A Connecticut purchase has a few rules of its own. None is complicated, but they matter, and some carry deadlines.
An attorney runs the closing
Connecticut law reserves real estate closings to lawyers. Under the state’s general statutes, “no person shall conduct a real estate closing unless such person has been admitted as an attorney in this state.” A 2019 law, Public Act 19-88, made that explicit.
The Connecticut Bar Association lists the closing tasks only an attorney may perform. They include preparing the documents that transfer title, presiding over the signing, explaining the documents, supervising the disbursement of funds and overseeing the recording. Title searching itself is not reserved to lawyers. Hire your own attorney early, ideally before you sign the purchase contract.
The seller’s condition report
Before you sign a purchase agreement, the seller of a one- to four-unit residential property, including a condominium or cooperative unit, must give you a Residential Property Condition Report. If the seller does not, Connecticut law requires a $500 credit to the buyer at closing.
That figure is sometimes quoted as $300, because older versions of the form still circulate online. The legislature raised it to $500 in 2012.
The current form, revised in July 2025, asks new questions about flooding, including floodplain status, past flood insurance claims, federal disaster aid and water penetration. It also asks about radon testing and mitigation systems and about current or past underground storage tanks. A separate Residential Foundation Condition Report addresses pyrrhotite, a mineral linked to crumbling concrete foundations elsewhere in the state.
Read the report closely. It is the seller’s statement, not an inspection, and anything it leaves blank is a question for your attorney.
Radon
Connecticut does not require radon testing at sale, but the state Department of Public Health recommends testing and sets an action level of 4 picocuries per liter in indoor air. For well water, the department recommends mitigation at 5,000 picocuries per liter. A typical mitigation system costs about $1,200 in Connecticut, the department says, and it recommends retesting every two years.
You can make radon testing part of your inspection contingency. If the seller has already tested or installed a system, the condition report should say so.
Oil tanks
Oil heat remains common in Connecticut. About 45 percent of households used it in 2018, according to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Older houses may have a buried tank, in use or abandoned, and a leaking one can mean an expensive cleanup. The condition report asks about tanks, but a tank sweep, a search for buried tanks, is a sensible addition to an inspection of an older house. Contractors who remove tanks must hold OSHA 40-hour hazardous waste and ICC U2 training.
Insurers care too. Underwriters look at buried oil tanks when pricing a homeowners policy, as our cost of ownership guide explains.
Lead paint
For houses built before 1978, federal law requires the seller to disclose any known lead-based paint or hazards, provide any reports, give you the pamphlet Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home, and offer a 10-day window for a lead inspection or risk assessment. You can waive that window in writing, but think before you do, especially with young children.
Your agent’s agreement
Since August 2024, as part of the national settlement with the National Association of Realtors, buyers must sign a written agreement with their agent before touring a home, and the compensation in it must be specific, not open-ended. Connecticut has required written buyer agency agreements and a notice that commissions are negotiable for nearly 30 years, according to Connecticut Realtors, so the written agreement itself was not new here.
Who pays what
In Connecticut the seller pays the state and town conveyance taxes. The buyer pays for their own attorney, lender charges and title insurance. Ask your attorney for an estimate of closing costs early, so the number is in your budget before you bid.
Sources
- Justia, Connecticut General Statutes 51-88a, 2025
- JD Supra, Alston & Bird, Connecticut officially becomes an attorney closing state, 2019
- Connecticut Bar Association, Memo on SB 320 and Public Act 19-88, 2019
- Justia, Connecticut General Statutes 20-327c, accessed Oct. 2026
- Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, Residential Property Condition Report, revised July 2025
- Connecticut Office of Legislative Research, Summary of Public Act 12-122, 2012
- Connecticut Department of Public Health, Radon program, accessed Oct. 2026
- Connecticut DEEP, Residential home heating oil tanks, accessed Oct. 2026
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Real estate disclosures about potential lead hazards, May 27, 2026
- National Association of Realtors, Consumer guide to written buyer agreements, Sept. 6, 2024
- Connecticut Realtors, Communication points on the NAR settlement, Aug. 15, 2024
