Why the legislature drew the line there

The distinction is not arbitrary, and understanding it tells a seller and a board where the pressure sits.

Radon is a condition of the property that the seller either knows about or does not. The disclosure obligation is limited to the seller's own knowledge, and no third party has to produce anything. If the disclosure is wrong, ordinary remedies apply.

The association package is different in kind. Almost none of it is within the seller's knowledge or control. Budgets, reserve balances, insurance documents, minutes, pending litigation, the collection policy, leasing restrictions — all of it lives with the association. The seller is a conduit.

So the legislature put the pressure where the documents are. Section 47-10-02.3(6) says in terms that “A seller is not liable to a buyer for the failure or delay of the homeowners' association or condominium project to provide the documents in a timely manner” — and then makes the contract voidable anyway. The seller is protected; the transaction is not. That is a deliberate design to make a slow board the problem of the sale.

What it means at a North Dakota closing

The radon statement is a form; the association packet is a dependency. A seller can satisfy the radon statute alone in five minutes. The association statute cannot be satisfied without a third party performing.

Only one of the two can put a deal on hold indefinitely. Until the association's documents arrive, the buyer may void. There is no outer limit in the statute other than conveyance — the window runs until delivery, then five days, or until closing, whichever comes first.

A seller wanting a radon contingency has to write one. Subsection 4 is explicit that the statute does not supply it. Where radon matters to a buyer — and in North Dakota, where the disclosure text itself says levels exceeding federal guidelines have been found in buildings in this state, it often will — the contingency belongs in the purchase agreement.

Both statutes carry an update duty in substance. Section 47-10-02.3(7) requires a written amendment where the seller becomes aware of a change of material fact before closing or possession. A radon test taken between contract and closing is knowledge the seller then has.

What reaches a board

The radon statute imposes nothing on an association. The association statute imposes a ten-day production deadline under subsection 5, with four categories — assessments and arrears, approved special assessments, reserve and capital funds, and budgets and year-to-date financials — that the association may not report as unavailable.

In a condominium building, radon is not purely a unit-level question either. Where a unit's radon concentration is affected by a common element — a shared slab, a common ventilation system, a foundation the association maintains — the mitigation is an association matter even though the disclosure is the seller's. A board that has tested common areas has information sellers will ask for, and a board that has not will be asked why.

Our North Dakota estoppel and resale page covers the packet, and our records inspection page covers what an owner may see between sales.

What to watch next

Watch for North Dakota purchase agreements to start carrying a standard radon contingency clause, since the statute declines to supply one. And watch for the first dispute over how long a buyer's voidability right under § 47-10-02.3(6) survives where the association's packet was delivered incomplete — the five-day clock runs from “receipt of the documents,” and the statute does not say what happens when what is received is only some of them.