29 May Minnesota Radon Disclosure Requirements

Minnesota Radon Disclosure Requirements have Changed

Rising health concerns have spurred lawmakers to make changes to the Minnesota Radon Disclosure Requirements, and here’s what they look like:

Effective January 1, 2014, the Minnesota Radon Awareness Act requires specific disclosure and education be provided to would-be home buyers during a residential transaction. This means that before signing a purchase agreement to sell or transfer the property the seller must disclose in writing to the buyer any knowledge of radon gas within the home.

This includes:

1. Whether or not a radon test has been administered on the property

2. If such a test has occurred, an up-to-date report on radon gas levels in the home

3. A detailed description of the existence of radon gas along including any attempts at mitigation or remediation of the issue

4. If a mitigation system is in place, a description of the system including documentation

5. And a radon warning statement (as if the potential home buyers had not already grasped the gravity of the situation)

The “Radon in Real Estate Transactions” statement can be found here. This is the “Radon in Real Estate” section of the disclosure form, but the gist is “if you have not been assured that radon levels are safe within the home by the seller, get a radon test.”

What complicates the issue is that it does not matter if the home is old or new, the only way to ascertain whether or not radon gas is present is to conduct a radon test. The Minnesota Department of Health estimates that 2 in 5 homes built before 2010 and 1 in 5 homes built since 2010 exceed the 4 pCi/L (picocuries per liter) threshold required for radon mitigation. 

For more information on how to mitigate the presence of Radon gas, click here to see my blog post on Radon mitigation!

To have any questions answered, simply call me at 612-889-6496 or send an email to [email protected].  I’ll be happy to chat with you about the new rules and regulations.