Ed Neuhaus 
Six new disclosure requirements are coming to the Texas Seller’s Disclosure Notice. TREC proposed the changes on February 9, 2026, and the public comment period runs through late March. If you’re planning to sell a home in Austin or the Hill Country anytime this year, you need to understand what’s changing before the new forms land on your kitchen table.
The Texas Real Estate Commission is updating the disclosure notice (TREC No. 55-0) based on direction from the Sunset Advisory Commission. And they’re creating an entirely new form, the Water Notice (TREC No. 61-0), that didn’t exist before. So yeah, this isn’t a minor tweak. Lets walk through every change and what it actually means for you as a seller.
Why TREC Is Updating the Seller’s Disclosure Notice
The short version: the Sunset Advisory Commission told them to.
Every state agency in Texas goes through periodic Sunset review. TREC’s review identified gaps in what sellers are required to disclose, particularly around insurance, water rights, and environmental issues. The proposed amendments to 22 TAC Chapter 537 address those gaps.
But here’s the thing most sellers miss. The current Seller’s Disclosure Notice under Texas Property Code Section 5.008 already requires you to disclose what you know about your property’s condition. That’s the law right now. These new changes just make specific items explicit, so there’s less room for “well, nobody asked me about that.” Which, if I’m being honest, is probably overdue.
If you’ve already been through a sale recently and filled out the existing disclosure form, you know it’s 14 sections of checkboxes and written explanations. The new version adds to that. And if you sold a property before and skipped a few boxes because they seemed optional (no judgment, everybody does it), the new form is going to make that harder.
The Six Changes Coming to Texas Seller Disclosures
Lets break down each one. I’ll tell you what the change is, why it matters, and what you should be doing about it right now.
1. New Water Notice: Groundwater and Surface Water Rights (TREC No. 61-0)
This is the biggest change. TREC is creating an entirely new standalone form, separate from the existing Seller’s Disclosure Notice. The Water Notice requires sellers to disclose what they know about groundwater and surface water rights on their property.
What you’ll need to disclose:
- Whether the property is in a Groundwater Conservation District
- Whether there are water wells on the property
- Information about surface water and water courses
- Any water rights associated with the property
Why this matters in the Austin market: if you’re selling in Dripping Springs, Bee Cave, Wimberley, or anywhere west of Austin that runs on well water, this is directly about you. And honestly, it should have existed years ago. I’ve seen buyers discover well water issues after closing because nobody was required to fill out a specific form about it.
The Hill Country sits on the Edwards Aquifer and Trinity Aquifer systems. Groundwater districts regulate pumping through permits and production limits, and the rules change from one district to the next. A seller who knows their well produces 3 gallons per minute (barely functional) but doesn’t volunteer that information? Under the new rules, there’s a specific form where that question gets asked directly.
Robert Greene talks about information asymmetry being the root of every bad deal. This form levels the playing field, which is better for everyone. Buyers get the information they need, and sellers who are honest about their property (which should be everyone right) don’t get blindsided by lawsuits later.
2. Property Insurance and Windstorm Coverage
Sellers will now need to disclose whether the property is currently covered by homeowners insurance, including windstorm insurance, and whether the seller has been unable to insure the property for any reason.
Ok, lets talk about why this one is a bigger deal than it sounds.
Texas homeowners insurance premiums have gone up roughly 55% since 2019. The statewide average hit $3,291 in 2024. In the Austin metro, you’re looking at $2,400 to $4,500 per year depending on your coverage level and dwelling value. Hail damage alone cost Texas insurers $4.93 billion in 2024. That’s billion with a B.
So what’s happening in practice is that some properties are genuinely difficult to insure. Maybe the roof is 20 years old. Maybe there’s been a claim history. Maybe the property is in an area with elevated wildfire or flood risk. And right now, a buyer can close on a house and then discover they can’t get insurance at any reasonable price, or in some cases, at all.
The new disclosure forces this conversation to happen before the contract is signed, not after. If you’re a seller and you’ve had trouble getting insurance, you need to know that this is coming. If your premiums jumped 40% last year and your carrier dropped you, the buyer deserves to know that too.
For Austin sellers specifically: if you’re in the Hill Country where wildfire risk has been increasing, or in a flood zone near creek beds, check your insurance status now. Not when you list. Now. Because if you can’t answer these questions on the disclosure form, that’s a red flag to buyers and their agents.
3. Private Road Maintenance Responsibilities
The updated disclosure requires sellers to tell buyers if there’s a private road on or adjoining the property that the buyer would be financially responsible for maintaining.
This one is huge for the Hill Country. Drive five minutes outside Lakeway or Dripping Springs and you’ll hit private roads everywhere. Some are maintained by HOAs. Some are maintained by road maintenance agreements between property owners. And some are maintained by… well, hope and prayer, which is a problem.
I’ve worked deals where the buyer didn’t realize until after closing that they were jointly responsible for maintaining a quarter mile of gravel road shared with three neighbors, none of whom agreed on when or how to maintain it. That’s an expensive surprise. Grading and maintaining a private road can run $5,000 to $15,000 per year depending on length and condition.
Under the new rules, sellers have to disclose this upfront. If you’re selling a property on a private road, dig up your road maintenance agreement before you list. If you don’t have one (and a lot of Hill Country properties don’t), that’s actually useful information for the buyer too.
4. Above Ground Storage Tanks Over 500 Gallons
Sellers must now disclose any above-ground storage tanks on the property that exceed 500 gallons and have stored petroleum products or other chemicals.
This is more of a rural and ranch property issue, but it matters for larger lots in the Hill Country too. Think propane tanks, diesel fuel storage for generators or farm equipment, or any chemical storage related to agricultural use. A 500-gallon propane tank is pretty standard for a Hill Country property that isn’t on natural gas lines (which is a lot of them west of Bee Cave).
The key detail: the form asks about tanks that HAVE stored these products, not just tanks that currently store them. So if there’s an empty tank on the property that used to hold diesel, that’s disclosable. I know that sounds picky but trust me, environmental liability from a leaking tank is one of those things that can turn a $500,000 sale into a $600,000 headache real fast.
5. Conservation Easements
The disclosure now requires sellers to state whether the property is located in a conservation easement.
Conservation easements are more common around Austin than most people realize. They’re voluntary agreements where a landowner gives up certain development rights (usually to a land trust or government agency) in exchange for tax benefits. The easement runs with the land, meaning it binds future owners too.
Here’s why that matters: if you buy a 10-acre property thinking you’ll subdivide it someday, and there’s a conservation easement restricting development, that plan is dead. The easement typically limits what you can build, where you can build it, and how the land can be used. And it’s permanent. We’re talking 30 years to perpetuity in most cases.
A lot of properties in the greenbelt corridors west and southwest of Austin carry these easements. The Hill Country real estate market has plenty of them, particularly along creek corridors and wildlife habitats. Sellers who took the tax benefits when they placed the easement need to disclose it clearly so buyers know exactly what they’re getting.
6. Generators Added to Improvements Section
The term “generators” has been added to Paragraph 2B (Improvements) of the Seller’s Disclosure Notice.
This is the smallest change on the list but it reflects something real. Whole-home generators have become way more common in the Austin area since the 2021 winter storm (you remember that one right). If you installed a Generac or similar standby generator, that’s now specifically called out as an improvement you need to disclose. Condition, age, fuel source, whether it works.
Not a big deal for most sellers. But if your generator is the reason the buyer is paying a premium for your property, making sure it’s properly disclosed and properly maintained protects everyone.
What Austin Sellers Should Do Right Now
The proposed rules haven’t been adopted yet. The public comment period runs through late March, with earliest adoption around March 29, 2026. But here’s the thing. Smart sellers don’t wait for the rules to become mandatory. They get ahead of it.
Audit Your Property Today
Walk through the six new disclosure items and document what you know:
- Water: Are you on well water? Do you know what Groundwater Conservation District you’re in? When was your well last tested? What’s the flow rate?
- Insurance: Is your property currently insured? Have you been dropped or non-renewed? Have you had difficulty getting coverage?
- Roads: Is your property on or adjacent to a private road? Who maintains it? Is there a written maintenance agreement?
- Tanks: Are there storage tanks over 500 gallons? What have they stored? Current condition?
- Easements: Is your property in a conservation easement? What are the restrictions?
- Generator: Do you have a standby generator? Make, model, age, fuel type, last service date?
Get a Pre-Listing Inspection
I’ve been recommending pre-listing inspections for years and this is another reason why. An inspector can identify potential disclosure issues before they become surprises during the buyer’s due diligence period. Better to find out about that aging propane tank or the well flow rate now than to have a buyer discover it and use it to renegotiate your price down.
Talk to Your Insurance Company
Call your insurer. Get a current declarations page showing your coverage. If you’ve had claims, get a CLUE report (that’s the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange, basically your insurance history). Buyers are going to ask about this stuff. Having the documentation ready shows you’re serious and it builds trust. Which, at the end of the day, is what gets deals closed.
Benjamin Graham’s whole thing was that the best investment decisions happen when all the information is on the table. Same principle applies to selling a house. Transparency doesn’t hurt sellers. It protects them.
Don’t Panic About Timing
If you’re listing your home right now, today, you’ll be using the current disclosure forms. But here’s my advice: disclose these things anyway. Even if the new form isn’t mandatory yet. Why? Because Texas law already requires you to disclose known material facts about your property. These new categories just make specific items harder to dodge.
And look, if you’re selling a property in Bee Cave, Lakeway, or Dripping Springs where well water, private roads, and conservation easements are common, your buyer’s agent is probably going to ask about this stuff regardless of what form is currently required. Better to have it ready than to scramble.
How This Connects to the Bigger Picture
These disclosure changes are part of a larger trend in Texas real estate. TREC has been busy in 2026. The January form updates addressed buyer representation and contract language. Now the seller side is getting attention.
The pattern is clear: more transparency, more documentation, less room for “I didn’t know.” And honestly? Good. I’ve been doing this for 19 years and the deals that go sideways are almost always the ones where information was missing or unclear. These new Texas seller disclosure requirements don’t create more work for honest sellers. They create accountability for the ones who weren’t being straightforward.
If you’re thinking about selling in 2026, the pricing strategy and staging matter. But so does your paperwork. The sellers who have clean, complete disclosures from day one are the sellers whose deals close on time. The ones who scramble to answer questions during the option period are the ones who lose buyers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Need Help Getting Your Disclosures Right?
Lets be real, paperwork isn’t the fun part of selling a house. But it’s the part that keeps you out of trouble. If you’re selling in Austin or the Hill Country and want to make sure your disclosures are tight before you list, give me a call. I’ve helped hundreds of sellers through this process and I can walk you through exactly what buyers and their agents are going to ask about.
Be safe, be good, and be nice to people.
