A furnace dies three weeks after the new owners move in. Then the phone rings, and it’s the buyer’s attorney. Does that bill land back on the person who just sold the place?
Usually, no. In most sales, the seller isn’t liable for repairs after closing once the deed changes hands. The exceptions are narrow: a defect the seller knew about and hid, a repair promise that never got kept, or contract terms that stretched the seller’s duties past closing day. Each one has limits, and knowing them tells you which side of the line you’re on before the buyer ever calls.
Is the Seller Responsible for Repairs After Closing?
“So am I done, or not?”
In the ordinary case, you’re done. Sellers typically aren’t responsible for repairs after closing unless the purchase agreement says otherwise or they failed to disclose a known condition. A seller who didn’t hide or misstate anything is unlikely to be liable.
Michigan follows that pattern. Once the buyer takes the property, responsibility for its condition generally moves with it. A water heater that quits in month two is the new owner’s repair bill, and so is a roof that finally gives up after one winter too many. Ordinary wear and tear isn’t a legal claim for repairs after closing.
The picture changes when the seller knew something and kept quiet. Most undisclosed-defect disputes turn on that single question: did the seller know about the problem and leave it off the disclosure?
What Does a Disclosure Statement Protect You From?
In Michigan, the answer starts with a single form you sign before the purchase agreement is final. The Michigan Seller Disclosure Act covers properties with one to four units. It requires the seller to hand over a written seller disclosure statement before the buyer signs a binding purchase agreement. If the form shows up late, the buyer can terminate in writing within 72 hours of personal delivery, or 120 hours if it came by registered mail.
The protection runs in a direction people misread. The form itself says it isn’t a warranty of any kind, and it isn’t a substitute for the buyer’s own inspection. What it does is document what you personally knew on the day you signed. The Act doesn’t hold a seller liable for an error outside their personal knowledge, as long as they used ordinary care in filling out the form.
Say you told the buyer the basement takes water during heavy storms, and it takes water in March. That’s theirs now, since you said it and they bought it anyway. The same logic applies to old renovations done without a permit, and our guide to selling a Michigan home with unpermitted work walks through what to disclose.
Some transfers skip the form entirely. Foreclosure and probate sales, sales by a fiduciary who never lived in the home, and transfers to close family are among the exemptions listed in the Act. Even then, other Michigan laws still apply, so concealment can still create a claim.
What Does a Buyer Have to Prove After Closing?
Most post-closing claims against Michigan sellers are framed as fraud or silent fraud, and the bar is high. A buyer generally has to show the seller had actual knowledge of a material defect. They also have to show the seller hid it through misleading words or conduct, with intent to deceive.
Silence alone usually isn’t enough. Michigan courts have required a duty to disclose plus some false or misleading statement or act. In Roberts v. Saffell, the Michigan Court of Appeals held in 2008 that an innocent misrepresentation on a disclosure statement can’t support liability under the Act.
The buyer also has to prove they relied on what the seller said and lost money because of it. Reliance is where many claims fall apart. Michigan courts have tossed fraud claims where buyers leaned on their own independent assessment instead of the seller’s statements. Judges also expect buyers to notice defects that were readily apparent during a walkthrough.
Old invoices, photos, emails to a contractor, a prior insurance claim: that’s the kind of evidence that turns a complaint into a case. It cuts both ways, so keep your own file.
Does an As-Is Sale Protect a Michigan Seller?
Partly. An as-is clause removes the expectation that you’ll fix anything before the sale, and it sets the buyer’s expectations honestly from day one. It shifts the risk of unknown defects onto the buyer, which is a real protection for a seller who didn’t know about a defect.
It doesn’t cancel your disclosure duty, though. Michigan’s Court of Appeals has held that an as-is clause doesn’t protect a seller who made fraudulent misrepresentations before the purchase agreement was signed. A seller who markets a house as-is while hiding a known sewer problem can still be held responsible for repairs after closing. The concealment is the issue, not the condition of the house. If you’re weighing that route, it helps to know whether you can sell a house as is without an inspection in Michigan and what buyers usually expect.
Sellers also get into trouble with the half-truth. A quick patch job on a known leak that never gets mentioned can come back to bite you. Disclose any known issue anyway, because that one sentence costs you nothing and closes the door on an argument about repairs after closing.
Can a Seller Complete Repairs After Closing Instead of Before?
It’s possible, though it comes with conditions. Some lenders allow an escrow holdback, where money from your proceeds sits with the title company until the work is verified.
Picture a seller who promises to come back and patch the deck. The buyer moves in, and six weeks later the two of them disagree about what “patch” meant. That promise is a contract term, and an unfulfilled repair agreement is one of the narrow situations where a seller really does owe repairs after closing.
If you go this route, write it down. Define the work, name the deadline, and say who inspects it. Spell out what happens if the job runs over budget, too. A repair holdback through escrow beats a verbal promise, because the money is already set aside at closing and nobody has to chase anybody.
A credit at closing is often cleaner still. You lower the price or cover part of the buyer’s costs, they hire their own contractor, and a later argument has nothing to hang on. Some owners skip the repair talk entirely by selling to cash home buyers in Plymouth, Michigan, who take the house in its current condition.
What Transfers to the Buyer at Closing, and What Doesn’t?
The median existing house sold for $417,500 in September 2026, according to the National Association of Realtors. On closing day, nearly all the risk tied to a house like that changes hands along with the deed.
What stays with you is narrower, and it’s tied to what you said and signed. Promises in the contract survive closing, and so do the statements on your disclosure. Anything you concealed survives too. An HVAC system that simply reached the end of its life on a Tuesday doesn’t.
Insurance changes hands as well. Your homeowners policy ends and theirs begins, and the purchase agreement spells out when risk of loss shifts to the buyer. Confirm that moment with your closing agent and your insurance agent rather than guessing. A pipe that bursts an hour before that moment is your claim.
What Should You Do If a Buyer Contacts You After Closing?
Stay calm and don’t ignore it. A text or email from the new owner about repairs after closing isn’t a lawsuit, and a calm reply keeps your options open.
Start by pulling your file. That means the signed disclosure, the inspection report, every amendment, and any contractor receipts. If the issue shows up on the disclosure or in the buyer’s own inspection report, that paperwork usually answers the complaint.
Don’t admit fault or promise to pay in writing before you understand what’s being claimed. Ask the buyer for specifics in writing: what failed, when they noticed, and what a contractor says the repair will cost. Then hold off on any written promise until you’ve read your paperwork.
If the letter comes from an attorney, or the buyer says you hid something, call a Michigan real estate attorney before you respond. That conversation is cheap compared with a reply that gets quoted back to you later. If you’re not sure where your sale stands, Blue Moon Acquisitions can help you look at your options.
How Long Does Seller Liability Last After Closing?
Exposure doesn’t end at the closing table. In Michigan, a fraud claim generally carries a six-year statute of limitations. In Boyle v. General Motors, the Michigan Supreme Court held that a fraud claim accrues when the wrong is done, not when the plaintiff discovers it.
Other claims, such as breaking a repair promise written into the contract, can follow different deadlines. An attorney can tell you the exact period for your situation. That’s a call worth making if the new owners have already contacted you.
Keep your own copies of everything for years after closing. Scan your contract, inspection report, and repair receipts into a cloud folder before the moving truck leaves. Concealment is what turns a frustrated new owner into a lawsuit, and sellers who knew something and kept it to themselves carry most of the risk.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is a Seller Actually Obligated to Do?
Your core duty is honesty about what you know. Put known material defects in writing on the state disclosure form, and deliver the property in the condition the contract describes. Follow through on anything you agreed to in an amendment. Beyond that, you’re not required to upgrade, modernize, or guarantee the home’s systems for the next owner.
Can a Buyer Sue Over a Problem the Seller Didn’t Know About?
They can file, but the claim is weak. Michigan’s Seller Disclosure Act protects sellers from errors outside their personal knowledge, and fraud requires proof that the seller knew. A furnace that dies without warning, or a slow leak nobody could see, usually stays with the new owner, along with the repair.
Does the Seller Have to Fix Things the Inspector Missed?
Generally not. The buyer’s inspection contingency is their chance to find repair issues before closing. In a 2019 Porch survey of nearly 1,000 people who’d just bought, 86% said their inspector found at least one problem worth addressing. About 46% used the report to negotiate a lower price. Once that window closes, a missed item is a question for the buyer and their inspector, not a claim for repairs after closing, unless you hid it.
Do Repair Credits at Closing Prevent Later Disputes?
They help. A credit has to appear on the closing documents so the lender sees the full picture, and lenders cap seller-paid concessions based on the loan type and down payment. Handing over cash outside the settlement statement is a bad idea. Documented credits show the buyer took money instead of a repair, which protects you from later disputes about repairs after closing.
Does a Home Warranty Protect the Seller After Closing?
Not as much as sellers hope. Sellers often throw one in as a sweetener, then assume it covers whatever the inspector flagged. Many warranty contracts exclude conditions that existed before coverage started, so items the inspection flagged before closing often aren’t covered.
How Soon After Closing Can a Buyer Come After Me?
Right away, if they believe something was concealed. What shortens these conversations is documentation. Keep your signed disclosure, the inspection report, every amendment, and any contractor receipts somewhere you can find them years later.
Would a Cash Sale Fit Your Situation?
If your house needs work you can’t or don’t want to tackle, selling to a direct buyer skips the inspection negotiation entirely. We buy houses in Sterling Heights and across metro Detroit in their current condition, and we don’t come back with a repair list two weeks later. That’s a big part of why sellers look for cash home buyers in Detroit instead of listing a house that needs fixing. You can see how the process works at Blue Moon Acquisitions.
Want to talk through where you stand before you commit to anything? Contact us and we can talk through your options together. We’ll answer questions about repairs after closing and tell you honestly if listing makes more sense than selling to us. There’s no obligation, and no hard feelings if you go another direction.
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