Selling a Home With or Near Pyrrhotite

Selling is where this crisis stops being an engineering problem and becomes a legal and financial one. The good news: you have more options than most sellers realize, and one of them meaningfully protects your price. The bad news: the instinct to say as little as possible is the single most expensive mistake you can make.

Here's the honest map — what you must disclose, what you may keep to yourself, and what to do before you list.

The short version

• In Connecticut, disclosure is mandatory and asks about pyrrhotite by name.
• In Massachusetts, there is no general seller-disclosure statute — but that is not permission to conceal, and the distinction is narrower than "buyer beware" makes it sound.
• Testing before you list can preserve your buyer's eligibility for Connecticut's replacement program. If nobody tests before the sale closes, your buyer may be permanently locked out of CFSIC — which is exactly the kind of thing that kills a deal or guts your price.
• A Connecticut CFSIC claim can transfer to your buyer, with their place in line intact — though how solid that claim is depends heavily on its status.

Test before you list — this is the part most sellers miss

If you take one thing from this page, take this one, because it is counterintuitive: testing may increase what your house is worth, even if the result is bad.

CFSIC's rules include a purchase-date gate. For a residential building purchased on or after February 1, 2019, where the buyer knows the building (or an addition or garage) was built in 1983 or later, that buyer is only eligible to apply to CFSIC as a Type 1 or Type 2 claimant if the buyer or the seller tested for pyrrhotite, or had a visual examination for evidence of pyrrhotite, prior to the date of sale.

Read that again, because the consequence is large. If your house sells with no test and no severity-graded visual exam on file, your buyer may have no path to the program at all — no replacement funding, on a problem that costs six figures to fix. A well-advised buyer will find this out, and it will show up in their offer or in their decision to walk.

Details that matter:

• Either party's test counts — yours or the buyer's — as long as it was done before the sale.
• The buyer must actually hold the report. CFSIC's guidance is stricter than "a test happened somewhere." The report needs to be in the buyer's possession at the time of sale and dated before closing, or the application can be rejected. Hand over the document; don't just mention it exists.
• The report doesn't expire. There is no time limit on the validity of the engineer's written report or the core test for satisfying this requirement.
• A visual exam is often enough. If the visual examination comes back Severity Class 3 or 2, no core test is required. A core test is only needed for a Class 1 foundation — no visible damage — and note that registering a Class 1 requires the core test to come back positive for pyrrhotite. A negative result means no claim.

One practical trap: if you want Connecticut's testing reimbursement, the visual examination must be performed by a licensed professional engineer. The Department of Housing will not reimburse an examination done by a CFSIC-certified home inspector, even though CFSIC itself accepts one for claim purposes. Connecticut reimburses the visual inspection 100% up to $400 and two core samples at 50% up to $2,000, subject to program requirements including a 20-mile radius of the former J.J. Mottes plant in Stafford Springs (waivers exist). See Foundation Testing Reimbursement, and confirm current funding with CRCOG before you rely on it.

Connecticut: what you are required to disclose

Connecticut is not a caveat emptor state for residential sales, and it addressed pyrrhotite directly.

The Residential Property Condition Report is mandatory. Under the Uniform Property Condition Disclosure Act (CGS § 20-327b), a seller of residential property of one to four dwelling units — including cooperatives and condominiums — must give the prospective buyer this report before they sign a binder, purchase contract, option, or lease-with-option. Note that the statute exempts several transfer types, including sales by executors, administrators, trustees or conservators, transfers between co-owners, gifts to close family, and foreclosure or deed-in-lieu transfers. Estate and foreclosure sales in this region are common, so check whether you're exempt.

The report asks about pyrrhotite. Since October 1, 2019, the report includes a question asking whether you have any knowledge related to the presence of pyrrhotite in a foundation on the property. Alongside it are questions about knowledge of any testing or inspection of a foundation by a licensed professional, and any repairs related to a foundation. The report also carries an advisory recommending that prospective buyers have a concrete foundation inspected by a licensed professional engineer who is a structural engineer.

A point of precision worth having, because it's widely muddled: the ordinary report asks what you know about pyrrhotite, testing, and repairs. A separate Residential Foundation Condition Report, which asks about damage or deterioration in a concrete foundation, is required only in narrow circumstances — broadly, transfers of property in a CRCOG-designated town that was acquired by a political subdivision, through strict foreclosure or foreclosure by sale, or by deed in lieu.

The $500 credit is not an opt-out. This is the most dangerous misunderstanding in Connecticut. If you fail to furnish the report, you must credit the buyer $500 at closing (CGS § 20-327c). Sellers sometimes conclude they can buy their way out of disclosing for $500.

The statute forecloses that directly. Since January 1, 2020, § 20-327c(b) provides that a seller who credits the buyer is not excused from disclosing a defect that is subject to disclosure, within the seller's actual knowledge, and that significantly impairs the value of the property, the health or safety of future occupants, or its useful life. It also gives the purchaser an express civil action for actual damages against a seller who fails to disclose such a defect. Separately, misrepresentation on the report has supported claims in Connecticut courts.

Translation: the $500 is a penalty for not handing over a form. It is not a license to conceal what you know. If you are weighing this, talk to a Connecticut real estate attorney rather than a message board.

There are also two optional REALTOR® forms. Connecticut REALTORS® publishes a Concrete Advisory and Disclosure for Sellers and Buyers and a Foundation Advisory for Buyers. Per CT REALTORS®' own guidance, both are optional — no law requires them, a seller may decline to complete one, and completing one is not a condition of CFSIC eligibility. Neither substitutes for the mandatory Residential Property Condition Report.

If you have a CFSIC claim, it can go with the house

This provision makes an affected Connecticut home more sellable, and many sellers don't know it exists — but read the limits before you market it as a selling point.

CFSIC has always allowed Active Type 1 claimants to transfer a claim. Since July 13, 2020, that was extended to Inactive and Pending Type 1 claimants as well, provided the foundation has not yet been remediated. The transfer happens through a formal Claim Transfer Agreement, dated concurrently with the sale, and the buyer takes the claim at the status and financial value it held when signed — including the seller's position in the adjustment sequence.

The limits and traps:

• Type 2 (reimbursement) claims cannot be transferred. Only Type 1.
• Not once construction has started. CFSIC will not permit a transfer where any phase of remediation is underway.
• A Pending or Inactive claim is not a guarantee. The Claim Transfer Agreement states that where the claim is Inactive or Pending at the time of transfer, CFSIC may at any time and at its sole discretion remove the claim from further consideration — meaning it may never be paid, in whole or in part. Since most newer claims are "Tier 2 Pending," this applies to a large share of transfers. Be honest with your buyer about which kind you hold; overselling it invites exactly the dispute you're trying to avoid.
• Your Participation Agreement does not simply assign. It's terminated and a new one issued in the buyer's name against a recorded deed. Any construction contract is cancelled and the contractor refunds CFSIC's deposit; the buyer re-engages a CRCOG-approved contractor or obtains two new proposals.
• Only you or your attorney can file the paperwork. ESIS and the Superintendent's office accept the transfer forms from the original claimant or their counsel — not from a real estate agent and not from the buyer.
• Your buyer inherits deadlines. A 180-day deadline to sign a new CFSIC-approved construction contract applies; CFSIC's process page ties it to transfers involving a signed construction contract while the agreement itself states it more broadly, so have ESIS confirm which applies to your claim. The buyer must also own and occupy the home as their principal address for at least 365 days after the Certificate of Completion.
• No chaining. A buyer who receives a transferred claim cannot transfer it onward.
• Both parties sign a broad release of CFSIC and its Superintendent, officers, directors and service providers.

Start early. This involves ESIS, the Superintendent's office, and your contractor, and it is not something to discover three weeks before closing.

Massachusetts: "buyer beware," with real limits

Massachusetts still operates substantially under caveat emptor. As a practical matter, a Massachusetts seller must disclose very little — the statutory requirements are essentially lead paint and the septic system.

Three things narrow that considerably:

• You may not misrepresent, and you may not actively conceal. Saying nothing is different from painting over a crack or answering a direct question falsely. Affirmative misstatements and active concealment can expose a seller to common-law fraud and misrepresentation liability. (If you're selling in the course of a business — a builder, investor, or flipper — Chapter 93A is also in play. Massachusetts courts have held 93A generally does not reach a purely private, one-off home sale, but it does reach brokers, agents, and sellers acting in trade or business.)
• Your agent has their own obligations. Under Massachusetts regulations governing real estate licensees (254 CMR 3.00), brokers and salespeople have an affirmative obligation to disclose known material defects in real property, and violations can cost them their license. Those duties are theirs regardless of what you would prefer. If you tell your agent, your agent has a problem to solve.
• Buyers have a protected inspection right. Regulations effective October 15, 2025 (760 CMR 74.00, adopted under the 2024 Affordable Homes Act) prohibit sellers and their agents from requiring or encouraging a buyer to waive a home inspection, and require a written disclosure of the inspection right signed before or at the first purchase contract. They apply to residential buildings of one to four units, condominium units in buildings of any size, and cooperatives, with exemptions including foreclosures, certain family transfers, and new construction sold with a one-year warranty. Note the rule constrains sellers and agents — a buyer may still voluntarily choose to skip an inspection. But you can no longer solicit that waiver, which means affected foundations are far more likely to be found.

There is no Massachusetts statutory pyrrhotite disclosure — yet. The state's Crumbling Concrete Stakeholder Working Group, in its March 31, 2026 final report, recommended creating one modeled on the lead-paint disclosure, and noted it would require legislation. The report is blunt about the gap: affected homes "may be sold without adequate testing or disclosure, transferring significant financial risk to unsuspecting buyers."

Be careful with what you read elsewhere: a number of real estate blogs state flatly that Massachusetts law requires pyrrhotite disclosure. As of the state's own March 2026 report, it does not. A voluntary Massachusetts Association of REALTORS® concrete and foundation advisory form is in circulation and your agent may use it, but it is a trade-association form, not a statute.

One forward-looking note: the working group floated adopting a version of Connecticut's rule, under which a home purchased after a future remediation program is in place would be ineligible for grant funding if it wasn't tested at purchase. As drafted, that would not reach a sale closing today — so don't let anyone tell you a sale now disqualifies your buyer from a Massachusetts program. Testing is still worth doing on its own merits, and Massachusetts reimburses it (below).

What it does to price, financing, and insurance

Financing is the hard constraint. Lenders are generally unable to extend credit on a property with unresolved foundation problems until repairs are done. In the language of Massachusetts's working group, such properties are "generally considered to have no lendable value until appropriate remediation occurs," and are often appraised subject to repair. Practically: a confirmed, unremediated foundation shrinks your buyer pool toward cash buyers and renovation-loan borrowers. That, more than the disclosure itself, is what moves your price.

Don't count on an appraisal to flag or absolve anything, either. In one Connecticut case a lender sued an appraiser who missed a crumbling foundation; the trial court dismissed the claim, relying on the appraisal's own limiting conditions and unrebutted expert testimony that detecting crumbling foundations is the province of a home inspector or structural engineer rather than an appraiser. It was a trial-level decision in a lender's suit, so don't read it as a rule — but the practical lesson holds: a clean appraisal is not evidence of a sound foundation.

Insurance: you can keep it, but it won't pay for this. Two separate questions get conflated constantly.

• Can the policy be cancelled? Connecticut's Insurance Department issued guidance in October 2015 that insurers should not cancel or non-renew a homeowner's policy because of a crumbling or deteriorating foundation, extended to condominium master policies in January 2017. Massachusetts's Division of Insurance issued a comparable bulletin in October 2021. Both are supervisory guidance rather than statutory bars.
• Will it pay to replace the foundation? Almost certainly not. In three companion cases decided November 12, 2019 — Karas, Vera, and Jemiola (officially released in 2020) — the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled for the insurers, holding that "collapse" requires the structure to have actually collapsed or be in imminent danger of it. Karas also held that the policy term "foundation" unambiguously includes basement walls, so the foundation exclusion applies.

For Connecticut sellers there's a sequencing consequence: CFSIC is a payer of last resort and requires a written declination from your insurer before it pays. If you already have one, it carries over to your buyer on a claim transfer.

Your realistic options

Replace, then sell. The cleanest outcome and the highest price, but it means a project of roughly $150,000–$250,000, living elsewhere for a couple of months, and — if you're using CFSIC — waiting in the queue. See what replacement really costs.

Sell with a transferable claim. Often the best balance in Connecticut. You do the paperwork, not the construction. Strongest when your claim is Active or you hold a fully executed Participation Agreement; weaker, and worth disclosing as such, when it's Pending.

Test, disclose, and price it in. Sometimes the right answer, particularly for Severity Class 1 homes where deterioration hasn't started. You're selling certainty, which is worth more than ambiguity — an untested house in the zone gets priced for the worst case by any careful buyer.

Sell as-is without testing. Possible in both states, provided you complete Connecticut's disclosure report honestly and don't conceal what you know anywhere. But understand the cost: in Connecticut you may be stripping your buyer of CFSIC eligibility, and a buyer who learns that mid-transaction will re-trade or walk. This usually costs more than the test would have.

While you still own the home in Connecticut, don't leave the property-tax reduction on the table. Under CGS § 29-265d, an owner with a written evaluation from a licensed professional engineer showing a foundation made with defective concrete may give it to the town assessor and request reassessment; the assessor must act within 90 days or before the next assessment year, whichever is earlier. The reassessment applies until the next revaluation takes effect or the foundation is repaired or replaced, whichever comes first — an earlier five-year rule was repealed in 2021. If you repair or replace, you must notify the assessor in writing within 30 days.

A few common questions

Your next step

If you're thinking about listing in the zone, get a severity-graded visual examination by a licensed professional engineer before you do anything else. It's reimbursable, it protects your buyer's eligibility, and it converts the scariest unknown in your transaction into a known quantity you can price.

If you already have a CFSIC claim, call the Superintendent's office about a Claim Transfer Agreement before you accept an offer — not after.

Our free Homeowner's Pyrrhotite Checklist covers the documentation to assemble, and the CFSIC claims process explains what your buyer is inheriting.

Related: buying

This page is general information for homeowners, not legal, real estate, tax, or engineering advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client or agency relationship. Disclosure obligations, program rules, figures, and deadlines change, and how they apply depends on the specifics of your property and transaction. Consult a licensed real estate attorney in your state — and confirm current program details with CFSIC, CRCOG, or the Massachusetts program — before acting. Rules and figures verified as of July 2026.Last verified: 2026-07-31