Texas Property Code 5.008(c) and the seller's disclosure duty
Disclosing a Death in a Montebello Home Under Texas Law
Updated October 2026
Do I have to disclose a death in a house I am selling in Montebello, Texas?
Texas law in October 2026 requires a Montebello seller to disclose a known murder in the home or a death its condition caused, not natural causes, suicide or unrelated accidents.
Paige Martin, Houston Properties Team, Montebello
Source: Texas Real Estate Research Center article, Death & Disclosure, by a former TREC general counsel, August 2020.
Which deaths does a Texas seller have to disclose?
The Texas Real Estate Research Center, in its article on death and disclosure, starts from Section 5.008 of the Texas Property Code and its subsection (c). Under that subsection, a seller or seller's agent has no duty to disclose a death from natural causes, suicide, or an accident unrelated to the property's condition.
Two kinds of death fall outside that rule, according to the same Texas Real Estate Research Center article. A murder that occurred in the home must be disclosed if the seller knows of it. So must a death caused by the property's condition, even if the death was accidental and even if the condition was later remedied.
The Texas Real Estate Research Center ties that duty to misrepresentation: without the disclosure, the seller would be misrepresenting information the buyer considers material.
A murder that occurred in the home, if known to the seller, must be disclosed.
What does that rule mean for an estate selling a unit at Montebello?
Montebello is a 98-unit condominium tower at 1100 Uptown Park Boulevard, and an estate selling a unit here starts from the same Texas rules.
Before the listing, collect from each heir what they know about any death in the unit and how it happened. Write those answers down, so every heir works from the same facts when the disclosure questions come up.
Who can help an estate with several heirs handle a death disclosure at Montebello?
Paige Martin of Real Broker, LLC specializes in a death that happened in a property, and what a seller must disclose. Her proven work also covers probate and estate sales, sales made by a trust, and inherited property with several heirs.
Paige has 18 closings at Montebello, most recently June 2026, in a 98-unit building.
Send the unit number and ask to talk through what the heirs know before the unit is listed.
Questions & answers
Montebello questions, answered
What is the Texas Seller's Disclosure Notice, and who has to use it?
The Texas Real Estate Commission says its Seller's Disclosure Notice, Form 55-1, is required by sellers of previously occupied single family residences. It is used with a contract for the sale of real property entered into on or after September 1, 2023. The form carries the information Section 5.008 of the Texas Property Code requires about material facts and the property's physical condition.
The Texas Real Estate Research Center, in a May 2025 article, says the Property Code requires most residential sellers to complete the notice, which outlines the property's condition. Most is the Center's word, and a separate Center article, from April 2026, lists sales exempt from the notice. Whether a Montebello unit sold by an estate falls inside the requirement is a question to settle with the estate's lawyer before listing. Ask it alongside the other disclosure questions, so the form and the facts are ready together.
Is a sale by an estate exempt from the Texas seller's disclosure notice?
The Texas Real Estate Research Center names transfer by descent and distribution among the sales exempt from the notice. Its list also names residential property with more than one dwelling unit, foreclosure sales, transfers between co-owners and spouses, and new residences. The list closes with property where the value of any dwelling does not exceed 5 percent of the total property value.
The Center introduces that list with the words these include, so it reads as examples rather than a closed count. Whether a particular estate sale of a Montebello unit fits one of those categories is a question for the estate's lawyer to answer in writing. Settle it before the listing goes live, since the notice, where required, is used with the sale contract.
What does subsection (c) of the Texas disclosure statute leave out?
The Texas Real Estate Research Center, in an April 2026 article on Section 5.008, says subsection (c) makes clear that disclosure of certain stigmatizing information is not required. The same article says accidental deaths do not have to be disclosed unless the accident was related to the condition of the property. That unless-clause is the line an estate needs to read closely.
For an estate, the practical question about any accident in a Montebello unit is whether something about the unit itself brought it about. An accident with no link to the unit sits on one side of the line. An accident the unit's condition produced sits on the other, even after a repair. Write down what the heirs know about the cause before the listing, and take any doubt to the estate's lawyer.
Do I have to research the home's history before selling an inherited Montebello unit?
The Texas Real Estate Research Center says a seller has no duty to investigate. Nor does a seller have to disclose facts the seller does not know, even if the seller should have known, according to the Center. Its August 2020 article frames the murder rule around knowledge as well, applying it to a murder known to the seller. What the sellers actually know is what these rules reach.
The rule cuts one way only. It excuses facts the sellers never knew, and it does not excuse a known murder or a known death that the property's condition brought about. If any heir is unsure what happened, raise it with the estate's lawyer before the disclosure is signed, rather than after a buyer asks.
Can a Texas listing agent leave out a death a buyer would care about?
Texas Real Estate Commission rules say a license holder has a special obligation to exercise integrity, using prudence and caution to avoid misrepresentation by acts of commission or omission. The Texas Real Estate Research Center adds that agents are prohibited from making false or misleading statements about a property. Omission is the commission's own word, so leaving something out can be a misrepresentation too.
That obligation sits beside the death rules, not in place of them. Another Texas Real Estate Research Center article, on which deaths need disclosing, says the no-duty rule for natural causes, suicide and unrelated accidents covers the seller's agent as well as the seller. Ask any agent you interview how they handle a known death in the unit, and listen for an answer grounded in those rules.