Radon Connect
What happens next

What happens after you sell a home

“We closed and radon was part of the negotiation. Is that finished, or does something come back to me?”

This is the shortest of these sequences, because most of what a seller owes on radon concludes at closing. That is worth stating plainly rather than leaving as an anxiety.

The parts that do persist are documentary. What follows is what to keep, what a buyer might reasonably come back with, and where the two common negotiated outcomes leave you differently.

  1. At closing

    Confirm what was actually delivered

    Whatever the amendment specified — completed mitigation, a credit, a holdback, a promise to test — check that the closing documents reflect it. A credit that was agreed in email and never made it into the settlement statement is a dispute waiting to happen, and the moment to catch it is before funds move.

    Whose move
    You and your agent, against the amendment, before signing.
    If this does not happen
    A mismatch between what was agreed and what was documented becomes an argument after closing, when neither party has leverage and both have lawyers.
    Where people fall out
    Assuming the closing statement reflects the radon amendment because everything else lines up. Radon lines are added late and are the ones most often missed.

  2. The first week after closing

    Hand over everything you have

    If mitigation was installed, the buyer should receive the proposal, the installer credential, the warranty with its dates and transferability terms, and the post-installation result. This is not a legal obligation in most cases; it is the thing that stops a phone call in three months. Send it once, in one message, and keep a copy.

    Whose move
    You, or your agent on your behalf.
    If this does not happen
    Missing documentation generates follow-up requests for as long as the buyer owns the house, and each one arrives with less context on your side.
    Where people fall out
    Forwarding the invoice and nothing else. The invoice is the least useful document in the set.

  3. Keep for the period your counsel advises

    Retain your own copy

    Keep the disclosure you signed, the test result you disclosed, the amendment, and any mitigation documentation. How long depends on your state and your counsel, not on us. The reason is simple: if a question arises, the document is the answer, and reconstructing it later is not possible.

    Whose move
    You, into whatever file holds the closing packet.
    If this does not happen
    Without your copy, a later question about what you disclosed becomes a matter of recollection against a document the other side may still hold.
    Where people fall out
    Discarding the packet once the sale feels finished. Retention costs nothing and the alternative has no remedy.

  4. Weeks to months after closing

    The buyer may retest, and may get a different number

    A new owner testing under their own conditions is normal and often produces a different figure from the transaction test — different season, different occupancy, different placement. A different number is not evidence that anything was concealed or that the mitigation failed. What matters is whether the work specified in the amendment was performed and documented.

    Whose move
    The buyer. Your part is to have the documentation ready if asked.
    If this does not happen
    If a buyer raises a result and you have nothing to hand, a documentary question turns into a credibility question.
    Where people fall out
    Responding to a buyer new number by relitigating the old one. The relevant question is what the amendment required and whether it was delivered.

  5. Ongoing

    A credit and completed work leave you differently

    If you gave a credit, your involvement ended at closing and the work is the buyer decision, timing, and risk. If you had mitigation installed, you retain whatever the warranty says about the original purchaser, and transferability varies by contractor. That distinction rarely matters, and when it does it matters entirely.

    Whose move
    Nobody, unless a warranty question arises.
    If this does not happen
    No action is required. This stage exists so you know which position you are in rather than discovering it under pressure.

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.

You gave a credit rather than installing anything
Your involvement concluded at closing. Keep the amendment and the settlement statement, and the work is the buyer decision entirely.
You installed mitigation as part of the deal
Hand over the full file including warranty transferability terms, and keep a copy. The warranty terms determine whether anything remains yours.
The buyer contacts you months later about a result
Answer from the amendment and the documentation rather than from the number. What was required, and was it delivered.
You are also buying a house
The buyer-side sequence applies to your new property, and the first-month measurement window is the best one you will get.

Related

  • After a failed inspection — A contract clock is running. The order of operations changes because of it.
  • After mitigation — Installation is not the end of the job. Verification is.
  • After buying a home — You now control the conditions, which means you can finally get a clean number.
  • Selling or buying? — Your side, your timeline, your result — and what should be in the amendment.
  • Should I negotiate? — Which ask is realistic given your side, your days, and what you have in writing.
  • Selling — Test before you list. Everything else follows from that.
  • Negotiating — Arrive with a result and a number. Then write it down properly.
  • Selling a home with high radon — Disclosure, timing, and how to keep radon from repricing your deal.
  • Selling with a system — An installed system helps or hurts depending almost entirely on whether you can document that it works.
  • Buyer credits vs mitigation — A direct comparison, and the situations where each one wins.
  • Who pays — It is negotiated, not mandated. Contract language, local practice, and leverage decide it — and preparation changes the outcome more than argument does.
  • All six sequences — every moment we have mapped.

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 treats radon mitigation in a transaction as negotiable between the parties rather than as a legal requirement.
  • Illinois requires specific disclosure on residential sales under the statute cited here, and that statute does not require testing or mitigation.
  • A measurement taken under different conditions in the same house can legitimately differ from an earlier one.
What we do not knowQuestions you may reasonably have that this page does not answer.
  • What obligations survive closing in your state and under your contract, which is a legal question specific to your documents.
  • Whether a given warranty transfers to a subsequent owner, which is a term set by the contractor.
What research would settle itWhat it would actually take to answer the above — naming it is the difference between honesty and hedging.
  • A survey of warranty transferability terms across contractors, which would need primary collection we have not performed.
  • Recorded post-closing radon disputes and their resolutions, which nobody appears to publish.
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 licensed in your state.
  • We do not state a document retention period, because it depends on your jurisdiction and your counsel.
  • We do not claim what any seller is obliged to disclose beyond the statutes we cite.
What we cannot independently verifyFacts this page relies on that we could not confirm ourselves.
  • The terms of your particular amendment, warranty, or settlement statement.
  • The current text of the cited statutes, for the network reason stated in our methodology.

Sources

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

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