The Septic Paperwork Every "As-Is" Sale in Henderson, TN Still Has to Produce

"If I sell as-is, do I still have to disclose anything?"

It's one of the first questions sellers ask when they decide not to make repairs before listing a home in Henderson. The short answer they usually want is no. The accurate answer is more specific, and it matters more here than in a lot of Tennessee markets, because so much of Chester County outside the city limits runs on private well and septic rather than municipal water and sewer.

Tennessee law lets a seller skip the standard disclosure form, but it does not let four specific items disappear just because the word "as-is" shows up in the listing. One of those four is the percolation test result on file for the property's septic system. If your home, or the lot you're buying, has ever had a septic system installed, repaired, or replaced, that paperwork survives every version of the sale, including the one where the buyer waives everything else.

What "As-Is" Actually Waives

The Tennessee Residential Property Disclosure Act gives sellers of one-to-four-unit residential property three legal paths, not one. The first is the standard route: complete the Residential Property Condition Disclosure (form RF 201) and answer every question in good faith based on what you actually know. The second is the disclaimer statement (form RF 204), which is what most people mean when they say "as-is." The third is a statutory exemption, available only for specific situations: court-ordered transfers, foreclosures, probate sales, or an owner who hasn't lived on the property within the past three years, which covers a lot of landlords, heirs, and out-of-state owners but not the typical owner-occupant selling their own home.

Here's the part that surprises most first-time sellers. The disclaimer path only works if the buyer agrees to it in writing. A seller cannot unilaterally declare a home "as-is" and skip the disclosure form. The buyer has to sign a waiver accepting that route. That means an ordinary owner-occupied sale really only has two live options: full disclosure, or a disclaimer that the other side has to consent to.

The Four Things You Can't Wave Away

Even when a buyer signs that waiver, Tennessee law still requires the seller to disclose four items in writing, no matter which of the three paths applies:

• Any known sinkholes on the property
• Any known exterior injection well
• The results of any known percolation test or soil absorption rate performed on the property and accepted by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
• Whether the property sits inside a Planned Unit Development, and if the buyer asks, a copy of the restrictive covenants, homeowner bylaws, and master deed

The legislature drew a line between subjective judgment calls and objective, testable facts. Whether a water stain in the crawl space counts as a "material defect" is a matter of opinion the disclaimer form is built to sidestep. Whether a soil absorption test came back passing or failing is a recorded fact, and Tennessee decided a buyer doesn't lose access to that fact just because they waived the general disclosure form.

Notice that the right column is identical on the bottom two rows. There is no version of a Tennessee residential sale where these four items simply go away.

Why This Hits Harder in Henderson Than in a Fully-Sewered Subdivision

In a subdivision on city water and sewer, the percolation test line on that form is often blank, because there's no septic system to test. Henderson's in-town properties are served by the Henderson Gas and Water Department, which operates the water treatment facility, the wastewater collection system, and three sewage treatment lagoons out of an office at City Hall. If your home sits inside that service area, this whole conversation may not apply to you.

Step outside the city limits into the rest of Chester County, and the picture changes. A meaningful share of homes and buildable lots in the area rely on private wells and septic systems instead of municipal service, something we've written about in our guide to daily life in Henderson. Those systems don't get installed or repaired without a permit, and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is the agency that oversees septic permitting in rural counties like Chester. The state's own list of permitted septic installers includes contractors licensed to work specifically within Chester County, which tells you this is active, ongoing infrastructure, not a historical footnote.

Every one of those permitted installations has a soil absorption test attached to it somewhere in the file. That's the exact document the disclosure law refuses to let an as-is sale skip. A seller who assumes "as-is" means a clean exit from paperwork is often the same seller who forgot they still owe the buyer a document that's been sitting in a drawer, or in the county health department's files, since the system went in.

The Lot Version of This Problem

The Planned Unit Development carve-out matters just as much for land as it does for finished homes. If a property sits inside a covenant-restricted subdivision, the seller has to disclose that status in writing and produce the restrictive covenants and HOA bylaws if the buyer asks for them. That's relevant for anyone buying or selling a lot in one of Henderson's platted subdivisions, where covenants often govern everything from setbacks to exterior materials. A buyer who assumes an as-is lot purchase means no paperwork can still walk away with a legal right to see those governing documents before closing.

What to Pull Before You List

If you're preparing to sell a Henderson-area property on well and septic, the practical move is to locate your percolation test and soil absorption records before you ever sign a listing agreement, not after a buyer asks. That usually means checking with whoever installed or last serviced the system, or reaching out to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation's regional office if the system predates your ownership and you don't have the paperwork on hand. If you genuinely don't have that history and the system predates your purchase, say so in writing. Tennessee law only requires disclosure of what you actually know. It does not require you to hire someone to dig up a test that was never performed or that you have no record of.

What Buyers Should Ask For, Even in an As-Is Deal

If you're buying a Henderson-area home and the seller wants you to sign an as-is disclaimer, sign it if the price and terms make sense for you, but ask for the four carve-out items by name. Ask specifically for the percolation or soil absorption test results, not just "the septic paperwork," since the legal requirement is tied to that specific document. If the property is inside a covenant-restricted subdivision, ask for the covenants and bylaws in the same request. None of this requires renegotiating the as-is terms. It's simply asking for what the law already entitles you to.

There's a second document worth asking about that has nothing to do with the state disclosure act but comes up constantly in older Henderson-area homes: the federal lead-based paint disclosure. Any home built before 1978 requires the seller to provide an EPA pamphlet on lead hazards, disclose any known lead-based paint, and give the buyer a ten-day window to conduct a lead inspection if they want one. That obligation comes from federal law, not the Tennessee act, so it survives an as-is sale for an entirely separate reason, but it's easy to lump the two together and assume one waiver covers both.

Quick Answers

Does this apply to raw land, not just finished homes? The Planned Unit Development disclosure applies to land inside a covenant-restricted subdivision. The percolation test carve-out applies if a test has actually been performed and accepted by the state, which is common for lots being prepared for septic-based construction.

What if I never had a perc test done? Disclose that you have no knowledge of one. The law is built around what a seller actually knows, not what a seller is required to go find out.

Does an as-is sale still require a home inspection? Tennessee doesn't legally require a home inspection for either party. Most buyers get one anyway, since the disclosure form and an inspection cover different ground: one is the seller's stated knowledge, the other is a professional's independent look at the property.

Can a seller still negotiate repairs in an as-is sale? Yes. As-is describes the disclosure path, not the negotiation itself. Buyers and sellers can still agree to repairs, credits, or price adjustments as part of the purchase agreement.

If you're preparing to list a Henderson-area property on well and septic, or you're evaluating a lot inside one of the area's covenant-restricted subdivisions, this is exactly the kind of detail that's easy to miss and expensive to get wrong. Stellar Realty Group works these transactions locally every week. Call or message Destiny today for a free consultation and home valuation.