> ## 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. # Pre-Listing Inspection in Colorado: What It Buys a Seller - URL: https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/pre-listing-inspection-colorado/ - Published: 2026-10-27T09:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-27T08:59:59.000Z - Description: Colorado's Seller's Property Disclosure puts no duty on you to inspect, but what you already know goes on it whether you inspect or not, and a report you commission joins that. A pre-listing inspection won't replace the buyer's or move their dates. It buys time to repair or price what it finds. - Author: Daniel Hsieh - Tags: Seller Guide, Selling, Colorado Law Colorado's disclosure form puts no duty on a seller to investigate or inspect the house, but what you already know goes on it whether anyone inspects or not. A pre-listing inspection adds knowledge you choose to acquire, and once the report is in your hands it's current actual knowledge the form asks for too. The inspection won't get you a buyer who skips theirs, and it won't push back a single contract deadline. What it buys you is time: a stretch before anyone is under contract to repair what it finds, or to set a price that already accounts for it. The worry under the question of whether to inspect is usually timing: an inspector finds a root-choked sewer lateral or a roof near its end a few weeks before photos, and now you know. That's the case worth planning for, because the buyer's inspector looks at the same systems and is likely to find it too, just on their calendar. Whether the fee is worth it depends on how much runway sits between the report and your list date, and on which systems you ask an inspector to look at. Both are your call. ## Does a Colorado seller have to get a pre-listing inspection? The quick answer Not under Colorado's Seller's Property Disclosure, though a septic system in Boulder or Larimer County has its own transfer rules before closing. Its Advisory to Buyer says: "The Seller has no duty to investigate or inspect the Property or inclusions when this SPD is filled in and signed." What you already know goes on the form whether anyone inspects or not. Once you've commissioned a report, what it finds becomes part of what you know. The Colorado Real Estate Commission's [Seller's Property Disclosure](https://dre.colorado.gov/real-estate-broker-contracts-and-forms?ref=truenorthboulder.com) measures what you know, not how hard you looked. When the contract calls for it, its opening statement has the form completed to the seller's *"CURRENT ACTUAL KNOWLEDGE as of the date of the Seller's Property Disclosure Deadline in the Contract,"* and the Advisory to Buyer at the back draws the edge of that: current actual knowledge *"does not include 'constructive knowledge' or 'common knowledge' or what Seller 'should have known' about the Property."* That limit runs in one direction. It doesn't shrink what you already know. The same form's first page says that if a 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 basement that once took water, the roof a contractor told you was near the end of its life: the form asks about problems like those whether or not an inspector ever walks through. Skipping an inspection takes nothing off it. The form is also yours to fill in. It says so at the top, in capitals: *"THIS SELLER'S PROPERTY DISCLOSURE SHOULD BE COMPLETED BY SELLER, NOT BY BROKER."* Your broker can help you read each row, and the answers stay yours. Whether to learn more before a buyer arrives is your decision to make. County septic rules are separate: in Boulder and Larimer counties a septic system needs a transfer inspection or certificate before closing. The [Boulder County home-inspection guide](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/home-inspection-boulder-county/) explains the county's transfer certificate. ## What a report in your file becomes The quick answer Colorado's Seller's Property Disclosure asks for it in row R.1, which covers "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." A sewer scope also answers the row asking when the line was last scoped, and a radon test lands on the form's radon rows and under a state statute. Nothing in row R.1 limits it to reports a buyer ordered; the section it sits in opens with *"If you know of any of the following EVER EXISTING."* A report you commissioned is the kind of investigation the row names, and each scope then meets rows of its own: the sewer-scope date, the roof rows, the radon rows. Radon also has its own statute. SB23-206 added C.R.S. 38-35.7-112, which gives a buyer of residential property the right to be informed whether it has been tested for elevated radon, and requires the contract or the disclosure form to carry any knowledge the seller has of its radon concentrations, including the most recent records and reports. The standard purchase contract carries the statute's required warning, printed in CBS1 §10.13 in bold capitals: the seller has to provide the buyer with any known information on radon test results. Under C.R.S. 12-10-404(3), a broker acting as the seller's agent must disclose to a prospective buyer *"all adverse material facts actually known by the broker,"* and owes no duty to conduct an independent inspection. A report your broker has read is a report your broker knows about. The Commission's [position on broker disclosure of adverse material facts](https://dre.colorado.gov/sites/dre/files/documents/Commission%20Position%2027%20-%20Broker%20Disclosure%20of%20Adverse%20Material%20Facts.pdf?ref=truenorthboulder.com) speaks to the client's side too: *"Clients should not be encouraged to hide adverse material facts from their Broker."* Whether a given finding is an adverse material fact turns on the finding and the house. Bring the report and the form to your broker, or to a Colorado real-estate attorney, and work through that question with them before you sign. ## What it can't do to the buyer's inspection The quick answer It can't replace it and it can't shorten it. The standard contract gives the buyer the right to inspect at their own expense and to object to anything unsatisfactory "in Buyer's sole subjective discretion," on Inspection Objection, Resolution and Termination Deadlines that the signed contract sets. A report you ordered moves none of them. The disclosure form itself says it "is not intended as a substitute for an inspection of the Property." CBS1 §10.3 opens: *"Unless otherwise provided in this Contract, Buyer, acting in good faith, has the right to have inspections"* of the property and its inclusions *"at Buyer's expense."* If the condition is unsatisfactory in the buyer's *"sole subjective discretion,"* the buyer can terminate, or deliver an Inspection Objection, *"a written description of any unsatisfactory condition that Buyer requires Seller to correct."* Your report doesn't appear anywhere in that mechanism. The buyer's inspector answers to the buyer, and may find things yours didn't or read the same finding differently. If you're also buying, and a seller hands you a report like this, treat it as a head start on what to ask your inspector about, not a substitute: it was written for that seller, and it moves none of your inspection deadlines. What a pre-listing report changes sits on the seller's side of the table. If your inspection covered the same systems, you'll have read many of the buyer's findings before the objection arrives, and you'll have decided which ones to fix, with invoices behind the repairs you made. That's a better position to answer from. It isn't a smaller objection. Skipping the inspection doesn't keep the findings away. The buyer's inspector looks at the same systems, and their objection reaches you as *"a written description of any unsatisfactory condition,"* with days to answer instead of weeks. If the buyer then terminates, what that objection described is now within your actual knowledge when you fill in the form for the next buyer. Our [guide to selling with an unpermitted basement](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/colorado-seller-property-disclosure/) walks the relisting seller through the form. The calendar doesn't move either. [How Colorado's contract deadlines get set and filled in](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/colorado-contract-deadlines-boulder/) covers the inspection dates; a shorter inspection period is a term to negotiate with the buyer, and your report doesn't bring one with it. ![True North Boulder infographic titled “Whose calendar does the finding land on?” Two vertical lanes, time running down. The seller’s lane, marked your choice, runs: inspect; then a copper-boxed finding labelled you see it first, with you deciding the remedy on your own calendar; then repair or price it; then list. A gold band across both lanes marks a buyer going under contract, captioned your report moves none of the dates below. The buyer’s lane, marked their right either way, is empty above the band; below it run contract, their own inspection, the same finding in a matching copper box labelled the buyer reads it, with the remedy written by the buyer on the contract’s calendar, and then the Inspection Objection Deadline. A dashed line joins the two findings across the band. A panel under both lanes reads: what you already know goes on the disclosure form either way. Footer: True North Boulder, eXp Realty.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7c/ec/7cec6ddd-8aeb-4e8c-923a-e353e04b082d/content/images/2026/10/pre-listing-inspection-colorado-plate.png) Two lanes on one timeline, read top to bottom; position shows order, not duration. The seller’s lane is your choice: inspect, with a scope you choose (a sewer scope, a radon test, a roof or electrical look, or a full inspection); see the finding first, and you decide the remedy on your own calendar; repair it or price it in, keeping the invoice and, in the City of Boulder, the closed permit; then list, with you and your broker setting the list price. Nothing runs in the buyer’s lane before a contract, and once a buyer is under contract your report moves none of the dates. The signed contract sets the Inspection Objection, Resolution and Termination Deadlines. The buyer has their own inspection at their expense, and their inspector may find what yours didn’t. The same finding then reaches the buyer, who writes the remedy on the contract’s calendar in an Inspection Objection: “a written description of any unsatisfactory condition that Buyer requires Seller to correct.” If you looked first, that objection reaches a seller who has already read it, with invoices behind the repairs: a better position to answer from, not a smaller objection. The stretch between the two findings is what the inspection buys, time to act before anyone is under contract. Under both lanes sits the disclosure form, and what you already know goes on it either way. The form puts no duty on you to investigate or inspect, not looking takes nothing off it, and a report you commission joins what you know. Row R.1 covers “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.” Known radon test results go to the buyer under C.R.S. 38-35.7-112\. Sources: Colorado Real Estate Commission, Seller’s Property Disclosure (Residential), SPD19, mandatory January 1, 2026; Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate (Residential), CBS1, 2026 edition, §10.3 and §3.1\. General information, not legal advice. True North Boulder is a real-estate team with eXp Realty. ## Which inspection, scoped to what you can still fix The quick answer Scope it to the systems you could repair or price before the list date. A full inspection earns its fee when there's time and budget to work a long list; a narrower one, such as a sewer scope, a radon test or a roof inspection, makes sense when you know where an older house tends to cost money. Every scope is your choice. Whatever you choose, what you already know goes on Colorado's Seller's Property Disclosure regardless, and the report itself is one the form asks for. Scope by what you can act on. Narrowing yours narrows neither the buyer's inspection nor what you already know, which goes on the form whatever the scope. Read the inspection agreement when you book, before the inspector comes out: agreements are typically written for the client who hired the inspector, so check what yours says about sharing the report, because row R.1 asks for copies of the reports in your possession. | Scope | What the form asks once you have it | What acting on it runs through | Worth booking when | | ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Sewer scope | "Date the sewer line was last scoped"; R.1 copies of the report; the sewer-problems row if it shows leaks, backups or damage | (City of Boulder) Homeowners are responsible for the sewer service to and including the connection to the city main; work toward the street may need its own City permits, so ask the City | An older lot with mature trees, or a house old enough to have a clay or cast-iron lateral, and no scope on record | | Radon test | O.1 copies of the most recent records and reports; O.2 if radon was detected or mitigated; O.3 if a mitigation system is installed; C.R.S. 38-35.7-112 | A mitigation contractor licensed by the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, then a retest. CDPHE says a system "usually costs about $1,000 - $2,000 unless difficult design problems are encountered" | A basement or crawlspace with no test on record, or a mitigation system with no retest since it went in | | Roof inspection | Roof age in Comments; "Roof leak" and "Damage to roof" ever existing; R.1 copies; if a claim was filed, R.2, "Any property insurance claim submitted (whether paid or not)" | (City of Boulder) A Roofing Replacement permit, which closes with an inspection | Roof age unknown, a roof near the end of its life, or a hail season since it was last replaced | | Electrical evaluation | D.2 service amps; D.32, D.33 or D.36 if it shows a problem with the service, aluminum wiring at the outlets, or the wiring or panel; R.1 asks for copies of building and engineering reports, and a known adverse material fact goes on the form either way | (City of Boulder) An Electrical permit; permits applied for on or after Aug. 1, 2026 are reviewed under the 2026 National Electrical Code, adopted by the State Electrical Board | An original panel, an older or undersized service, or aluminum branch wiring; an electrician's evaluation reads further than a general inspection | | Full general inspection | R.1 copies of the report, plus every row a finding touches | Each finding through its own trade, and in the City of Boulder its own permit | Time and budget to work a long list before the list date | Form rows: Seller's Property Disclosure (Residential), SPD19, mandatory from January 1, 2026\. Cells marked City of Boulder apply inside City of Boulder limits only; Longmont, Loveland, Berthoud, Lyons and unincorporated county land run their own building departments, so ask the one that covers your parcel. What each of these turns up in a Boulder County house, and what the usual fixes cost, is in [our guide to what a Boulder County home inspection looks for](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/home-inspection-boulder-county/). One sewer detail from the City is worth knowing before you get a replacement quote: local plumbing companies *"can use the same lining technology the city uses, which can represent a significantly cheaper alternative to replacing sewer service."* ## How long a finding takes to fix and document The quick answer Longer than the inspection itself, so build the calendar from its parts: a radon test, a mitigation system and a retest, and in the City of Boulder a permit that closes with its own inspection after a review time that depends on the project. Radon shows how the parts stack. [CDPHE's instructions for a short-term test](https://cdphe.colorado.gov/hm/testing-your-home-radon?ref=truenorthboulder.com): *"The house is closed for 12 hours, then the testing device is activated or opened and left in place for 48 hours or more."* Run it before photos, staging and showings start: open doors during a test break the closed-house conditions CDPHE describes. For a sale, CDPHE notes that EPA recommends *"testing in the lowest area that could be modified to become a living area, such as an unfinished basement."* If the number calls for mitigation, a licensed contractor installs the system, and then EPA's *Consumer's Guide to Radon Reduction* says *"A post-mitigation radon test should be done within 30 days of system installation, but no sooner than 24 hours after your system is in operation with the fan on, if it has one,"* with a two- to seven-day measurement to check the system. A test, an installation and a retest all come before the record you'll hand a buyer is complete. Permits add their own steps in the City of Boulder. The [City's building permits page](https://bouldercolorado.gov/services/building-permits-and-inspections?ref=truenorthboulder.com) says *"All permits require an inspection,"* and that review times *"vary according to the scope of the project."* An older house can add more: - **Asbestos.** For residential work, the City's asbestos-testing triggers include 32 square feet of disturbed walls, ceilings or floors, or 50 linear feet of disturbed pipe, and the City says the regulation of that testing *"is now part of the building permitting process."* - **A historic district.** *"All exterior changes to a property designated as an individual landmark or located within a historic district require additional review and approval through a Landmark Alteration Certificate (LAC) prior to permit application."* The disclosure form has a row for it too: *"Property is located in a historic district."* Outside City of Boulder limits, ask the building department that covers your parcel how its process runs. The season matters as well. CDPHE says *"It is always a good time to test for radon as long as you can achieve closed building conditions. Some people find this easier to do in the winter."* Other systems are the opposite: a fall or winter inspection can come back with irrigation, air conditioning or a snow-covered roof untested, which is exactly what [a winter inspection can't test, and what follows from it](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/what-cant-be-inspected-in-winter-colorado/) describes for buyers. If the list date itself is still open, [the fall-or-spring decision for Boulder sellers](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/sell-in-fall-or-wait-for-spring-boulder/) argues that the seasonal effect here is mostly about time rather than price. What we won't print An inspection fee, a sewer or roof repair cost, or a total number of weeks to allow before listing. The costs depend on the house and the contractor, and our Boulder County inspection guide carries typical repair ranges for common findings, though not inspection fees. We found no primary source that gives a total time, and a number we invented would end up on your calendar. ## When it finds something you won't fix The quick answer Whether you fix the finding or leave it, the form still asks for copies of the report. What changes is how you carry the finding: priced into the list, or left for the buyer's objection. Before a contract, you can set a repair and your list price on your own calendar; the other resolutions the Colorado Real Estate Commission lists need a buyer at the table. The Commission's Position 25 lists five general ways a property condition gets resolved in a sale, from the seller repairing it before closing to the buyer fixing it afterward, and [the guide to winter inspection unknowns](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/what-cant-be-inspected-in-winter-colorado/) lays all five out. If you'd rather price the finding than repair it, the cost shows up in [what the sale nets you at closing](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/seller-net-proceeds-colorado/), and you set the number before anyone's deadline is running. A roofer who finds hail damage may suggest filing a claim. That's between you and your insurer, but the disclosure form asks about *"Any property insurance claim submitted (whether paid or not),"* so the claim becomes a row of its own. Whatever you do repair, keep the invoice and, in the City of Boulder, the closed permit; ask the contractor who files it for the final sign-off when the work passes. That paper's what a buyer's inspector looks for at a repaired system. Before listing, agree with your broker how the report goes out: with the disclosure form, alongside what you repaired, with invoices, and what you priced in instead. ## Book it for the repairs, not for the buyer What you choose is whether you see the findings first. You don't choose whether the buyer sees them: their inspection runs on their deadline whatever your report says. That makes a pre-listing inspection a timing instrument. It's worth what you can do between the report and the list date. If the runway is short, spend it on the system you could still fix. How much runway you have usually traces back to an earlier choice, whether you sell first or buy first, and [the move-up seller's guide to listing in Boulder](https://truenorthboulder.com/guides/how-to-sell-a-move-up-home-boulder/) is built around that decision. Scope the inspection to the time you actually have. Starting from your target list date, we'll suggest which inspections fit before it, read the report with you, and point out the disclosure rows a finding may reach. You'll still fill in the form yourself. [Plan the inspection](https://truenorthboulder.com/contact/) True North Boulder is a real-estate team with eXp Realty. This is general information, not tax, legal, or financial advice. Confirm how any of it applies to your house with your broker or a Colorado real-estate attorney before you act. Common questions ## Frequently asked Do I have to disclose a pre-listing inspection report in Colorado?+ Colorado's Seller's Property Disclosure asks for it in its own words. Row R.1 covers '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.' Nothing in the row limits it to reports a buyer ordered. You fill in the form yourself. Whether a particular finding counts as an adverse material fact, and how the report gets to a buyer, are questions to work through with your broker or a Colorado real-estate attorney first. Does a pre-listing inspection stop the buyer from inspecting or objecting?+ No. Under the standard Colorado contract, CBS1 section 10.3, the buyer has the right to inspect at their own expense and to object to a condition that is unsatisfactory 'in Buyer's sole subjective discretion.' The form doesn't print a set number of days for the Inspection Objection, Resolution and Termination Deadlines; each is filled in when the contract is drawn up, as a date or a number of days after both parties sign, and your report doesn't move any of them. A shorter inspection period is something you'd negotiate when an offer arrives. Do I have to tell the buyer about a radon test I ran before listing?+ Colorado's radon statute, C.R.S. 38-35.7-112, answers that one directly. The standard contract prints the statute's required warning at section 10.13: the seller 'IS REQUIRED TO PROVIDE THE BUYER WITH ANY KNOWN INFORMATION ON RADON TEST RESULTS OF THE RESIDENTIAL REAL PROPERTY.' The disclosure form's radon row asks for copies of the most recent records and reports. Is a sewer scope worth doing before I sell?+ It answers a row the disclosure form already carries, the date the sewer line was last scoped. In the City of Boulder, homeowners are responsible for their sewer service to and including the connection to the city main, so it's worth booking a scope when there's time to repair the line or price it before you and your broker set the list price. Our Boulder County home-inspection guide covers what a scope typically finds and what repairs run. How far ahead of listing should I book a pre-listing inspection?+ Far enough ahead to act on what it finds. No source we found gives a single number, so you'll need to build it from parts: a short-term radon test closes the house for 12 hours and then runs at least 48, and EPA recommends a post-mitigation retest within 30 days of installation. In the City of Boulder every permit closes with an inspection, and review times depend on the project. A fall or winter inspection can also leave some systems untested. Does Colorado license home inspectors?+ Colorado has no statewide home-inspector license that we found; the last bill to create a registration (SB17-038) died in committee in 2017\. Radon work is different. Colorado licenses radon measurement and mitigation professionals, and CDPHE says the radon contractors it lists must be licensed by the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies. Is a pre-listing inspection worth it for a Colorado seller?+ Its value is the time it buys. Colorado's Seller's Property Disclosure puts no duty on you to inspect, and what you already know goes on it either way, so the report earns its fee in the stretch before a buyer is under contract: time to repair a finding, or to set a list price that accounts for it. With little runway, scope it to the one system you could still fix. The bottom line What you already know goes on Colorado's Seller's Property Disclosure whether or not you inspect, and a pre-listing report in your file joins it. The reason to commission one is the time it leaves you. Book it with enough lead time to repair or price what it finds, and limit it to the systems you can act on. The buyer's inspection and its dates stay where the contract puts them. Sources & data notes - Rows B (roof), D.2, D.32, D.33 and D.36 (electrical), I.1.b and I.7 (sewer), O.1, O.2 and O.3 (radon), R.1, R.2 and R.11, the first-page adverse-material-fact sentence, "SHOULD BE COMPLETED BY SELLER, NOT BY BROKER", the knowledge-date sentence, "not intended as a substitute for an inspection", and the Advisory to Buyer on current actual knowledge and no duty to investigate or inspect: 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 sewer-scope date row also appeared in the prior edition (SPD19-6-23). - Buyer's inspection right, the Inspection Objection, and the radon warning: Colorado Real Estate Commission, Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate (Residential), CBS1, 2026 edition, §10.3 and §10.13; the inspection deadlines are completed in the §3.1 Dates and Deadlines table, as a date or a number of days (§3.3.2). - Radon disclosure statute: C.R.S. 38-35.7-112, added by [SB23-206](https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-206?ref=truenorthboulder.com) (Session Laws 2023, ch. 356, approved June 5, 2023, effective August 7, 2023), including the legislative declaration in section 1(k) that testing "is simple and inexpensive". Read in the enacted session law retrieved from leg.colorado.gov. - Radon testing, placement for a real-estate transaction, the winter note, the mitigation cost range and contractor licensing: Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, [Testing your home for radon](https://cdphe.colorado.gov/hm/testing-your-home-radon?ref=truenorthboulder.com), retrieved October 9, 2026 with a browser user agent. - Post-mitigation retest: U.S. EPA, A Consumer's Guide to Radon Reduction, EPA 402/K-10/005. - Broker disclosure: C.R.S. 12-10-404(3), 2026 Colorado Real Estate Manual. [Commission Position 27, Broker Disclosure of Adverse Material Facts](https://dre.colorado.gov/sites/dre/files/documents/Commission%20Position%2027%20-%20Broker%20Disclosure%20of%20Adverse%20Material%20Facts.pdf?ref=truenorthboulder.com) (recodified from CP-46 June 7, 2022) and [Commission Position 25, Resolving Inspection Issues](https://dre.colorado.gov/sites/dre/files/documents/Commission%20Position%2025%20-%20Resolving%20Inspection%20Issues.pdf?ref=truenorthboulder.com), Division of Real Estate, retrieved October 9, 2026 with a browser user agent. - City of Boulder permits, inspections, the 2026 National Electrical Code (adopted by the State Electrical Board, effective August 1, 2026 and applied in the City per BRC 10-6-2(a)), asbestos-testing triggers and the Landmark Alteration Certificate: [City of Boulder building permits and inspections](https://bouldercolorado.gov/services/building-permits-and-inspections?ref=truenorthboulder.com). Sewer service responsibility and lining: City of Boulder sanitary sewer rehabilitation page. Both retrieved October 9, 2026 with a browser user agent. - Septic transfer: Boulder County Public Health, [SepticSmart Property Transfer](https://bouldercounty.gov/environment/water/septicsmart/property-transfer/?ref=truenorthboulder.com); Larimer County Transfer of Title program. - Home-inspector registration: SB17-038, postponed indefinitely by the Senate Finance Committee on February 9, 2017 (leg.colorado.gov). No later statewide licensing bill found.