Selling in Pennsylvania After a Mold Problem: Reading Section 19 of the Disclosure Form

By John Calhoun, owner of Mold Remediation Gettysburg PA · Updated October 29, 2026

“We had a little mold in the basement a few years back. Do we have to say anything?” The honest answer is that Pennsylvania’s form asks you directly. Under the state’s Real Estate Seller Disclosure Law, the seller of a one- to four-unit home generally has to hand the buyer a signed statement of known material defects, and it has to happen before anyone signs the agreement of sale. The statute doesn’t use the word mold, but the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors’ form does, in two plain questions. You don’t have to test. You do have to answer what you know, and paperwork from a proper repair is the best thing you can hand a buyer.

I’m a mold contractor, not a lawyer. This page explains the public rules and the moisture side. For your sale, talk to your agent and a real estate attorney.

What the law actually requires

The statute is short and readable. The parts sellers ask about most:

And the definition that does the heavy lifting: a material defect is a problem that would have a significant adverse impact on the value of the property or involves an unreasonable risk to people on it.

The two mold questions on the form

Here’s a detail most sellers don’t know. Mold isn’t named in the statute or in the State Real Estate Commission’s basic form, whose hazardous substances question lists, including but not limited to, asbestos, PCBs, radon, lead paint and urea-formaldehyde. It’s the Realtors’ Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement, the one most agents use, that asks about it by name. Its section on mold and indoor air quality asks:

1. Are you aware of any tests for mold, fungi or indoor air quality in the property?
2. Other than general household cleaning, have you taken any efforts to control or remediate mold or mold-like substances?

The same form asks about water leakage, accumulation or dampness in the basement or crawl space, any repairs to control water or dampness, past or present water elsewhere in the house, and whether the roof has leaked during your ownership. Mold almost always comes with one of those, so expect to answer several questions about the same event.

Why a written report matters

This is where my work and the law meet. The statute says a seller isn’t liable for a defect they had a reasonable belief had been corrected, and that a written report from a contractor or inspector, given to the buyer, can protect the seller as to what that report covers. That’s a strong reason to keep paperwork from any mold job: what was found, where the water came from, what was fixed, what was removed and the moisture readings at the end. The EPA’s own test for a finished cleanup is that the moisture problem is fixed, no visible mold or moldy odor remains, and a later revisit shows no new water damage or growth.

What a buyer’s side pays attention to, too: FHA appraisal guidelines tell appraisers to report evidence like a water-stained ceiling or the smell of mold in an attic or crawl space and make the appraisal subject to inspection or repair, and to notify the lender if a basement isn’t free of dampness. A musty basement can slow a sale even when nobody says the word mold.

What can go wrong

A 2018 Superior Court case, Medlock v. Chilmark Home Inspections, shows how these play out. Months after closing, the buyers opened an access panel and found wet, rotting wood and soaked insulation. The court found the sellers’ “no” answer on a disclosure question about alterations violated the law, but that claim failed because no one proved damages caused by the omission. The buying side of the same case is on buying a house with a past mold problem. The lesson for sellers is simple: answer the questions as asked, and don’t count on the outcome of a lawsuit.

Older houses, longer water histories

In Gettysburg borough the median home went up in 1942, by the Census Bureau’s estimate, so a lot of houses here have had a leak or two by now. FEMA’s flood insurance records add 83 claims in ZIP 17325 going back to 1978. If your house has a past leak, a sump story or a basement that was dried out once, the form will ask about it. The Gettysburg housing data page has those numbers, and if you’re near the creeks, homes near Stevens Run and Rock Creek covers the flood map side.

Before you list

Fix the source, document the repair and have the moisture readings in writing. A seller who hands over a folder answers most buyer questions before they’re asked. Buyers reading this side of it can start with buying a house with a past mold problem.

This is John Calhoun at Mold Remediation Gettysburg PA. If you’re getting ready to list, I’ll check the trouble spots and give you a plain written report of what I found. What I check, and how, is on the list of mold services; the bigger picture is on mold remediation in Gettysburg, PA.