Selling a house in Arkansas: the paperwork

Every document an Arkansas sale commonly touches, who usually produces it, and the law behind it. In most sales the seller's own share is small, and this page shows you which part that usually is.

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13 documents · 8 questions · about a 10 minute read · free, and we don't ask for your email

5documents are usually the seller's

out of 13 in an Arkansas sale

Tell us about your sale

Answer what you know. Skip what you don't. Every answer takes something off your list or explains why it stays on.

The home

Was the home built before 1978?

Older homes carry a federal lead paint disclosure. It's the same in every state.

Is the home in an HOA, condo, or co-op?

The association has to produce a package, and they can take weeks. Worth knowing early.

You and the title

Are you married?

Some states need a spouse's signature even when they're not on the title. Many don't.

Did you inherit the home, or is it in probate?

How the home came to you decides which deed you can sign.

Do you file U.S. taxes as a citizen or resident?

If you don't, the buyer has to hold back part of the price and send it to the IRS.

Will you be at the closing yourself?

Signing from a distance takes a power of attorney, and it has to be arranged early.

Its history

Has there been mold, structural repair, or environmental testing here?

What you know, you generally have to say. What you don't know, you don't have to go find.

Are the mineral, oil, or gas rights separate from the land?

In some states these are sold off separately, and the deed has to say so.

Usually the seller's to produce

In most sales nobody else prepares these. Whether each one applies to you depends on your home, your title, and your buyer.

Spousal joinder / dower relinquishmentOn the deed at closingOn your list because are you married
Purchase & Sale AgreementIn PSA
Voluntary Seller Property Disclosure (AR REALTORS® form)Pre-listing packet / attached to PSA
Lead-based paint disclosure (pre-1978)Attached to PSAOn your list because was the home built before 1978
FIRPTA affidavit (non-foreign)Closing packet

Usually drafted for you to sign

These commonly arrive already written. Read them, and ask about anything that looks wrong before you sign.

Warranty deedClosing packet; recorded post-closing

Usually somebody else's to prepare

Commonly handled by a title company, an attorney, a lender, or the county. Listed so none of them is a surprise.

Real Property Transfer Tax documentary stampsAffixed pre-recording
Affidavit of Compliance (transfer tax)Recorded with deed
WDO/termite letter of clearance (NPMA-33/HUD form)Attached to PSA / closing
Settlement statement (CD/ALTA)Closing packet
Payoff / mortgage satisfactionRecorded post-closing
HOA/POA resale disclosureHOA resale packetOn your list because is the home in an hoa, condo, or co-op, or will you be at the closing yourself
1099-SPost-closing

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How Arkansas generally runs a sale

The broad shape of a sale there, as the research found it. Counties and cities add their own rules on top of all of this.

Closing structureArkansas is a title/escrow-closing state. Closings are customarily conducted by title companies.

Marital propertyArkansas is a common-law (separate property) state, NOT community property. However, Arkansas continues to recognize inchoate dower and curtesy (Ark.

HomesteadArk. Const. Art. 9, §§ 3–5 (rural homestead up to 160 acres; urban up to 1/4 acre, with a $2,500 value floor protection); statutory definition at Ark. Code § 16-66-210.

Standard deedWarranty deed (general warranty) is standard; conveys with implied covenants of seisin, right to convey, against encumbrances, quiet enjoyment, and warranty.

Disclosure regimeCaveat emptor with common-law fraud/misrepresentation gloss. No statutory seller disclosure form.

Transfer taxArkansas Real Property Transfer Tax, Ark. Code § 26-60-101 et seq. — $3.30 per $1,000 of consideration exceeding $100.

RONAuthorized. Ark. Code § 21-14-301 et seq. (Act 1047 of 2021 / SB 340), effective April 26, 2021.

Recording actRace-notice (Ark. Code § 14-15-404). Recording gives constructive notice from time of filing;

Recording officeCounty Circuit Clerk (serving as ex officio recorder). Formatting: 8.5"x11" paper, 2.5" top-right margin on the first page (Ark. Code § 14-15-402).

Local overlaysSevered mineral rights common in South Arkansas (oil/gas) and the Fayetteville Shale region (north-central AR).

Other things Arkansas asks about

These come up in Arkansas and almost nowhere else. We don't ask them above because we can't answer them for you yet, but they're worth raising with your title company.

Has a WDO/termite "letter of clearance" been issued or will one be required by the buyer's lender? (VA/FHA loans nearly always require it.)

Before you rely on any of this

This is a compilation of published state requirements, not legal advice, and no lawyer has reviewed it or your sale. Laws and forms change, counties and cities add their own rules, and whether any of this applies to you depends on facts we don't know. Treat every item as a starting point for a question, not as an answer. Confirm anything you plan to rely on against the official source we link, and run your list past a title company or an attorney licensed in your state.

These counts describe a typical sale, not yours. Which documents you need turns on facts about your home, your title, your buyer, and your county, and one unusual answer can add several or remove them.

Who prepares each document is what usually happens, not a rule. Practice differs between states, between counties, and between one title company and the next, and your contract can move work from one side to the other.

Keighbor is not a real estate brokerage and does not represent you. Nobody here is your agent. We don't negotiate, set your price, recommend a course of action, or take a commission. We provide software that helps you organize your side of the sale.

The full Arkansas reference

The rest of the research, with every citation kept. This is the same material our own product is built on, and nothing is held back for paying customers. It describes the law as the research found it, not as it applies to your sale.

Always-Required Documents (Every Arkansas Transaction)

Deed (warranty deed). Ownership: [SELLER] executes; typically [ATTORNEY/TITLE] prepares. Contents: grantor/grantee, legal description, consideration, words of conveyance/warranty, grantor signature, acknowledgment. Formatting per Ark. Code § 14-15-402. Notarization required. Consequence of noncompliance: cannot record; no constructive notice; title fails race-notice priority. Delivery: to buyer/title at closing, then recorded with Circuit Clerk.
Real Property Transfer Tax payment + documentary stamps. Ark. Code § 26-60-101 et seq. Tag: [GOV/TAX], handled by [TITLE/ESCROW]. $3.30/$1,000. Stamps affixed before recording; the deed will not be recorded without proof of payment (Ark. Code § 26-60-110). Affidavit of Compliance (Ark. Code § 26-60-107/108) accompanies.
Spousal joinder (if married + homestead). Ark. Code § 18-12-403. Tag: [SELLER] (non-titled spouse signs deed). Consequence: conveyance of a married person's homestead without the spousal signature is invalid.
Settlement statement. [TITLE/ESCROW]. RESPA/TRID for federally related mortgage loans.

Sometimes-Required Documents (Triggered)

Trigger: pre-1978 dwelling → Federal lead-based paint disclosure + EPA pamphlet (Title X; see § 10). [SELLER].
Trigger: buyer financing (esp. VA/FHA) → WDO/termite Letter of Clearance on the HUD-prescribed Wood Destroying Insect Infestation Inspection Report (NPMA-33). Regulatory basis: Arkansas Pest Control Law "Circular 6" / 2 CAR § 54-304 (authority Ark. Code § 17-37-105), enforced by the Arkansas Department of Agriculture (formerly State Plant Board). Must be issued by a licensed Classification 1 operator, "accompanied by a signed contract providing a guarantee of at least one (1) year" and a diagram of active/inactive infestations. Not statutory as to the seller — it is a lender/buyer condition. [BUYER/LENDER OF RECORD] condition.
Trigger: non-titled spouse, non-homestead property → Dower/curtesy relinquishment (Ark. Code § 18-12-402). [SELLER].
Trigger: foreign seller → FIRPTA withholding (see § 10).
Trigger: HOA/POA → resale/estoppel packet. [HOA].
Trigger: property in probate/estate → court authority to convey; personal representative's deed. [ATTORNEY].
Trigger: closing by POA → recorded power of attorney; if a spouse relinquishes via agent, § 18-12-503 authority applies.
Trigger: severed minerals / active oil-gas lease → disclosure of reservation in the deed; title exception.
Trigger: former meth-lab property → Ark. Code §§ 8-7-1401 et seq. imposes reporting/cleanup/DEQ-listing duties (§ 8-7-1403 requires an owner who finds an abandoned lab to notify law enforcement), but it does not create a seller-to-buyer disclosure duty. Once remediated to DEQ standards, no statutory disclosure obligation runs to the buyer; common-law fraud principles still apply.

Prescribed-Language Items (Substance-Over-Form)

Arkansas imposes no statute requiring verbatim PSA language for residential resale (in contrast to disclosure-statute states). The content-specific items are:

Transfer tax recital / documentary stamp requirement (Ark. Code § 26-60-109/110): the instrument must bear the stamp or a documentary symbol showing payment of $3.30/$1,000. FSBO sellers satisfy this at the Circuit Clerk / DFA revenue office when recording.
Deed formatting (Ark. Code § 14-15-402): 8.5"x11", 2.5" top-right margin. A non-Realtor seller satisfies this by conforming the deed before submission.
Federal lead-paint language (see § 10) — the only mandated verbatim contractual language for pre-1978 homes.

Local / Municipal Overlays

No statewide point-of-sale (POS) inspection regime. Little Rock, Fayetteville, Bentonville, and Fort Smith have no widely documented city transfer taxes; Arkansas does not authorize municipal real estate transfer taxes on top of the state tax. Verify before use with the specific municipality.
Mineral/oil-gas overlays: South Arkansas (Union, Columbia counties) and the Fayetteville Shale (Faulkner, Van Buren, Conway counties) commonly feature severed minerals and active leases.
Circuit Clerk practices (indexing, e-recording availability) vary by county.

Post-Closing Obligations

Recording: deed recorded with the county Circuit Clerk; race-notice priority runs from filing.
Transfer-tax filing: documentary stamps + Affidavit of Compliance filed at recording.
1099-S: filed by the settlement agent (26 U.S.C. § 6045(e)) unless an exception applies.
Capital gains: federal; § 121 primary-residence exclusion may apply. Arkansas has state income tax on gains not excluded. Transfer tax is not income-deductible but may add to cost basis.
Mortgage satisfaction: lender records a release/satisfaction. Note Arkansas imposes no mortgage tax.

Federal Overlays (Cross-Reference)

See master methodology § 8. Do not repeat in full: Lead-based paint (Title X, 42 U.S.C. § 4852d); FIRPTA (26 U.S.C. § 1445); 1099-S (26 U.S.C. § 6045(e)); FinCEN Residential Real Estate Rule (31 CFR 1031.320) — CRITICAL: effective March 1, 2026, then vacated in its entirety and enforcement enjoined nationwide March 19, 2026 in Flowers Title Companies, LLC v. Bessent, No. 6:25-cv-00127 (E.D. Tex.) (Kernodle, J.). FinCEN's own guidance now states reporting persons "are not currently required to file real estate reports with FinCEN and are not subject to liability if they fail to do so while the order remains in force." A conflicting decision, Fidelity Nat'l Fin., Inc. v. Bessent, No. 3:25-cv-00554 (M.D. Fla. Feb. 20, 2026), upheld the Rule. FinCEN is expected to consider appealing Flowers to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and may seek a stay of the vacatur pending appeal. Treat as SUSPENDED pending appeal. Also: wire-fraud precautions, Fair Housing Act, RESPA/TRID.

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