Do You Have to Disclose Past Insurance Claims When Selling?

Short answer: in most states you do not disclose the claim itself. You disclose the underlying damage and whether it was repaired, which is what the disclosure form actually asks about. The practical complication is that a buyer can often see your claims history anyway, because insurers report claims to a shared database called CLUE, and the report covers up to seven years. So the real question is not whether to mention it, but whether you can show what was done about it.

General information only, not legal advice. Disclosure duties vary significantly by state, and whether a prior claim is a material fact is decided case by case. Talk to a real estate attorney in your state about your situation.

The thing most sellers do not know exists

CLUE stands for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange, a claims database run by LexisNexis. When you file a homeowners claim, your insurer reports it there.

According to state insurance department guidance, a CLUE report includes the name, date of birth, policy number, date and type of loss, the amount paid, a description of the covered property, and for homeowner claims the property address. It generally covers up to seven years of personal property and auto claims.

Three details matter more than they first appear:

• Insurers report more than paid claims. Claims where a file was opened, and claims that were formally denied, can also appear. A claim you withdrew may still be on the record.
• You can see your own report, free. The Fair Credit Reporting Act entitles you to a copy from the LexisNexis Consumer Center. If something on it is wrong, there is a dispute process, and LexisNexis verifies with the insurer and responds within 30 days.
• A buyer cannot pull your report directly. Guidance is explicit that for a property, the owner must request it. In practice, buyers in some markets ask sellers to provide one, the way they ask for a survey.

So the asymmetry sellers imagine, where the claim is private unless they mention it, is weaker than they think. And if a buyer does ask for the report and you decline, you have communicated something.

What you are actually required to disclose

Read your state's disclosure form closely. It generally asks about conditions and damage, not about insurance. Typical questions cover water or flood damage, roof leaks, fire damage, structural problems, and whether repairs were made.

That framing is the key to the whole question. A hail claim on the roof is not itself the material fact. The hail damage is, and so is the repair that followed. If your roof was damaged, claimed, and properly replaced, you disclose the damage and the repair. The claim is simply how it was paid for.

Where sellers get into trouble is the opposite case: damage that was claimed, paid out, and never fully repaired. That is a known defect, and the money you received for it is evidence that you knew. For the general standard, see what home sellers must legally disclose.

State realtor association guidance has noted that whether a prior claim is a material fact has to be determined case by case. That is an uncomfortable answer, and it is the honest one. The safer posture is the one we recommend throughout: when in doubt, disclose, and show the repair.

The claim is not the problem. The undocumented repair is.

Consider two sellers with identical histories: a $27,000 hail claim on the roof four years ago.

Seller A's roof is four years old and documented, which is better than most houses on the street. The claim history works in their favour. That is the usual case, and it is why hiding claims is both unnecessary and risky.

Pull your own CLUE report before you list

It is free, it takes one request, and it tells you what a buyer may eventually see. Two things to check:

• Claims you forgot. Especially small ones, and ones made by a previous owner during your ownership period on a policy you inherited.
• Claims that are wrong. Denied claims and opened-then-abandoned files appear. If an entry is inaccurate, dispute it, and note that you can add an explanatory statement that appears on future reports.

Do this early. A disputed entry takes about 30 days to resolve, which is longer than most escrow periods.

The limits of a clean report

A CLUE report with nothing on it does not prove the house was never damaged. Repairs paid out of pocket never generate a claim, and not every insurer participates. Buyers who treat a clean report as proof of a problem-free house are over-reading it, and sellers who treat it as a clean bill of health are doing the same.

This cuts both ways for you. Work you paid for yourself does not show up, which means a buyer cannot see it either unless you tell them. That is another argument for keeping your own records, covered in how to keep track of home repairs.

If the claim involved water or mold

Water claims get the most scrutiny, because the damage that matters is often what happened afterward rather than the original event. If a buyer's inspector finds staining or suspects past water intrusion, the questions come quickly. What was the source, was it fixed, and was anything left wet. See mold found during a home inspection for how that conversation usually goes.

What to assemble

• Your own CLUE report, pulled before listing
• For each claim: what happened, when, what was repaired, and by whom
• The contractor invoice and any permit and final inspection for the repair
• The adjuster's scope of work, which shows what the insurer agreed was damaged
• Photographs from during the repair, which answer questions finished surfaces cannot
• Any transferable warranty on the repair work

The bottom line

You generally disclose the damage and the repair rather than the insurance claim, but the distinction only protects you if the repair was actually completed. Pull your own CLUE report before listing, because it covers up to seven years and includes denied and opened claims you may not remember. A documented claim history usually helps you: it means a newer roof with paperwork. An undocumented one looks like something you were hoping nobody would check.

Sources

This article was researched and verified in October 2026 against the following:

• Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, CLUE (contents of a CLUE report including name, date of birth, policy number, date and type of loss, amount paid, property description and address; the up to seven year lookback; that insurers report paid claims, opened files and formally denied claims; the Fair Credit Reporting Act entitlement to a free copy; the LexisNexis Consumer Center dispute process and its 30 day response; and that for a property report, the owner must request it)
• Connecticut Insurance Department, Get a CLUE to your claims history corroborates the same seven year window for homeowners and auto claims.
• State realtor association guidance has noted that whether prior insurance claims are material facts requiring disclosure is determined case by case rather than by a blanket rule. Disclosure duties are state law, so confirm yours.
• Not verified: we could not retrieve the National Association of Realtors' own CLUE guidance page (it returned a 404 at the URL we tried), so the points above rest on state insurance department sources rather than NAR.
• Also unverified: how commonly buyers actually request a CLUE report during a sale. We found no reliable data, so this article describes it as market-dependent rather than quoting a frequency.

Documenting belongings before a loss is the other half of this. See using a home inventory app for insurance claims.