Radon Testing Now Required in Most County Sales

As of October, 2016, Montgomery County law requires that a detached single-family and townhouse located in the County must be tested for radon before completing a sale of the home. The law does not apply in the sale of certain home sales, e.g., REO sale, tax sale, and administration of a decedent’s estate.  The law requires the seller to perform the radon test, or permit the buyer to perform the radon test. If the seller offers the buyer the opportunity to do the test, and the buyer chooses not to, the seller must perform the test to meet the statutory requirement that a test be performed. Both the seller and the buyer must receive a copy of the results of the radon test.  The test may be done by the seller, buyer, or third party (for example a home inspector or radon testing professional) using a testing device approved for use by the County. This law requires reporting radon results, but does not impose contingency requirements in the contract.
In drafting sales contracts, care and thought must be given to the implications of this law. For example, if a buyer neglects to make the contract contingent on radon inspection, the buyers may end up with a radon report with bad results but, have no recourse against owner to remediate the problem! For more details call me, or see Radon GCAAR Article