> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://truenorthboulder.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Selling a Home With an Unpermitted Basement in Colorado - URL: https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/colorado-seller-property-disclosure/ - Published: 2026-10-15T09:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T18:35:57.000Z - Description: Colorado's disclosure form asks about permitted and unpermitted work on two different lines. For a finished basement the costly question is the permit: which building department reviews it, against which code, and what a permit does and doesn't change at appraisal. - Author: Daniel Hsieh - Tags: Seller Guide, Selling, Colorado Law Say you're selling to move up, and the house is a mid-century ranch whose basement someone finished along the way. There's a bedroom and a bathroom down there and a family room with a window well, and as far as you know, nobody pulled a permit for any of it. What keeps you up is the seller's disclosure form. How do you answer it? The form largely answers that for you. The expensive question with an unpermitted basement is the permit: which building department reviews your house, what it asks of work that's already behind drywall, and what a permit does and doesn't change once a buyer's appraiser walks through. The same reasoning runs for a converted garage or a pop-top. For how the same basement reads to the person buying it, see [Table Mesa's mid-century ranches from a buyer's side](https://truenorthboulder.com/boulder/table-mesa-south-boulder/). ## Is an unpermitted basement a disclosure problem or a permit problem? The quick answer Mostly a permit problem. Colorado's Seller's Property Disclosure asks about work done with a building permit and work done without one on two separate rows, and its first page requires a known adverse material fact to be disclosed even where no row names it. What you disclose follows from what you know. What the unpermitted work costs depends on the building department that covers the parcel. The Colorado Real Estate Commission's [Seller's Property Disclosure](https://dre.colorado.gov/real-estate-broker-contracts-and-forms?ref=truenorthboulder.com) has a section on use, zoning and legal issues. It opens with *"If you know of any of the following EVER EXISTING,"* and two of its rows sit side by side: > **L.8** Any additions or alterations made with a Building Permit > > **L.9** Any additions or non-aesthetic alterations made without a Building Permit A few rows further down is **L.13**, *"Grandfathered conditions or uses."* *Non-aesthetic* is the word sellers stop on, and you don't need it defined, because the first page of the same form has already settled the bigger question: *"If Seller has knowledge of an adverse material fact affecting the Property or occupants, it must be disclosed whether there is a specific item on this SPD or not."* Whatever row 9 does or doesn't reach, the duty doesn't hang on the wording of a row. So disclosure isn't the decision in front of you. The decision is what you do beside it: legalize the work, price the space as what it is, or both. What we won't define What "non-aesthetic" covers. The form doesn't define it; the one term it does define is current actual knowledge. Any line we drew would be a guess at the Commission's intent, published on the one row a seller might act on. You answer the form yourself; answer it with the permit record open, and have your broker walk you through what each row asks. The form says at the top that it *"SHOULD BE COMPLETED BY SELLER, NOT BY BROKER"*, so the answers are yours, however much help you have reading the rows. It reaches you through the standard purchase contract, CBS1 §10.1, not a statute, and the duty runs underneath both: Colorado's civil jury instructions describe *"an independent duty to disclose latent defects known to the seller."* [Our guide for buyers moving from California](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/moving-to-boulder-county-from-california/) covers what "current actual knowledge" means to the person reading your form, and [the move-up seller's guide to listing in Boulder](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/how-to-sell-a-move-up-home-boulder/) treats the form as one item of listing prep. This is the row on it that costs money. ## Which building department answers for your address? The quick answer Town and city limits decide it. Inside a city or town, that city or town is the permit authority, whichever county the land is in; outside town limits, the county is. Across Boulder, Longmont, Lyons, Berthoud, Loveland and the unincorporated land around them, that's eight building authorities, and your permit history sits with whichever one covers the parcel. Colorado law draws the boundary. A county's building code reaches the parts of the county *"not embraced within the limits of any incorporated city or town,"* under C.R.S. 30-28-201\. So a Longmont address outside city limits can be unincorporated Boulder County, unincorporated Weld County, or even a neighboring town such as Firestone, while a parcel inside Longmont's limits is the City's to permit even where it sits in Weld. Berthoud straddles Larimer and Weld the same way. A street address won't tell you which office holds your file. | Authority | Where the permit record lives | What after-the-fact work is reviewed against | Fee rule for work done without a permit | | ------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | City of Boulder | The City's online permit portal; address search open to general viewers | For legalizing an existing ADU: current code, and such work "cannot be grandfathered" | Permit fees doubled | | Unincorporated Boulder County (incl. Niwot) | County online portal back to 2009; earlier records by phone | Current code; covered work opened as the inspector directs | Fees "may be doubled" | | City of Longmont | The City's online permit portal | No published rule found | Investigative fee equal to the permit fee, paid whether or not a permit is issued | | Town of Lyons | Community Core portal (account required); older records from the Town | No published rule found; the Town's 2024 codes took effect July 1, 2026 | No published rule found | | Town of Berthoud | No public portal; records by open-records request | No published rule found | 2024 code adoption (Ordinance 1365, adopted November 25, 2025): investigation fee may be hourly, plus a violation fee up to the permit fee | | City of Loveland | [Accela Citizen Access portal](https://aca-prod.accela.com/LOVELAND?ref=truenorthboulder.com); address search without login | Not established | Not established | | Unincorporated Larimer County | County portal, which the county says is incomplete, plus a Property Research Request | Current code through the As-Built process, unless the building official grants a modification | Investigation fee may be charged, equal to the building fee, and may be waived for a previous owner's work; plus a Code Compliance Administrative Fee | | Unincorporated Weld County | County online portal; no login needed to search | 2024 codes, including the Existing Building Code; no separate rule stated for finished work | Investigation fee of 50% of the permit fee | "No published rule found" means the authority's own pages didn't state one; ask the department directly. "Not established" means we couldn't confirm Loveland's rule; ask its building division before relying on that row. These are fee rules, not dollar amounts, and a fee rule is not what the work will cost. Pulling the record is an afternoon's work in some places and a request in others: 1. Confirm whose limits the parcel is in Inside a city or town, or unincorporated county land. The mailing address and the ZIP code don't settle it; if you're not sure, call the planning office of the city or town the address carries, with the parcel or account number from your property tax statement, and ask whether the parcel is inside its limits. 2. Search that authority's record by address The table above names where each one keeps it. Some portals ask you to set up an account before you can see documents. 3. Ask for what the portal doesn't reach Unincorporated Boulder County's online records go back to 2009, and earlier ones come by phone. In Berthoud the record is a request to the Town, not a search; in Lyons, older records are. 4. Lay the record against the house as it stands Each finished room, bathroom and window well in the basement, and whether a permit sits behind it. That comparison is what you and your broker weigh legalizing and pricing against. An empty online result isn't proof there was never a permit. For work older than the portal, ask the department what its paper or scanned records hold before you treat the basement as unpermitted. ## What permitting it after the fact asks of you The quick answer Where the authority says, it's today's code, not the code in force when the basement was finished. Unincorporated Boulder County states that flatly and will have covered work opened for inspection. Larimer County reviews as-built work against current code unless its building official grants a modification. The fee rules differ: unincorporated Weld County adds an investigation fee of half the permit fee; Longmont adds one equal to it, and the City of Boulder doubles the fee, which lands in the same place. Boulder County's handout on construction without a permit begins with the situation you're in: *"In many cases, the concern arises as a property is changing ownership and confirmation on compliance with building codes is requested by the realtor, lending institution, or insurance company."* Then it's plain about the terms. You apply for a permit and submit plans showing what was built, and *"the work is subject to and inspected under the current code, not the code that was in effect at the time the work was started."* Where work is covered, *"the inspector will direct the owner what materials to remove so the inspection can take place."* Where the inspector can't verify elements such as footings placed without inspection, the owner arranges a site inspection by a qualified expert, such as a Colorado-licensed engineer or architect, and sends in a stamped report. Larimer County runs a named program for it, the As-Built process, which also reviews against today's code unless the building official grants a modification. Two of its outcomes are worth telling apart. A full certificate of occupancy needs the concealed construction exposed; without that, the county can issue an As-Built Certificate of Observable Compliance, which speaks only to what an inspector could see. And if you bought the basement already finished, Larimer's investigation fee *"may be waived if the work was completed by a previous owner."* The City of Boulder says the same about current code in its guidance on legalizing an existing accessory dwelling unit: *"illegal work or work that is not in compliance with the current code cannot be grandfathered,"* finishes come off for inspection, and plans come stamped by a licensed professional. That guidance is written for an ADU; for a basement finish that isn't a separate unit, ask the City what it applies. Unincorporated Weld County enforces the 2024 codes, including the International Existing Building Code, *"in all areas of Unincorporated Weld County,"* without stating a separate rule for work already built. From Longmont, Lyons and Berthoud we found no rule on the point. Ask before you assume the older code applies. Berthoud's amendments to its 2024 code adoption, adopted in November 2025, show what today's code can mean for a basement bedroom: a sleeping room must include an emergency escape and rescue opening, and every basement window must meet the code's escape-and-rescue requirements. In unincorporated Weld County, a permit that increases the number of bedrooms on a septic system waits on written documentation from the county's Department of Environmental Health that the system is adequate. ## What the permit does, and doesn't, change at appraisal The quick answer It doesn't add above-grade square footage: under the measurement standard Fannie Mae requires, a level with any part below grade is never above-grade living area, however well it's finished. It doesn't move the appraiser's zoning classification either, because your zoning sets that. What it removes is the appraiser's comment on unpermitted work and what that work does to value. Square footage first. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide says a level is below grade *"if any portion of it is below-grade, regardless of the quality of its finish."* A permitted basement and an unpermitted one both sit outside above-grade living area; [why a listing's square footage doesn't match the county's](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/why-square-footage-doesnt-match-the-county/) walks through the standard. The zoning box stays where it is too. The appraiser classes the site as a legal conforming use, a legal non-conforming (grandfathered) use, an illegal use, or no zoning, and that answer comes from your zoning, not your permits. A basement finished without a permit in a house whose use conforms is still a conforming use. And where a use doesn't conform, a permit won't fix that, because a building permit isn't a zoning variance. Fannie's eligibility test runs on the use as well, which must be legal or legal non-conforming, and the guide doesn't name a building permit as a condition. If the basement is a separate dwelling unit, that's [an accessory-dwelling question with its own rules](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/adu-rental-income-qualify-mortgage-colorado/), including a conditional eligibility exception at both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for a single ADU the zoning doesn't allow. Where the permit does show up is in the report your buyer's lender reads. When the appraiser *"identifies an addition(s) that does not have the required permit,"* [Fannie's guide](https://selling-guide.fanniemae.com/sel/b4-1.3-05/improvements-section-appraisal-report?ref=truenorthboulder.com) says the appraiser *"must comment on the quality and appearance of the work and its impact, if any, on the market value."* The guide frames it as an unpermitted addition rather than naming basement finishes, so how an appraiser handles yours is the appraiser's judgment. Legalized work gives that comment nothing to describe. ## When legalizing runs through a hearing The quick answer When the work runs past a zoning limit, a permit alone can't clear it. In the City of Boulder, an addition that shades a neighbor past the solar-access limit needs an exception, granted either administratively or after a Board of Zoning Adjustment hearing. Neither route is automatic: on both, the applicant carries the burden of proof, and the code requires a finding that the situation was not created by the applicant. A basement finish works inside the house's existing shell. A pop-top, an addition or a converted garage can change what zoning measures: height, setbacks, floor area, and in the City of Boulder, the shadow a building casts next door. Legalizing after the fact means meeting today's code and today's zoning, and where the structure exceeds a zoning limit the routes are redesign, removal, or discretionary relief decided at a hearing a neighbor may oppose. Boulder's [solar-access rules](https://bouldercolorado.gov/services/solar-access-guide?ref=truenorthboulder.com) show the route most clearly, because the code spells it out. An addition that shades a neighbor past the limit can go ahead in two ways: an administrative exception, which needs an affidavit from the owner of every affected lot saying they don't object, plus the city manager's finding that the code's criteria are met, or a hearing before the Board of Zoning Adjustment, which is where the application goes when those affidavits can't be had or the city manager's decision is referred or appealed. On either route the applicant carries the burden of proof, and whoever decides has to find the situation was not created by the applicant. That's a hard finding to earn when the work went up without a permit. Inside city limits, height, setbacks and floor area can put an addition in the same position; the code sections differ, and the shape doesn't. It isn't impossible. It's a permission you can't buy and can't schedule. If you bought the house with the addition already built, a prior owner did the work, not you. The code doesn't say whether that satisfies its not-created-by-the-applicant finding, which makes it a question for a Colorado real-estate attorney before anyone files. Outside city limits, unincorporated Boulder County treats floor area differently. Since May 2025 its code sets a maximum Residential Floor Area parcel by parcel in most of its residential and rural zoning, counting garages and basements, and it lists only narrow exceptions. The county's definition counts a basement whether or not it is finished, so the question there is an addition, not a finish inside the existing walls. An appeal goes to the County Commissioners, must be filed within 30 days, and is weighed on how the code reads, not on hardship. [How the county sets that number](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/how-big-can-you-build-unincorporated-boulder-county/) is its own subject. If an unpermitted addition sits on a county parcel, ask Community Planning & Permitting how its floor area is counted before you decide whether to legalize it. So the choice has three workable forms, and none of them is whether to disclose. You can legalize the work, taking on today's code and the department's calendar. You can price the space as what it is, unpermitted living area, and let the price reflect it, which shows up on [your seller net sheet](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/seller-net-proceeds-colorado/) instead of on a contractor's invoice. In practice that means the listing describes the basement as it is: finish without a permit, and no room counted as a bedroom without an egress window or door, which is the first thing a bedroom needs, not everything it needs. A buyer who writes an offer knowing that has less to renegotiate at inspection than one who learns it from their inspector. Or you can do both. Which one fits depends on what the permit record shows and what the authority will ask, and that's worth running past your broker before the listing is priced. ![A dark green plate with a thin gold inset frame, titled ‘Disclosure isn’t the decision. The permit is.’, the second sentence set in copper italic. Beneath it: ‘What you disclose follows from what you know. What the unpermitted work costs depends on the building department that covers the parcel, and how you handle it is your call until a buyer’s deadline starts running.’ Below that a box reads ‘The basement as it stands: a finished basement, and as far as you know, nobody pulled a permit for it’. Two lines descend from that box. On the left, a single thick gold bar runs straight down the whole plate with no branch anywhere on it and ends in an arrowhead. Beside it: ‘The disclosure. Fixed, no junction. Settled by what you know’, a quotation from the first page of the Commission’s Seller’s Property Disclosure reading ‘If Seller has knowledge of an adverse material fact affecting the Property or occupants, it must be disclosed whether there is a specific item on this SPD or not’, and a note that the form asks about work done with a building permit and without one on two separate rows, and that the duty doesn’t hang on the wording of a row. On the right, a thinner copper line labelled ‘The permit, the open question’ drops into a copper-outlined box headed ‘First: read the permit file’, which says the file sits with whichever of eight building authorities covers the parcel, that town and city limits decide which and a street address won’t tell you, and that which path fits depends on what the record shows and what the authority will ask. Below the box the copper line splits at a single node into three lanes inside a lightly shaded field marked ‘Still your call’. The left lane, ‘Legalize it after the fact’, says that where the authority states a rule it reviews the work against today’s code, not the code in force when the basement was finished, and that no authority we found publishes a timeline for it; its rail turns dotted at the bottom above the words ‘No published timeline’. The middle lane, ‘Both’, drawn as two thin parallel rails, one copper and one cream, says the choices aren’t exclusive and to run the mix past your broker before the listing is priced. The right lane, ‘Price the space as what it is’, on a cream rail, says unpermitted living area, and the listing says so, with no room counted as a bedroom without an egress window or door, which is the first thing a bedroom needs, not everything it needs. All three lanes stop just above a dashed gold rule across the full width labelled ‘Under contract: a buyer’s deadline starts’, with a note that from here the same basement is read on the buyer’s inspection deadlines and any permit started now runs on the department’s timeline while their contract is running. Only the gold disclosure bar crosses the rule; beside its arrowhead the plate reads ‘The trunk keeps going. It crosses into the contract untouched. None of the three choices is whether to disclose.’ A panel below headed ‘What a permit won’t change at appraisal’ says it won’t move the basement into above-grade square footage, because a level with any part below grade stays below grade however well it’s finished, it won’t move the appraiser’s zoning classification, which the zoning sets, and what it removes is the appraiser’s comment on unpermitted work and what that work does to value. A footer cites the Colorado Real Estate Commission’s Seller’s Property Disclosure (Residential), edition mandatory January 1, 2026, first page and permit rows L.8 and L.9; names the building authorities as the cities and towns of Boulder, Longmont, Lyons, Berthoud and Loveland and unincorporated Boulder, Larimer and Weld counties; cites Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.3-05 and B4-1.3-04; notes that no fees or timelines are shown because fee rules vary by authority; carries a general-information-not-legal-advice line; and carries the True North Boulder and eXp Realty lockup.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7c/ec/7cec6ddd-8aeb-4e8c-923a-e353e04b082d/content/images/2026/10/colorado-seller-property-disclosure-infographic.png) **Disclosure isn’t the decision. The permit is.** Two lines run from the same basement, one that’s finished and, as far as the seller knows, was never permitted. The disclosure is a fixed trunk with no junction: it is settled by what you know, and reading the permit file adds to what you know, so answer the form with it in front of you. The first page of the Commission’s Seller’s Property Disclosure says, “If Seller has knowledge of an adverse material fact affecting the Property or occupants, it must be disclosed whether there is a specific item on this SPD or not.” The form asks about work done with a building permit and without one on two separate rows, and the duty doesn’t hang on the wording of a row. The permit is the open question, and it starts with reading the permit file. That file sits with whichever of eight building authorities covers the parcel; town and city limits decide which, and a street address won’t tell you. Which path fits depends on what the record shows and what the authority will ask, and from there the choice forks three ways. *Legalize it after the fact:* where the authority states a rule, it reviews the work against today’s code, not the code in force when the basement was finished, and we found no authority that publishes a timeline for it. *Price the space as what it is:* unpermitted living area, and the listing says so, with no room counted as a bedroom without an egress window or door, which is the first thing a bedroom needs, not everything it needs. *Both:* the choices aren’t exclusive, so run the mix past your broker before the listing is priced. All three are your call until you’re under contract and a buyer’s deadline starts. From then on the same basement is read on the buyer’s inspection deadlines, and any permit started then runs on the department’s timeline while their contract is running. The disclosure crosses into the contract untouched: none of the three choices is whether to disclose. And what a permit won’t change at appraisal: it won’t move the basement into above-grade square footage, because a level with any part below grade stays below grade however well it’s finished, and it won’t move the appraiser’s zoning classification, which your zoning sets. What it removes is the appraiser’s comment on unpermitted work and what that work does to value. Quoted from the Colorado Real Estate Commission’s Seller’s Property Disclosure (Residential), edition mandatory January 1, 2026: first page; permit rows L.8 and L.9\. Building authorities: the cities and towns of Boulder, Longmont, Lyons, Berthoud and Loveland, and unincorporated Boulder, Larimer and Weld counties. Appraisal: Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.3-05 and B4-1.3-04\. No fees or timelines are shown; fee rules vary by authority and the table above carries them. General information, not legal advice. ## A deal that fell through changes what you know The quick answer What a terminated buyer's inspection objection told you is now something you know. Where the contract requires the form, as CBS1 does, the form's opening statement measures your knowledge as of the Seller's Property Disclosure Deadline in the contract you sign next. An adverse material fact you learn after you complete the form has to reach the buyer, and the form says in writing; the standard Colorado contract then lets them terminate on the earlier of closing or five days after receiving it. This is the seller the form catches off guard. The house went under contract in the fall, the buyer's inspector went through the basement, and the buyer sent a written inspection objection naming what was found. You couldn't agree on the fix, and the contract ended. You may have the full report too, if they shared it. In spring you list again, and you've still got last fall's disclosure form in the file. That form answered to what you knew for the last contract. The next contract has its own deadline, and the form's opening statement asks for your *"CURRENT ACTUAL KNOWLEDGE as of the date of the Seller's Property Disclosure Deadline in the Contract."* What the objection told you, and the report if you have it, is part of what you know now. [Our guide to relisting a home that didn't sell](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/relisting-a-home-that-didnt-sell-boulder/) covers the price and the timing of coming back; the disclosure has to come back current too. The contract adds its own layer. CBS1 §10.2 has the seller disclose, in writing, adverse material facts actually known as of the contract date, and disclose anything discovered after it in a timely way, and the buyer then has a right to terminate on the earlier of closing or five days after receiving the new disclosure. The form's opening lines say the same about a new adverse material fact found after you complete it: it goes to the buyer *"in writing."* That sentence moved into the opening statement, and gained the words "in writing," in the 2026 edition, which also moved the knowledge date from the date of the contract to the disclosure deadline. Whether a particular finding is an adverse material fact isn't something a page can decide for you. Take the objection, and the report if you have it, to your broker, or to a Colorado real-estate attorney if either of you is unsure, before the new listing goes live. If you hold that buyer's report, go through one more row with your broker: the same form asks about *"Written reports of any building, site, roofing, soils, water, sewer, mold, or engineering investigations or studies of the Property"* and says *"Provide copies of all such reports in possession of Seller."* The duty outlasts the sale, too: CBS1 §20.2.2 lists *"failure to timely disclose any known adverse material facts"* among the failures a seller still answers for once the deal has closed. Selling as an estate's personal representative raises its own questions about what you actually know; [buying from an estate, from the buyer's side](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/buying-a-home-from-an-estate-colorado/) reads the form from across the table. If your employer's relocation program is buying the house from you, the question moves one step on: what you knew, and whether it reaches the next buyer [when a relocation company owns the listing](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/your-employer-is-buying-your-old-house/). ## Decide on the permit before you pick a list date Every option in this guide belongs to you until a buyer's deadline starts running. Before you list, legalizing is a project you can scope, the price is something you set, and both can be decided with the permit record in hand and nobody's clock on it. Once a buyer is under contract, the same basement is read on their inspection deadlines, and any permit you start then runs on the department's timeline while their contract is running. Pull the file, get a pre-listing inspection, and take both to your broker before a list date is set. If a list date is already on the calendar, assume legalizing won't finish before it. Your basement has a permit record somewhere, even if it's an empty one. We'll work out which authority covers your parcel, pull what it holds on the house, and weigh legalizing, pricing the space in, or both with you. The decision stays yours. [Start with the permit file](https://truenorthboulder.com/contact/) True North Boulder is a real-estate team with eXp Realty. Nothing here is tax, legal, or financial advice. It's general information about Colorado's disclosure form, its purchase contract and local building rules, so confirm your specifics with your broker or a Colorado real-estate attorney before you rely on any of it. Common questions ## Frequently asked Do I have to disclose an unpermitted basement when I sell in Colorado?+ The form has a row for 'Any additions or non-aesthetic alterations made without a Building Permit,' and where your contract requires the form, as the standard Colorado contract does, you complete it to your current actual knowledge. Whatever that row reaches, the first page adds that a known adverse material fact 'must be disclosed whether there is a specific item on this SPD or not.' Whether a particular fact about your basement is an adverse material one is worth taking to your broker before you sign the form. What you disclose follows from what you know, so the decision in front of you is the permit: legalize the work, price the space as what it is, or both. Does the disclosure form only ask about work I did myself?+ The wording isn't limited that way. The section carrying the permit rows opens with 'If you know of any of the following EVER EXISTING,' and the form's first page requires a known adverse material fact to be disclosed whether there is a specific item on the form or not. It asks what you know, not who built it. Pull the permit record first, then answer the form with it in front of you; your broker can walk you through the rows a basement a previous owner finished touches. On the fee side, unincorporated Larimer County says its investigation fee may be waived if the work was completed by a previous owner. Can I pull a permit for the basement before I list?+ Nothing stops you applying, and the building department that covers your parcel sets the terms. Where the authority publishes a rule, the work is reviewed against today's code rather than the code in force when it was built, and unincorporated Boulder County has covered work opened so it can be inspected. We found no authority that publishes a timeline for legalizing finished work, so don't plan a listing date around one. Will a permit add my basement to the home's above-grade square footage?+ Not to its above-grade living area. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide treats a level as below grade if any portion of it is below grade, regardless of the quality of its finish, so a permitted basement and an unpermitted one both sit outside above-grade living area. What a permit changes is the appraiser's comment: the guide requires one on the quality, appearance and value impact of an addition that does not have the required permit. A buyer's inspection found problems and the deal fell through. Does my disclosure change when I relist?+ What that buyer's inspection objection, or the report if they shared it, told you is now part of what you know, and where the contract requires the form, as CBS1 does, the form's opening statement measures knowledge as of the Seller's Property Disclosure Deadline in your next contract, not the one that ended. Take the objection, and the report if you have it, to your broker, or to a Colorado real-estate attorney, and settle whether a particular finding is an adverse material fact before the new listing goes live. If you have the report, the form separately asks about 'Written reports of any building, site, roofing, soils, water, sewer, mold, or engineering investigations or studies of the Property' and for copies of the ones in your possession; go through that row with your broker as well. Does Colorado law require the Seller's Property Disclosure form?+ The form comes from the contract rather than a statute: the standard Colorado purchase contract, CBS1, has the seller deliver the Commission's current Seller's Property Disclosure, completed to the seller's actual knowledge, by the Seller's Property Disclosure Deadline. The duty to disclose doesn't depend on the form. Colorado's civil jury instructions describe an independent duty to disclose latent defects known to the seller. Does a Colorado seller have to disclose that a house was used as a meth lab?+ Colorado has a statute for it. C.R.S. 38-35.7-103(3)(a) requires the seller to 'disclose in writing to the buyer whether the seller knows that the property was previously used as a methamphetamine laboratory.' Subsection (4) lifts that only where the seller remediates the property to the state standards and receives certificates of compliance under C.R.S. 25-18.5-102(1)(e), so remediation alone isn't the test. If the history is known and the paperwork isn't, talk to a Colorado real-estate attorney. What about a death or a crime in the house?+ Colorado treats facts that may psychologically affect a buyer differently from physical defects. C.R.S. 38-35.5-101(1) says: 'Facts or suspicions regarding circumstances occurring on a parcel of property which could psychologically impact or stigmatize such property are not material facts subject to a disclosure requirement in a real estate transaction.' The statute's examples include that the property was 'the site of a homicide or other felony or of a suicide,' and it says the list is not exhaustive. It removes the requirement; it doesn't prohibit disclosure. If you're weighing whether to raise it, or a buyer asks you directly, take that to your broker before you answer. The bottom line The disclosure is settled by what you know. The permit is the open question, answered by one building department, against today's code where it says so, and it won't move the basement into above-grade square footage. Settle the permit question before you list, while legalizing, pricing it in, or both can be decided on your timetable instead of a buyer's. Sources & data notes - Rows L.8, L.9, L.13 and R.1, the "EVER EXISTING" section heading, the first-page adverse-material-fact sentence, "SHOULD BE COMPLETED BY SELLER, NOT BY BROKER", the knowledge-date sentence and the new-fact "in writing" sentence: Colorado Real Estate Commission, Seller's Property Disclosure (Residential), SPD19, adopted August 5, 2025, mandatory January 1, 2026, via the [Division of Real Estate contracts and forms page](https://dre.colorado.gov/real-estate-broker-contracts-and-forms?ref=truenorthboulder.com). The 2026 changes to the knowledge date and to the placement of the new-fact sentence are read from the Commission's own [tracked-changes comparison](https://dre.colorado.gov/sites/dre/files/documents/Seller%27s%20Property%20Disclosure%20%28Residential%29%20REDLINES.pdf?ref=truenorthboulder.com) against SPD19-6-23\. The form's advisory to the buyer separately refers to the date of the seller's completion of the form. - Delivery of the form, subsequent disclosure, the five-day right to terminate, and post-closing survival: Colorado Real Estate Commission, Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate (Residential), CBS1, 2026 edition, §10.1, §10.2 and §20.2.2. - The independent common-law duty: Colorado Jury Instructions, Civil, Instruction 19:5, Source and Authority note 6, which cites In re Estate of Gattis, 2013 COA 145, ¶ 32, 318 P.3d 549. - County building-code reach: C.R.S. 30-28-201, [Colorado Revised Statutes 2024, Title 30](https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-30.pdf?ref=truenorthboulder.com), via leg.colorado.gov. - City of Boulder: fee doubling on work started or completed without an approved permit, [2026 Schedule of Fees](https://bouldercolorado.gov/planning-and-development-services-2026-schedule-fees?ref=truenorthboulder.com); address search for general viewers, [City records-request resources](https://bouldercolorado.gov/planning-development-services-records-request-resources?ref=truenorthboulder.com); current code and "cannot be grandfathered", City guidance on legalizing an existing [accessory dwelling unit](https://bouldercolorado.gov/services/accessory-dwelling-units?ref=truenorthboulder.com). - Unincorporated Boulder County floor area: [Land Use Code Article 4](https://assets.bouldercounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/land-use-code-article-04.pdf?ref=truenorthboulder.com) (May 13, 2025), structure-size subsection 3, as amended by [Resolution 2026-011](https://assets.bouldercounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cpp-resolution-2026-011.pdf?ref=truenorthboulder.com) (effective January 15, 2026), which adds the 30-day appeal deadline; Residential Floor Area and Floor Area as defined in Article 18. - Unincorporated Boulder County: Land Use Department Publication B08, Construction Without a Building Permit (Rev. 07.29.10), listed on the county's [building publications page](https://bouldercounty.gov/property-and-land/land-use/building/building-publications/?ref=truenorthboulder.com), for current-code review, removal of covering materials, and engineer or architect reports; [Publication B33](https://bouldercounty.gov/property-and-land/land-use/building/building-publications/permit-fees-b33/?ref=truenorthboulder.com) for fees that "may be doubled"; online [permit records](https://bouldercounty.gov/property-and-land/land-use/building/building-permit-search-statistics/?ref=truenorthboulder.com) from 2009, earlier records by phone. - City of Longmont: [FY2026 Fee Manual](https://longmontcolorado.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Fee-Manual-3-24-2026.pdf?ref=truenorthboulder.com), investigative fee equal to the permit fee "whether or not a permit is issued". - Town of Lyons: Town Building Department page (Community Core account; 2024 ICC codes effective July 1, 2026). - Town of Berthoud: Ordinance 1365, adopted November 25, 2025 (Town Board minutes), adopting the 2024 International Codes with local amendments: investigation and violation fees, the sleeping-room definition and the basement escape-and-rescue window amendment to IRC R319.1\. Effective date not confirmed for this guide. - Unincorporated Larimer County: [As-Built process](https://www.larimer.gov/codecompliance/built-process?ref=truenorthboulder.com) handout and fee language (investigation fee, previous-owner waiver, Code Compliance Administrative Fee, Certificate of Observable Compliance). - Unincorporated Weld County: Building Permit and Inspection Fee Schedule, January 2026 (investigation fee at 50% of the permit fee); Building Inspection Division handout on the codes enforced in all areas of unincorporated Weld County and the Environmental Health septic review for an increase in bedrooms. - City of Loveland: permit records via the City's [Accela Citizen Access portal](https://aca-prod.accela.com/LOVELAND?ref=truenorthboulder.com), address search without login; its unpermitted-work page returned an access error to our retrieval and is not relied on. - Appraisal and eligibility: Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.3-05 (06/04/2025) for below-grade measurement, the unpermitted-addition comment, and the conditions it sets for a property whose ADU the zoning doesn't allow; B4-1.3-04 (06/04/2025) for the zoning classifications; [B2-3-01](https://selling-guide.fanniemae.com/sel/b2-3-01/general-property-eligibility?ref=truenorthboulder.com) (09/03/2025) for legal or legal non-conforming use. Freddie Mac, Accessory Dwelling Units fact sheet, February 2026. - City of Boulder solar-access exception: Boulder Revised Code §9-9-17(f)(4)(A) (the administrative route requires "an affidavit of each owner of each affected lot" declaring "no objection"), (f)(5) (the Board of Zoning Adjustment route, on the city manager's referral, on the applicant's appeal, or where those affidavits cannot be obtained), (f)(6) ("the approving authority must find that each of the following requirements has been met", which applies to both routes), (f)(6)(A)(iv) ("Such situations have not been created by the applicant") and (f)(6)(I) ("The applicant bears the burden of proof with respect to all issues of fact"). Read in the [Boulder Revised Code on Municode](https://library.municode.com/co/boulder/codes/municipal%5Fcode?nodeId=TIT9LAUSCO%5FCH9DEST%5F9-9-17SOAC&ref=truenorthboulder.com), Supplement 167 (ordinances effective through July 30, 2026). - Methamphetamine disclosure: C.R.S. 38-35.7-103, including subsection (4) and C.R.S. 25-18.5-102(1)(e). Psychologically impacted property: C.R.S. 38-35.5-101(1). Sections 38-35.7-103 and 38-35.5-101 via [Colorado Revised Statutes 2024, Title 38](https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-38.pdf?ref=truenorthboulder.com).