Nashville As-Is Seller Disclosures You Still Need to Make
August 6, 2026
August 6, 2026
Most Nashville sellers hear "as-is" and assume it works like a shield. Sign the disclaimer, hand over the keys, and whatever the buyer finds after closing is the buyer's problem. That is not how Tennessee law works, and the gap between what sellers think an as-is sale does and what it actually does is where lawsuits start.
The Tennessee Residential Property Disclosure Act gives sellers of one-to-four-unit residential property a choice between a full disclosure statement, a disclaimer statement, or an exemption notification. The disclaimer is only available if the buyer agrees in writing to waive their right to the full disclosure. Even then, six specific items still have to be disclosed. In Davidson County, at least two of those items come up more often than most sellers expect.
That is the thesis of this post. An as-is sale in Nashville is not silent. It is narrower, and the narrow list matters.
Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-5-202, a seller must provide a disclosure statement covering the condition of the property, including known material defects, and the form must notify buyers that they may want independent inspections and that the representations are the seller's alone, not the agent's. A seller who has not lived on the property in the past three years, or who is transferring under a court order or through certain foreclosures, may qualify for an exemption under § 66-5-209.
Two things routinely surprise sellers here. First, the statute does not clearly define "material defect," which is why disputes are common. Second, the disclaimer path only exists if the buyer signs off, and even a signed disclaimer does not switch off every reporting obligation.
"A disclaimer statement may only be permitted where the purchaser waives the required disclosure." — Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-5-202
The Tennessee legislature passed a separate cluster of statutes, §§ 66-5-212, 66-5-213, and 68-221-409, that lists conditions a seller must disclose in any real estate purchase contract. These include the presence of an exterior injection well, the results of any percolation tests or soil absorption rates performed on the property, whether a single family residence has been moved from an existing foundation to another foundation, the presence of a known sinkhole on the property, whether the property is a Planned Unit Development, and the existence of a permit for a subsurface sewage disposal system issued during a moratorium that may put the buyer under an obligation to connect to the public sewer system. These sections do not contain exceptions for buyers who opt for the disclaimer form.
In practical order for a Nashville seller, that list looks like this:
Items 1 and 2 are the ones Davidson County sellers hit most often. The rest are rarer, but a single missed item is enough to give a buyer a cause of action after closing.
Nashville sits on Ordovician limestone. Vanderbilt geology professor emeritus Molly Miller has described the bedrock as "sort of like Swiss cheese," because limestone dissolves and creates a fractured underground landscape known as karst, which makes Nashville a documented sinkhole hotspot in USGS research published in Frontiers in 2023.
The numbers are not small. Topographic maps show 609 visible sinkholes in Davidson County, and LiDAR analysis found 148 depressions over three meters deep. Metro Water Services reports 12 to 15 sinkholes each year in the city. Areas like Brentwood, Antioch, and Bellevue have frequent sinkhole activity.
Tennessee's emergency management guidance is blunt on the transaction risk. TEMA advises buyers to avoid buying a built structure on a filled sinkhole, to research the property, ask questions of the seller, observe shallow depressions and arch-shaped cracks in the soil, and check for damage on adjacent parcels.
A seller who knows the yard has a filled depression, or who paid for grouting after a soft spot appeared near the driveway, has a known condition. An as-is sale does not delete that knowledge from the file.
Many Davidson County infill developments, especially the two-on-a-lot townhome courts and cluster subdivisions built during the 2015 to 2022 wave, are legally structured as Planned Unit Developments. Owners often think of themselves as owning a detached house, and they never think of themselves as being in an HOA. When the recorded PUD plan requires shared driveway maintenance, common landscaping upkeep, or setbacks measured off a master plan rather than the parcel line, the buyer needs to know.
The disclosure form asks the question directly. A seller who checks "no" on a property that is in fact platted as a PUD has created a misrepresentation that survives any as-is language in the contract.
Nashville is not the market it was in 2021. Through the three months ending May 2026, Redfin reported a median sale price of $475,000 and an average of 70 days on market, up from 58 days a year earlier. As of June 2026, Houzeo tracked 6.83 months of inventory, a 97.25% sale-to-list ratio, and only 13.87% of homes selling above asking. Grant Hammond's 2026 outlook notes that in neighborhoods like Sylvan Park and parts of East Nashville, homes are getting showings quickly but taking longer to convert to contract as buyers negotiate more aggressively.
What that means in practice: buyers are reading disclosures line by line before they write, and again after inspection. A vague or inconsistent form is now a negotiation lever, not a formality. Under Tennessee law, buyers generally have one year from disclosure or closing to file suit for nondisclosure. A tighter market gives them both the incentive and the leverage to use that window.
Sellers sometimes assume their agent's signature or knowledge covers gaps in the form. It does not. Representations in the disclosure form are those of the seller only, not the real estate agents, the Disclosure Act applies only to sellers, and an agent cannot be sued under the Act for information in a seller's disclosure form unless the agent is a signatory. Agents carry a separate duty under the Tennessee Real Estate Broker License Act to disclose adverse facts they actually know, but that duty runs parallel to the seller's, not in place of it.
Translated: if the seller knew and did not tell, the seller is the one on the hook.
Before the sign goes in the yard, work through this list with your attorney or title team:
Does an as-is contract mean I do not have to fill out any form? No. You still have to provide either the full disclosure, a disclaimer signed by a buyer who has agreed to waive, or an exemption notification, and even a disclaimer does not remove the six items listed in §§ 66-5-212, 66-5-213, and 68-221-409.
I bought the house from a flipper who did not disclose a sinkhole. What now? Your disclosure obligation is based on what you know. If you learned about a sinkhole after moving in through repair work, drainage issues, or a neighbor, that knowledge is now yours, and it must go on the form.
How long am I exposed after closing? Under Tennessee law, buyers generally have one year from the date of disclosure or closing to bring a claim for misrepresentation or nondisclosure. Keeping copies of everything you signed, and everything you disclosed, matters.
Is a home inspection required before I disclose? No. Sellers are not required to hire inspectors or investigate. The obligation is to answer in good faith about what you actually know.
An as-is listing can be the right move, especially for estate sales, inherited property, or homes that need work the seller does not want to manage. It is not, and has never been, a license to stay quiet about the things Tennessee law requires you to say out loud. If you are preparing to list a Nashville property and want a clear read on what belongs on your disclosure form, what an as-is disclaimer actually protects, and how to handle any title or easement issues before they surface at the closing table, Kimberly Hollingshead and the attorney-backed team behind The Real Deal Radio can walk you through it before the sign goes up. Contact us to start with a strategy session.
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