Radon Connect
What happens next

What happens after a failed inspection

“The inspection came back elevated and we are inside a contingency window. What happens over the next two weeks?”

Everything about this sequence is shaped by a deadline. Outside a transaction, an elevated result is a house problem you can take months over; inside one it is a scheduling problem with a fixed end date, and options disappear as days pass.

That inverts the usual order. The first question is not what the number means — it is how many days remain and what still fits inside them.

  1. First 24 to 48 hours

    Establish two facts before discussing anything

    First: how many days are left in the contingency, and what the contract requires to be delivered inside it — a written request, a specific form, a notice period. Second: whether the result is defensible. A test run while the house was being shown, with a door propped for a photographer, is challengeable, and finding that out on day two is very different from finding out on day nine.

    Whose move
    Both sides, immediately, usually through agents.
    If this does not happen
    Days spent discussing the number instead of the deadline are days removed from every option that requires scheduling.
    Where people fall out
    Opening the negotiation before checking validity. If the test is challengeable, the entire conversation was premature and may have to restart with fewer days.

  2. Inside the contingency window

    The written request

    A radon request has to be made the way the contract says, in writing, inside the window. What it asks for should be specific: mitigation by a credentialed contractor with a post-installation result below a stated figure, or a credit of a stated amount, or a holdback. A request for "seller to address radon" is not a specification and will be renegotiated later, under more pressure.

    Whose move
    The buyer, through their agent, in the contract form.
    If this does not happen
    A contingency window that closes without a properly made request typically ends the buyer leverage on this issue entirely.
    Where people fall out
    Vague requests. Every ambiguity left in the request becomes a dispute during the amendment, with fewer days left to resolve it.

  3. 2 to 7 days after the request

    The resolution

    These resolve in a small number of recognisable ways: seller mitigates before closing, credit to the buyer, price reduction, holdback in escrow, split cost, or the buyer accepts and handles it themselves. Which is available depends far more on days remaining and market leverage than on the size of the number. A seller with three weeks can mitigate; a seller with five days cannot, and the conversation becomes about money instead.

    Whose move
    Both parties, through agents, in writing.
    If this does not happen
    A stalled negotiation inside a contingency window resolves by default when the window closes, and the default favours whichever party the contract favours — usually not the one who let it lapse.
    Where people fall out
    Arguing about the concentration. The number determines whether action is warranted; the calendar determines which actions are possible.

  4. Immediately after agreement

    The amendment has to be specific enough to close on

    Whatever was agreed goes into a written amendment naming who performs the work, what credential they hold, what the scope includes, who runs the confirmation test and when, what result satisfies the condition, what happens if it does not, and how the money moves. Each of those has been the subject of a failed closing somewhere.

    Whose move
    Both agents, with counsel where the transaction warrants it.
    If this does not happen
    An unspecified amendment produces a dispute in the final week, which is the worst possible time to discover the parties understood different things.
    Where people fall out
    Omitting what happens if the confirmation test fails. That single missing clause is the most common reason a mitigated house does not close on schedule.

  5. 1 to 3 weeks before closing

    Work, verification, and documents

    Installation is typically a single day once scheduled. The confirmation test needs closed conditions for its duration, which in an empty or lightly occupied house is straightforward. The result has to exist as a document before closing, because that is what the amendment is satisfied by.

    Whose move
    The contractor, the party running the test, and both agents chasing paperwork.
    If this does not happen
    Missing verification at closing means either a delay or a closing on an unsatisfied condition, and lenders vary in how they treat the latter.

  6. At closing

    Confirm delivery against the amendment

    Check that the documents match what the amendment specified — the credential, the scope, the post-installation result, the money. This is the last point at which a gap can be fixed with leverage rather than with a lawyer.

    Whose move
    Both parties, against the amendment.
    If this does not happen
    A gap discovered after closing has no straightforward remedy, which is why the check happens before funds move.

When it goes differently

A sequence with only one ending is a script rather than a description. These are the divergences worth knowing about before you are in one.

The test is challengeable and there are enough days left
A retest under controlled conditions may resolve the issue entirely and costs less than any mitigation outcome.
There are too few days to mitigate before closing
The available outcomes narrow to money — credit, price reduction, or holdback — and the sequence shortens accordingly.
The seller refuses to engage at all
This becomes a contingency decision rather than a radon decision, and the contract terms determine what the buyer options actually are.
The confirmation test comes back above the agreed figure
This is the clause people leave out. If the amendment covered it, follow it. If it did not, both sides are negotiating again with almost no days left.
The house is being sold as-is
As-is limits the remedy but not the information. The result still matters for what the buyer is knowingly taking on.

Related

Confidence and limits of this page

Every decision resource on this platform states its own boundaries. This is not a disclaimer — it is the part of this sequence you should read before relying on it.

What we knowClaims on this page we stand behind, each traceable to an approved source or to observable structure.
  • Published buyer and seller guidance describes testing during a transaction and treats mitigation as negotiable between the parties.
  • Contract contingency windows, not the measurement, are what impose urgency on a radon issue in a live deal.
  • A post-installation measurement is what establishes that mitigation achieved a stated result, which is why amendments reference it.
What we do not knowQuestions you may reasonably have that this page does not answer.
  • How often each resolution actually occurs. We publish the outcome taxonomy and an empty instrument for the frequencies, because we have observed none.
  • What your contract requires, which is specific to your forms and your state.
What research would settle itWhat it would actually take to answer the above — naming it is the difference between honesty and hedging.
  • Recorded transaction outcomes with result, days remaining, and resolution, which is the instrument published in our research centre awaiting its first observations.
  • Comparison of contract forms across states, which would need primary collection from filings.
What we do not claimClaims you might expect to find here and will not, with the reason.
  • We do not give legal advice, and nothing here substitutes for counsel or your agent reading your contract.
  • We do not claim what a negotiation will cost or concede, because we hold no transaction observations.
  • We do not claim any timeline is guaranteed, because scheduling depends on contractor availability we cannot see.
What we cannot independently verifyFacts this page relies on that we could not confirm ourselves.
  • Your contract terms, your contingency dates, or local custom in your market.
  • The current content of the cited guidance, for the network reason stated in our methodology.

Sources

  1. U.S. EPA — Home Buyer’s and Seller’s Guide to Radon
  2. U.S. EPA — A Citizen’s Guide to Radon
  3. Illinois General Assembly — Illinois Radon Awareness Act (420 ILCS 46)

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