Filling Out the Seller's Disclosure (TREC OP-H) on a San Antonio Home: What to Put, What to Leave Out, and Where Sellers Get Burned

The Seller's Disclosure Notice is the single document most likely to put you back in front of a judge after you have cashed the check. Texas Property Code § 5.008 requires the seller of almost every single-family resale in Bexar County to deliver a written disclosure of the property's condition to the buyer on or before the effective date of the contract. TREC's promulgated version is Form OP-H (Seller's Disclosure Notice). It is not mandatory to use that exact form — § 5.008 provides its own statutory language you can copy — but 95% of San Antonio listings use OP-H because it is what title companies and buyer's agents expect.

The form looks like a checklist. It is actually a sworn representation. Get it wrong — knowingly or carelessly — and you are exposed to fraud, DTPA, and statutory misrepresentation claims for up to four years after closing.

When § 5.008 applies and when it does not

The disclosure requirement covers resales of residential property with not more than one dwelling unit. The statute lists specific exemptions in § 5.008(e). The ones that actually come up in Bexar County:

• Sales under a court order (probate, divorce decree, receivership)
• Transfers by a trustee in bankruptcy
• Foreclosure sales and transfers by a mortgagee who acquired the property at foreclosure
• Transfers from one co-owner to another
• Transfers to a spouse or lineal descendant
• The first sale of a brand-new home by the builder (new construction)

If you inherited the house and are selling it out of the estate before distribution, you are exempt — but almost every buyer's agent will still demand the disclosure or substitute an addendum stating the seller has never occupied the property. Investor flips do not get a free pass. If you bought the house, held title, and are reselling, § 5.008 applies even if you never slept there a single night. You disclose what you know.

When the form has to be delivered

On or before the effective date of the contract. If you deliver it after — common when a seller is slow to sign the OP-H and the TREC 20-17 contract moves faster — the buyer has seven days from receipt to terminate the contract for any reason and get the earnest money back. That termination right exists regardless of the option period. Do not treat late delivery as harmless.

The cleanest workflow in San Antonio: your listing agent uploads the signed OP-H to the MLS at the same moment the listing goes active, so every offer that comes in has already seen it.

What San Antonio sellers actually have to disclose

The form walks through systems (roof, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, foundation), known defects, past repairs, and specific hazards. A few sections generate most of the lawsuits in this market:

Prior flooding and flood zone status

§ 5.008 was amended to require specific flood disclosures: whether the property is in a 100-year or 500-year floodplain, whether it has ever flooded, whether you have ever filed a flood insurance claim, and whether you have received FEMA assistance. In Bexar County this bites hardest around Olmos Basin, Leon Creek, Salado Creek, and the Medina River corridors. If your home is in a FEMA-mapped Special Flood Hazard Area, you say so. Pulling the parcel on BCAD and cross-referencing the FEMA Flood Map Service Center takes ten minutes and documents your answer.

Foundation and structural repairs

Expansive clay soils across the north and west sides mean a huge share of 1970s–1990s slab homes have had some pier work. If you have an engineer's letter, a transferable warranty from Olshan or Ram Jack, or receipts, disclose the repair and attach the documentation. "Minor settling, no repairs" when there are twelve helical piers under the north wall is how you end up in district court.

Prior insurance claims

San Antonio sits in the top tier of US metros for hail losses. Spring 2016, April 2021, and multiple cycles since have produced CAT-coded claims across the whole metro. If you filed a hail or wind claim and replaced the roof, disclose the claim, the date, and the scope of repair. The buyer's insurance carrier will pull a CLUE report (Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange) that lists every claim on the property for the last seven years. If your OP-H says "no prior claims" and the CLUE shows two, you have handed the buyer a fraud claim on a plate.

Age of major systems

Roof age, HVAC age, water heater age. If you do not know, write "unknown" — do not guess. "Unknown" is a legally safe answer under § 5.008; a wrong specific number is not.

Related forms that get missed

OP-H is rarely the only disclosure document on a San Antonio deal.

• TREC OP-L (Lead-Based Paint Addendum) — required by federal law for any home built before 1978. That covers most of 78209 (Alamo Heights, Terrell Hills, Olmos Park), 78212 (Monte Vista, Beacon Hill), 78210 (Highland Park, Lavaca), 78201, 78228, and much of the urban core inside Loop 410. Skip this and you have a federal exposure, not just a state one.
• HOA Addendum (TREC 36-10) — if the property is in an HOA (every master-planned community in Stone Oak, Alamo Ranch, Cibolo Canyons, Kinder Ranch), the buyer is entitled to a Resale Certificate from the HOA. You order it; the HOA charges a fee; it discloses dues, assessments, violations, and pending litigation.
• MUD / PID notice — a surprising amount of the 1604/281 and far-west-side new growth sits inside a Public Improvement District or a Municipal Utility District with its own assessment. Chapter 5 of the Property Code requires written notice of these before contract execution.

What most sellers get wrong

• Treating "to the best of my knowledge" as armor. It is not. Courts in Texas have repeatedly held that a seller who had actual knowledge cannot hide behind qualifying language. If you know, say so.
• Not disclosing a repair because "it was fixed." The form asks about past repairs, not just current defects. A repaired foundation is still a disclosed foundation.
• Forgetting the insurance claim. The CLUE report will out you every time. Disclose it with the date and scope.
• Checking "no" on items the seller has never personally observed. The right answer when you do not know is "unknown," not "no." A "no" is a representation; "unknown" is not.
• Submitting OP-H after the contract is signed. That triggers the buyer's 7-day termination right under § 5.008 and can blow up a deal that was otherwise clean.
• Older homes: ignoring cast iron drain lines and polybutylene supply lines. Houses from the 1950s–1970s inside Loop 410 commonly have cast iron drains that are now at the end of their service life. If a plumber has ever scoped them and reported pitting or bellies, that goes on the form.

When to involve a lawyer, not just an agent

Your listing agent can walk you through the checkboxes. They cannot tell you how § 5.008 interacts with a prior lawsuit, a boundary dispute with a neighbor, an unresolved mechanic's lien, or an estate situation where title is cloudy. For any of those, pay a Texas real estate attorney for an hour of their time before you sign the OP-H. The fee is three figures. The exposure you are avoiding is five or six.

If you are preparing to list, start by pulling your BCAD property record, your CLUE report (you can request your own at no charge once per year), and any invoices for roof, foundation, HVAC, and plumbing work from the last ten years. Those three documents are what let you fill out OP-H in one sitting instead of guessing. When you are ready to list, you can post the home FSBO at no cost at /list-your-home, or compare San Antonio listing agents at /agents — and if you want more seller-side playbooks before you commit to a path, /resources collects the rest of the pillar.