Selling a house in Kentucky: the paperwork

Deed + consideration certificate

• Citation: KRS 382.010, 382.030 et seq.; consideration statement KRS 382.135 (sworn and notarized by both parties). Ownership [ATTORNEY]; appearance: Recorded with the county after closing.
• Contents: parties, consideration, legal description, source-of-title reference (book & page), preparation statement, in-care-of tax-mailing address, grantor signature acknowledged; dower/curtesy release by non-titled spouse where applicable (§ 7).
• Consequences: county clerk will not record without the consideration certificate and payment of transfer tax; unrecorded deed void against a BFP (KRS 382.270).
• Official: statutes https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/; county clerk directory via the Kentucky County Clerks Association / Secretary of State.

KREC Seller's Disclosure of Property Condition (Form 402)

• Citation: KRS 324.360; KREC Form 402. Ownership [SELLER]; appearance: Pre-listing / seller's disclosure packet. See § 7 for timing/substance.
• Official: https://krec.ky.gov (KREC forms).

Transfer tax collection

• Citation: KRS 142.050 — $0.50 per $500 of value, grantor-paid, collected by the county clerk at recording; clerk retains 5% collection commission. No state form; no DOR filing. Where a property straddles counties, the tax is imposed only once, in the county where the deed is required to be recorded under KRS 382.110(1).

Trigger — Married seller (dower/curtesy)

KRS 392.020. Non-titled spouse must join the deed to release the inchoate dower/curtesy interest. Satisfy by adding the spouse as a releasing party to the deed; no Realtor form needed.

Trigger — Coal/mineral severance & broad-form deeds

In coal counties, coal/oil/gas estates are frequently severed. Under Ky. Const. § 19(2) (the Broad Form Deed Amendment, proposed by 1988 Ky. Acts ch. 117, § 1, and — per the Kentucky Supreme Court in Ward v. Harding, 860 S.W.2d 280 (Ky. 1993) — "approved by more than 82% of the voters in the November, 1988, General Election") and Ward v. Harding itself (overruling Buchanan v. Watson, 290 S.W.2d 40 (Ky. 1956)), a pre-existing broad-form deed is construed — absent clear and convincing evidence to the contrary — to permit coal extraction only by methods commonly in use in the area at the time the instrument was executed, so modern strip mining generally requires the surface owner's consent. Satisfy by title examination and disclosing severed-mineral/broad-form status; title policy typically excepts mineral rights.

Trigger — Methamphetamine contamination (actual knowledge)

KRS 224.1-410 and 902 KAR 47:200 require written disclosure of methamphetamine contamination; failure to properly disclose is a Class D felony under KRS 224.99-010. The KREC Form 402 references this.

Trigger — Condominium

New-regime Kentucky Condominium Act (KRS 381.9101–381.9207, eff. Jan. 1, 2011): under KRS 381.9203, the seller furnishes the declaration, bylaws, rules, and a signed association certificate (assessments, budget, reserves, litigation over $10,000, insurance) before contract execution or before conveyance; the contract is voidable by the purchaser until the certificate is provided and for 5 days thereafter, or until conveyance, whichever occurs first. The association must furnish the certificate within 10 days of request (fee capped at the lesser of $225 or 80% of the monthly assessment). HB 433 (eff. April 11, 2012) extended the § 381.9203 certificate requirement to condos created before 2011 (older condos also governed by the Horizontal Property Law, KRS 381.805–381.910). There is no standalone HOA resale-certificate statute for non-condo subdivisions.

Trigger — Foreign seller

FIRPTA applies (federal § 10). Kentucky imposes no separate closing-stage non-resident withholding; non-resident owners reconcile via Kentucky income tax filings.

KRS 324.360 seller's disclosure

• Operative substance: KRS 324.360(3) requires the KREC form to provide for disclosure of (a) basement condition and whether it leaks; (b) roof condition and whether it leaks; (c) source and condition of water supply; (d) source and condition of sewage service; (e) working condition of component systems; and (f) other matters the commission deems appropriate. The form states it "shall not be a warranty by the seller or seller's agent and shall not be used as a substitute for an inspection or warranty that the purchaser may wish to obtain."
• Where/when: KRS 324.360(4) — the seller completes and signs the form at the time of executing the listing agreement or similar marketing agreement; a copy is delivered by the listing agent to any prospective purchaser (or representative) within 72 hours of the listing agent's receipt. The seller may authorize the agent to complete the form on the seller's behalf under KRS 324.360(9) (hold-harmless).
• How Realtor/attorney forms handle it: KREC Form 402 is the standardized form. A true FSBO not using a licensee is outside the core KRS 324.360 broker-transaction mechanism, but common-law misrepresentation liability applies; a FSBO can download and use Form 402 from krec.ky.gov to document known conditions. Verify current Form 402 edition at krec.ky.gov before use.

Consideration certificate (KRS 382.135)

• Operative substance: the deed must contain a sworn, notarized statement of the full actual consideration (or fair market value for gifts/nominal consideration), signed by both grantor and grantee. Enumerated exceptions (utility easements, divorce-proceeding transfers, government right-of-way, cemetery lots).
• FSBO: the certificate language is standard clerk-required text; the county clerk will reject a deed lacking it.

Not exhaustive — notable examples include:

• Eastern KY coal counties (Pike, Floyd, Perry, Harlan, Letcher) — severed minerals, broad-form deed history, subsidence risk.
• Louisville Metro / Jefferson County — consolidated metro government; local recording practices.
• Northern Kentucky (Boone, Kenton, Campbell) — Greater Cincinnati market overlap; Ohio River floodplain proximity.
• Property tax — homestead exemption for age 65+/disabled (KRS 132.810) is an assessment-relief mechanism, separate from conveyance.
• Kentucky's transfer tax is uniform statewide ($0.50/$500); there are no meaningful local transfer-tax add-ons and no state mortgage recording tax.

• Recording with the County Clerk (KRS 382.110); transfer tax collected at recording (KRS 142.050); consideration certificate required.
• Mortgage payoff and recording of a release (Kentucky uses mortgages, not deeds of trust; judicial foreclosure only, via a court-appointed master commissioner and commissioner's deed).
• 1099-S (federal, § 10).
• No state closing-stage non-resident withholding; non-resident sellers reconcile via Kentucky returns.

See 01-methodology-v2.md § 8 for the full federal overlay set: Title X lead-based paint (pre-1978); FIRPTA (26 U.S.C. § 1445); 1099-S (26 U.S.C. § 6045(e)); wire-fraud advisory; Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. § 3601); RESPA/TRID.

FinCEN Residential Real Estate Rule (31 CFR 1031.320) — currently suspended. The Rule was effective March 1, 2026, but the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated it nationwide on March 19, 2026 in Flowers Title Companies, LLC v. Bessent. FinCEN filed an appeal to the Fifth Circuit on May 11, 2026. A conflicting Middle District of Florida decision, Fidelity National Financial, Inc. v. Bessent, No. 3:25-cv-554-WWB-SJH (M.D. Fla.) (Feb. 19–20, 2026), upheld the Rule. Net effect for Kentucky closing agents: no filing obligation pending the Fifth Circuit appeal. Recheck currency before quoting.