moore, REALTOR®
— Lake City Realty Ltd., Brokerage