Mandated Disclosures
Disclosure obligations arise from statute, regulation, and the common-law duty to disclose latent material defects. West Virginia requires sellers of residential property (generally one to four units) to deliver a written property disclosure statement addressing known defects in structure, systems, water, sewer, and environmental hazards, subject to statutory exemptions such as court-ordered transfers, foreclosure sales, and transfers between co-owners. The form is not a warranty; it discloses known facts.
Federal requirements
Lead-based paint for pre-1978 housing: disclose known lead hazards, provide the EPA pamphlet, and allow a ten-day inspection period. Flood zone notices, fair housing disclosures, and the Closing Disclosure round out the federal set.
West Virginia specifics
Mineral rights dominate. West Virginia law requires disclosure of severed coal, oil, gas, and other mineral interests and of known mining activity. Because mineral estates are frequently severed from the surface, a buyer may own the surface and little beneath it. Mine subsidence, abandoned wells, and steep-slope conditions are regional concerns buyers ask about.
Other common items
Agency relationship disclosure, HOA or POA dues and covenants, pending assessments, known code violations, and stigmatized property (agents generally need not volunteer, but may never lie).
Traps
Describing the disclosure form as a guarantee, forgetting the ten-day lead inspection right, and treating "as-is" as wiping out the duty to disclose known latent defects.
Rule of thumb: disclose what you know, in writing, early - and keep proof of delivery.